Onward Alltrax XTC 500 install

[E36Racer]

Since I'm most likely the first to swap the controller in an Onward I figured I would share the experience. Overall it was fairly straightforward but I did have a couple hiccups along the way.

I took advantage of Scottyb's Labor Day sale and picked up the XTC 500, 400a solenoid and 3 mode switch. Thank you Scotty for the sale and also for answering my stupid question emails over the weekend that I did the install!!

Tear down by pulling two middle batteries. You might be able to get away with leaving them in but for the 2 minutes it takes to get them out it's a no brainer.





Then I pulled the plate with the stock controller and solenoid



At this point I just disconnected everything from the stock parts to put the plate aside. Since the status light and USB port are much more useful without having to get under the cart, I decided to ditch the aluminum plate all together and mount the controller and solenoid onto the plastic dust cover.



The top controller bolts are actually through the plastic above the cover so it's not going anywhere. Plus being able to pull the bottom of the cover lose helps getting the pack + and - on the controller, plus the mode switch plug.



To help support the solenoid I used 2 big fender washers on the back side. Probably overkill but it's not pulling through the plastic anytime soon.



I had to enlarge the ring terminals since there were the closest size at my local Ace and I didn't want to go all the way to Home Depot. Stock solenoid used spade connectors. For the battery cables I just drilled the stock ring terminal to 3/8" since I'm installing 2ga welding cable as soon as it's up and running. I wanted to get it going with stock wiring first and then do the welding wire one cable at a time.










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[scottyb]

Great job I love this install.
The new XCT has it's own built in thermal plastic heat sinks. It is super light-weight and does NOT need the aluminum heat sink. This is a great alternative install. I did the same with my 2014 Precedent. I love the open access to the water proof Alltrax. You can actually see the LED status indicator and plug in the program usb anytime with no more effort than lifting the seat.
Why everybody is not doing this is beyond me !?

[E36Racer]

Since I didn't have two small metric or sae wrenches the same size on the solenoid bolts I found one of each that worked perfectly



One thing on the instruction that was wrong was the green and white motor wires on my cart were opposite. The white wire was the "-" that goes to A1 on the motor and the green wire goes to A2. Also apparently these two wires are reversed on the motor with the stock controller. No big deal, just swapped on the motor side and all was fine. Also with the 400a solenoid and XTC you DO NOT need the diode OR resistor.

Now it's all mounted up and ready to put the batteries back. I put the run/tow switch on the top plastic lip. My new cables are in this pic because I forgot to snap one beforehand.



I put the fuse on the "-" just because it was easier and I don't think it matters. In this pic you will see a 10 or 12ga wire that used to be on the controller side of the main pack "-" and it had a bullet connector right next to the actual pack "-". I don't see why it would matter what end of the pack "-" cable it was on so I just cut the bullet connector off and put the ring terminal there so it was cleaner.



At this point I jacked the back end back up off the ground. Then I flipped the tow switch crossed my fingers, closed my eyes and twisted the key. No explosion no smoke or smells, phew, opened my eyes and saw a green light on the controller. Woo Hoo!!!!!

Then I hit the go pedal and wanted to cry. Nothing!! Nada!! So I quick put it back in tow and disconnect the pack "-". Crap, now what.... so I went digging through all of the Alltrax install threads i previously searched for and saved. And I triple checked every single wire. Lo and behold I see another discussion about the charger setting. I figure it makes perfect sense because it was acting as if the charger was plugged in. Out comes the laptop and this is the setting after I changed it.



Now the whole cold sweats closing my eyes again. Twisted the key and barely touched the pedal, nothing. Now I'm about to scream. Then I remembered reading how the controller needs to learn the pedal so I said screw it and gave it half throttle and the wheels started to spin. Double check forward and reverse. Yatzee!!! Take it for a spin. Works great. Now I need to tweak the settings to my liking and call it a day. Top speed is a solid 25


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[brownchristian]

Scottyb how about a Columbus Day sale?

[Marauder]

Where did you get the cables?

[E36Racer]

I ordered #2 welding wire and copper ends from amazon. A 25' roll and I ended up with about 18" leftover. The fancy fabric sheathing came from amazon also.


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[mustangless]

That setup looks good.

I could not find a terminal big enough for my charge cable so I kinda stole one from another part. Your idea looks better.

What rpm are you turning?

[E36Racer]

I need to double check, but I think wife mode is limited to 5400rpm, my regular mode is 5600 and balls out mode is 5800rpm. I’m not entirely sure how fast you can spin a stock motor without basically guaranteeing fast destruction so I haven’t changed any of the settings Scottyb sent it with. I do want to tone down the regen in wifey mode though. And I wish I could make it so regen only kicks in if I take my foot off the go pedal. That’s how it was stock and coasting through corners was much nicer. One of these days I’ll start messing with the programming. All my cart time now is spent wrapping up the stereo and cruising.


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[Bigjmain]

Was it worth the controller upgrade and what kind of speed you getting?

[E36Racer]

Originally Posted by Bigjmain

Was it worth the controller upgrade and what kind of speed you getting?

The Alltrax was absolutely worth it. I think I was getting 26 or 27 out of it with the stock motor at that time. It’s been a while but I’m pretty sure that’s where it was running in ludicrous mode back then. A few months after that post I went lithium with a PQ executioner.


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