JohnnieB's 2008 PDS sleeper build.

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

I'm not sure if it will work, but I want to use the laptop with a serial port as a data logger.

I played with my laptop while driving, but if you take your foot off the throttle, the controller turns off. I may try hooking up a switch that parallels the throttle micro-switch, to keep the controller turned on. That would also make it safer to play with settings, rather than my current method of holding the throttle down with one hand, while playing with my laptop with the other hand.

Thoughts?

[JohnnieB]

@ yurtle:
You've got an AXE controller, so I'd pull the 1/4" push-on connector off Pin-1 and run a wire from the switched side the the Keyswitch.
That should keep the controller powered up when the pedal was up and not have solenoid energized all the time. And the Key would kill everything.

I've got a DCX and I don't think it powers down when pedal is up, but if it does, I'll try to figure out how to tell it a little white lie when I want it to stay on without energizing solenoid.

Thanks for the heads up.

[pcarenthuz]

Johnnie-

Are those battery vent interconnects you have unique to "you" or Trojan? I'm new to golf carts and am in learn mode. I'm in frame up rebuild mode now and always thinking ahead as to "what's next?".

BTW, learning lots from you on this Forum --many thanks for your contributions. I'm a EE but haven't practiced in that department for a long time so your posts are clearing the decades old cobwebs regarding all the fun you can have with DC power :)

Pat Arnold

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by pcarenthuz

Johnnie-

1. Are those battery vent interconnects you have unique to "you" or Trojan? I'm new to golf carts and am in learn mode. I'm in frame up rebuild mode now and always thinking ahead as to "what's next?".

2. BTW, learning lots from you on this Forum --many thanks for your contributions. I'm a EE but haven't practiced in that department for a long time so your posts are clearing the decades old cobwebs regarding all the fun you can have with DC power :)

Pat Arnold

1. My cart came from a golf course that had a BFS watering system. I didn't have all the system and when I tried to adapt it to a hanging bag of distilled water, it leaked at some vent caps and under-filled some of the cells, so I got rid of it. I clipped the interconnecting tubes between batteries to prevent chain-fires, should one explode, but left the three vent caps per battery connected so the caps stayed together when I popped them off to inspect and water the cells.
This is what I use:

http://www.amazon.com/Plews-75-030-Capacity-Plastic-Battery/dp/B000RFUF12

http://www.amazon.com/Plews-75-030-Capacity-Plastic-Battery/dp/B000RFUF12

However, Google Battery watering systems and you'll find a bunch on similar systems to the BFS. If mine had worked right, I might have stuck with it.

2. Yeah, it takes a while for the fog to clear, but the carts with DC motors are pretty straight forward machines and there is a lot of good info out there for the EZGO carts. Not so much for the other brands and the AC EZGO carts, but the laws of physics still apply.

One of the biggest eye openers for me, was nearly everything I knew about the care and feeding of batteries, doesn't apply to deep-cycle lead-acid wet-cells.

Give me a yell if you hit a brick wall and I'll try to clarify the muddy water, or point you in the right direction, or admit that I don't know either.