New to site. Have a speed/throttle question

[Sbboan]

Hello all. Glad to be here and glad to be a proud owner of a 2008 ezgo pds. I recently bought the cart basically off the course from a guy in Greenwood SC. It was a plane Jane white with white top and white seats. I got a 5" lift on it with 22x11-8 Python tires. Got the rear fold down seat and an iPod input and 12v cig lighter installed as well. But my question is about speed and I'm sure this question/topic gets old to a lot of you but I installed brand new batteries/wires in the cart and I also got the speed chip installed-ran the diagnostic test and the cart agnowledges the chip. When I purchased the cart it's top speed was 14mph. With the speed chip the top speed is 18mph. But this cart REALLY struggles up hill and when going down hill you can feel a "governor" type system not allowing the cart to accelerate more than 18mph down hill. My buddy has a pre2008 pds ezgo and his will take the same hills a lot better, and when "free falling" down the same hill his cart will go as fast as gravity will allow. And just to specify his cart has the same accesories as I do. Can someone explain this or is there anything I can do to "bypass" that "governor" type system? His cart also goes about 20mph where mine goes only 18. Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to include as much detail as I could. Thanks folks and again, glad to e here. I will also include a photo if someone tells me how

[Bowslayer]

Maybe the controller on his has been changed? You can switch to an after-market controller and remove all the regen braking and also give the cart more speed and torque.

[JohnnieB]

Welcome to BGW!

I'm running a stock 2008 PDS with stock height tires (Carlisle Links = 17.4"), a Freedom chip and 2Ga cables.
It does 18.2 MPH on level ground (which is hard to find in WV), about 17 up a mild hill and about 20 down the same hill.
It routinely climbs about 75 feet of 30 degree slope at about 7-10 MPH.

With 22" tires, you should be getting 23-24 MPH on level ground. (Motor RPM is limited to 4400-4500 RPM range by controller)
It will slow considerably going uphill because torque has been reduced by 26% due to the 26% increase in tire circumference, which effectively changes the final drive ratio.

Since you are not getting the level ground speed you ought to be, you might have some mechanical drag, so I'd check for dragging brake shoes, dry wheel bearings, etc.
Also, the ITS might not be telling the controller to turn on 100%, so I'd check the ITS input voltage to controller.
In addition, front wheel alignment and air pressure in tires will effect top speed.

Hopefully, your new cables are 4Ga or larger and you are breaking in your new batteries properly. Here is how that is done:
http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Batter...n_Methods.html

[Sbboan]

I'm very thankful for the quick responses and so glad to be a part of BGW! Please forgive me for my ignorance but hearing about drag and ITS motor to controller and etc is like talking Chinese. I am very good with my hands and would love to dive into this cart and make any tweaks I can but I guess I'm more of a visual learner. Is there a site out there that can explain what exactly I need to look for and which bolt/wires/whatever I need to take off/tighten/loosen/cut or whatever. I've seen where new motor controllers are another 500.00 investment but I figured I could tinker with it and get what I'm wanting. I would appreciate greatly an in depth detailed "instructions" on how to check all this stuff and work on it, or maybe a website that is detailed. Thanks guys!

[JohnnieB]

There might be some "How-To" videos around, but I don't know where they are if they exist.
Perhaps someone that does will pop in and post a link.

Go to the stickies at the top of this forum (Electric EZGO) and read them.
The bottom one, has manuals for your cart.
http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...g-manuals.html
The three .pdf files are the Owner, Service and Parts manuals I use to maintain my cart.

Drag is resistance to movement.
Put cart on a level hard surface, put Run/Tow switch in "Tow" and push it by hand.
It weighs half a ton, so it'll take some effort to get it moving, but once it is moving, it should roll freely.

The voltage from the ITS (Inductive Throttle System) tells the controller how much current (Amps) to pass to the motor.
You can measure the voltage at the controller to check is it is in the correct range.
If you don't have a DVM, you need to get one.
An inexpensive one from an auto parts store or x-mart will suffice.

BTW: Be sure to put Run/Tow switch into "Tow" before doing any electrical work on cart, else the controller might give up the ghost.

[Sbboan]

What does pushing it by hand determine? Also when I purchase this dvm how do I use it and what am I looking for? If its not not in the correct range how do I adjust that? Thanks

[Bowslayer]

Pushing it by hand just makes sure everything turns freely and there is no drag like a stuck brake or bad wheel bearing or something holding it back.

[Sbboan]

I see. And if there is no drag what else can I check? How do I get the ITS to send 100% to the motor?

[Bowslayer]

Look at the top of the page in the stickies for a post called ezgo diagnostics. That will give you many tests but you will have to have a DVM to perform them as stated above.