club car DS speed question

[stang99x]

Originally Posted by 87chevy

What does changing the wires do? Also so I keep the cart with 6 6volt batteries with that set up? I am honestly looking to make it go up hills better in the campground. Lastly what would you say to change those wires to?

The cables (wires) are the basis for a good running electrical system. Brand new batteries flowing through old, corroded or high resistance wires will underperform and even have shorter lifespans. While I don't know the answer to this, I'd imagine you still have at least some of the factory cables in there. And I would guess they aren't in the greatest shape. Getting the power of all 36 volts with the least resistance is a great first step. Changing to a solid state system is a little costly and not always practical for the average owner. I've sold many a sets of old resistor wires and it has shown some great improvement in many cases. Unless you plan on doing a solid state conversion in the near future, cables would be my first investment.

[87chevy]

Originally Posted by stang99x

The cables (wires) are the basis for a good running electrical system. Brand new batteries flowing through old, corroded or high resistance wires will underperform and even have shorter lifespans. While I don't know the answer to this, I'd imagine you still have at least some of the factory cables in there. And I would guess they aren't in the greatest shape. Getting the power of all 36 volts with the least resistance is a great first step. Changing to a solid state system is a little costly and not always practical for the average owner. I've sold many a sets of old resistor wires and it has shown some great improvement in many cases. Unless you plan on doing a solid state conversion in the near future, cables would be my first investment.

Okay that sounds good I think I might go and do the conversion because then I pretty much have a brand new cart but the old look. I tested my batteries and the overall voltage before a load is 40 volts and then when I put a complete load the whole pack drops to 24volts. So do you have any idea what could be causing that or is that a normal drop in voltage? Could it be the batteries are bad or are dying or could it be the cables?

yes need batteries .. my 36v will show 38.3 fully chaarged and drop to 34.5 under load

cables just make cart run more efficiently

[87chevy]

Originally Posted by crash test dummy

yes need batteries .. my 36v will show 38.3 fully chaarged and drop to 34.5 under load

cables just make cart run more efficiently

Now the thing that confuses me is that when I check the load on each battery it only drops to like 5v except one drops to 2v why would the whole pack voltage drop so much when each single one drops so little?

[stang99x]

Originally Posted by 87chevy

Now the thing that confuses me is that when I check the load on each battery it only drops to like 5v except one drops to 2v why would the whole pack voltage drop so much when each single one drops so little?

It's hard to say being behind a keyboard and not the cart, but high resistance will cause a loss of voltage. Admittedly, I'm unsure of what the readings on a resistor cart are offhand. It's common to see a cart drop up to 15% when taking off. This should rise back up and stabilize after reaching speed. A 36V pack that is charged and in good shape will drop down to just above 30V under dead stop load. If you are seeing 24V you will likely need new batteries.

[87chevy]

Originally Posted by stang99x

It's hard to say being behind a keyboard and not the cart, but high resistance will cause a loss of voltage. Admittedly, I'm unsure of what the readings on a resistor cart are offhand. It's common to see a cart drop up to 15% when taking off. This should rise back up and stabilize after reaching speed. A 36V pack that is charged and in good shape will drop down to just above 30V under dead stop load. If you are seeing 24V you will likely need new batteries.

Yeah completely understand! It's deff easier to diagnose when your with the cart. So I deffinitally think I am going to make the step towards buying the new batteries and then maybe adding scottyb's conversion kit. Now talking about the kit, which one do you all recommend getting? I really want it to perform on hills with 2-4 passengers and I will be installing around 20" wheels and tires and it has a 3in lift on the cart already. I must thank you all again you are a huge help!

[stang99x]

At that point I can't really help steer you in any direction. I've only a couple times done fullscale conversions to different systems. It's to much of a pain and is very labor intensive. Doing it yourself saving the labor would probably be the best for economic reasons, but be ready to solve lots of little issues that may arise.

[87chevy]

Originally Posted by stang99x

At that point I can't really help steer you in any direction. I've only a couple times done fullscale conversions to different systems. It's to much of a pain and is very labor intensive. Doing it yourself saving the labor would probably be the best for economic reasons, but be ready to solve lots of little issues that may arise.

Okay, yeah I am planning on doing it myself and seeing how it goes. Which kits have you done?

[stang99x]

There isn't so much a kit as there are a few smaller vendors selling their own packages. I've done a few 36 to 48's and I've done a few resistor to solid state. I wasn't interested in trying to create speed demons so I just used a stock pds system on the solid state conversion. The pedal box conversion was the worst part

[joesam]

when I check the load on each battery it only drops to like 5v except one drops to 2v

This statement sticks out to me like crazy - what I think he's saying is that one of his 6v batteries drops to 2v under load. If so.....that's a battery with dead/dying cells. And that will kill the performance of his cart (unless I'm mis-reading what he stated).

Not that upgrading to 48v (with appropriate controller etc) won't make a huge difference - its just a statement he's made that needs understanding/clarification.