club car ds

[mphacinc]

Please help, i am a new owner of a 2001 club car ds 48 v . Cart drives ok on flat areas but any hills the cart slows to a crawl. I have checked the batteries the voltage is even across each one, i also used a load tester and that was fine too 8.3 v each and no real drop under load. i cleaned all terminals and checked wires and connections. i even tried to reset the obc as told in this forum.What else could be my problem?

[TahoeDawgZ71]

These cars are only designed to run between 12-14 MPH when they're new. A "crawl" is a pretty accurate description of what these cars do on a hill. Check your tire pressure and make sure they're aired up, check and make sure your brakes aren't dragging.

[mphacinc]

thank -you im still wondering i have golfed quite a bit and have driven the same carts in the past this is more than just poor torque this cart wouldn't make it across most of the courses in our area. It will drive for hours i drove it around my neighborhood for 4 hrs today . taking on hills and flat areas hoping to wear down the batteries to charge them again. after all that driving the charger only went up to 6 amps and the cart never showed low battery. Wondering if i would be better off with and upgraded motor with higher torque. Our main use for this will be in the pocono mountains at camp grounds. high speed is not necessary but we could walk faster than this club car takes even the smallest hills. any suggestions would be greatly apprieciated

[THEPISTONHEAD]

Try a 36v motor. It made my 04 DS 48V much faster then the other motor. Others may chime in to confirm this for you.

[89GatorClub]

Originally Posted by THEPISTONHEAD

Try a 36v motor. It made my 04 DS 48V much faster then the other motor. Others may chime in to confirm this for you.

I keep my 36 volt motor when I upgraded to 48v and its a torque monster now

[jedotx]

If I understood your first post correctly, you said the batteries were at 8.3 volts. According to the "state of charge readings" sticky that would put you at about 75% of charge (100% charged would be 8.49 volts). My understanding is that you never wan to go below 70% (if you wait till the light comes on or the cart quits then you have discharged to far) so it sounds like you need to be charging now and not trying to discharge further. If the batteries will not charge to 100 % they may be the problem. Post more info on the batteries: how old, what kind, water level in cells, specific gravity,etc.

Upgrading will surely get you more speed and torque but only if you have good batteries and properly maintain them. there is good info in the stickey section: the "state of charge readings" I mentioned above as well as proper break in and maintainance information.

[mphacinc]

thank you that was very helpful i assumed that a 6 volt battery holding an 8.3 charge was a full charge. Trojan batteries water level good and s.g. level good not sure how old batteries are just bought the car. I think the person that sold me the car said he put reconditioning fluid in batteries. Not sure how i feel about that anyone had any success with that? Will let you know how it goes tomorrow

[mphacinc]

If you use a 36v motor with 48v system that has to cause high amps in the motor . possibly overheating and shorter motor life . unless D.C. motors are completely different from A.C. motors . Windings must take a real beating

[THEPISTONHEAD]

Not sure.......but I know I had ran one on my 04 DS 48V with big lift and 23's and never had any issue for 6 years in the hot Texas sun. Im getting ready to do it again due to the sucess of my last cart.

[cjnfiremn]

Originally Posted by mphacinc

thank you that was very helpful i assumed that a 6 volt battery holding an 8.3 charge was a full charge. Trojan batteries water level good and s.g. level good not sure how old batteries are just bought the car. I think the person that sold me the car said he put reconditioning fluid in batteries. Not sure how i feel about that anyone had any success with that? Will let you know how it goes tomorrow

In your first post you said you have a 48volt cart. Now your stating you have 6volt batteries, that would mean you have 8 of them. Im I missing something?