'99 DS Alltrax DCX 500 upgrade

[thearmchairtech]

Hi everyone. Last week I picked up '99 Club Car DS Electric "project cart". The previous owner had started down the path of upgrading the motor to an MOT-A2 10HP motor, a new Alltrax DCX 500 amp controller, and an upgraded 400A solenoid. Then it sat for a couple years and he decided it was one project too many. I've never done anything with golf carts before, but I have put together solar systems and have a background in electronics. I figured I would give it a shot.

The Alltrax directions are excellent. There were a few times I got confused, but after re-reading the directions and the wiring schematic, it became clear. Once I got the thing running, I fell in love with it. I knew it would be quiet, but it's almost completely quiet. You can just hear the whine of the motor while it's pulling uphill/accelerating, and on flat ground, all you can really hear is the sound of the tires rolling over the grass.

Once I got into the home stretch, I made a video going over each step and showed the corresponding wiring, including some troubleshooting and finally to running it around the yard. Since I kept coming across this forum while doing research, I figured I'd share the video here. I wouldn't call it a definitive how-to video because I was learning as I went. Also, I took a couple shortcuts since I was using parts I have on hand, but I make note of that in the video.

The video itself ended up running pretty long (about 35 minutes), but if you click on "show more" I put clickable timestamps to each segment. I'd be glad for any feedback, positive or critical. This is my first "EV" so it's a learning experience for me. I can already see this is going to be much easier to maintain than the gas side by side it's replacing (seen in the driving test around the 35 minute mark).

www youtube com / watch?v= _Q8nPLfTCZo

(remove spaces or google _Q8nPLfTCZo)

First 10 minutes is wiring
10:52 battery hookup
13:52 on-board charge computer and charge receptacle
17:27 forward/reverse switch
18:16 nuts and bolts (shaky camera warning)
20:02 speed sensor not needed
21:44 cable ring terminal modification and battery cables
25:27 first power-up test - failure
26:41 battery voltmeter test
28:30 success - tow/run switch and obc wire
29:30 power on for real, f/r mixed up
31:04 proper operation
31:57 follow up plans
33:55 wife acceptance factor
34:24 driving test

[NoleFan4Ever]

Good details in your video, good job doing it, and not sure about your wife, but the son is VERY happy!!

[Bobbob]

Thanks John, good YouTube video. I enjoyed watching it very much. Hope you do some more in the future.


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[thearmchairtech]

Originally Posted by NoleFan4Ever

Good details in your video, good job doing it, and not sure about your wife, but the son is VERY happy!!

Thanks. The wife has warmed up to it after seeing it running and driving it herself a bit. But the real kicker is that we're going to paint the body and she's picking out the color - Lime Squeeze Metallic. Not a color I would have picked, but she's been wanting a vehicle of that color for a long time and points them out when we see one on the road.

So the golf cart will still be mostly disassembled for a while. I'll go through testing the headlight hookups and dashboard stuff, but we'll get the body painted before bolting every thing into place.

Edit: Attaching pic of color.