Ezgo pds '07 19mph?

[JohnnieB]

I used too run a DCX400 with a stock PDS motor at 36V and got about 24MPH.
Attached is the way the controller was programmed when I received it. Those settings are a good starting point for your controller except for Max Output Current. You have a DCX 500 connected to a stock PDS motor, so move the slider down to 80% (400A is all a stock PDS motor can handle.)

Answers to your specific questions:

Turbo? From what I read it's not really anything, is that correct?
Turn Turbo ON to get max speed.

1/2 speed reverse- I think is a great idea
Yes.

Max current output- any suggestions on %age since I have the dcx500 but stock motor
Set to 80%

Under voltage- 34.50 as this is 10% state of charge?
Not related to SoC. Battery pack voltage drops when amps are drawn and irreversible plate damage starts occurring below 1.5VPC (Volts per Cell) and there are 18 cells in a 36V battery pack, so set it to 27V.

Over voltage- no idea on this one
Set it to Max.

Throttle rate up- says typically 3-8, so start at 8
This is how fast the controller responds to pedal being pressed down. Higher the number, the faster it responds. Start at 4 and experiment with higher/lower setting to find what works best for you.

Throttle rate down- recommended twice the throttle up rate so if I go 8 on the throttle rate up then it is recommended 15 for throttle rate down?
This is how fast controller responds to pedal being lifted. Start at 8 and experiment.

Brake current- another one I have no idea what %age to set to
With the Plug Brake box unchecked, this determines the strength of the regen braking. Star at about 70%

Top speed- another one...suggestions?
Set to max. How controller electrically interprets the physical throttle position. If set to 75%, the controller would only put out 75% power at fully throttle and 35% power if halfway down.

Sensor type-ezgo its
Your cart has an ITS type throttle, so set it to EZGO ITS

Throttle response-again open to a few choices or the best choice
If you need to maneuver cart in tight places, the Progressive throttle curve works well. But try them all and see which one you like best.

[Conradconrad]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

I used too run a DCX400 with a stock PDS motor at 36V and got about 24MPH.
Attached is the way the controller was programmed when I received it. Those settings are a good starting point for your controller except for Max Output Current. You have a DCX 500 connected to a stock PDS motor, so move the slider down to 80% (400A is all a stock PDS motor can handle.)

Answers to your specific questions:

Turbo? From what I read it's not really anything, is that correct?
Turn Turbo ON to get max speed.

1/2 speed reverse- I think is a great idea
Yes.

Max current output- any suggestions on %age since I have the dcx500 but stock motor
Set to 80%

Under voltage- 34.50 as this is 10% state of charge?
Not related to SoC. Battery pack voltage drops when amps are drawn and irreversible plate damage starts occurring below 1.5VPC (Volts per Cell) and there are 18 cells in a 36V battery pack, so set it to 27V.

Over voltage- no idea on this one Set it to Max.

Throttle rate up- says typically 3-8, so start at 8
This is how fast the controller responds to pedal being pressed down. Higher the number, the faster it responds. Start at 4 and experiment with higher/lower setting to find what works best for you.

Throttle rate down- recommended twice the throttle up rate so if I go 8 on the throttle rate up then it is recommended 15 for throttle rate down?

This is how fast controller responds to pedal being lifted. Start at 8 and experiment.

Brake current- another one I have no idea what %age to set to
With the Plug Brake box unchecked, this determines the strength of the regen braking. Star at about 70%

Top speed- another one...suggestions?
Set to max. How controller electrically interprets the physical throttle position. If set to 75%, the controller would only put out 75% power at fully throttle and 35% power if halfway down.

Sensor type-ezgo its
Your cart has an ITS type throttle, so set it to EZGO ITS

Throttle response-again open to a few choices or the best choice
If you need to maneuver cart in tight places, the Progressive throttle curve works well. But try them all and see which one you like best.

Amazing! Thanks!!!!!!

[yurtle]

Before playing with settings, I saved the default ones to my laptop. The best way to "play" is adjust one setting only, until you're happy, then move to the next setting to play with. If you change two or more settings before driving, you may not know which one helped or hurt your performance.

[Conradconrad]

Hello everyone. So yesterday I changed all the battery cables over to 2 gauge actually. The remainder is the other wires are all 4 gauge. Installed Scootyb's digital volt meter, works great. Cart had a little more pep

Tonight I put in the hd magnetic solenoid(scottyb's) with diodes and resistors. Connected to laptop and took screenshot of alltrax settings. Picture uploaded is what the alltrax was set to with the stock white Rodgers solenoid- it was able to get ~18.8-19.1mph

I installed the solenoid and didn't play with controller setting- drove around, no increase in speed(measured with a garmin gps)

Set the settings to what JohnnieB recommended(just a few minor changes) I barely hit 19.0 mph

Played with brake current, turbo etc for about 6 more runs not a single tenth of a mile per hour increase.

Decided to drive around with the monitor mode. Most output current I could get from a still stop to full throttle was 443 but most of the time it would be 220, 170,150,120,80,70,60,56 as I refreshed(I had to click refresh while driving) while under continuous acceleration. Definitely pulled more amps with turbo on.

Battery voltage drops to about 34.2/33.8 upon take off and creeps up to 36.2-36.4 as I near top speed. Let go of accelerator and voltage goes up to 37.1/37.2. Sit for a minute or two and it's up at 37.6
I can't help but sit and scratch my head (these are taken on my seventh run- and at 5.5miles of use)

Only other thing I notice was in the throttle reposnse tab, the map selected was custom, I changed it to linear and now custom has been deselected and is shaded gray as if disabled

Any thoughts? Just me in the cart(back seat installed/flat ground) stock wheels and tires.

[JohnnieB]

Your original controller settings were not holding your cart back, nor will the settings I posted. So the culprit is something other than controller settings.

While cruising at top speed on level pavement, verify that the Throttle Position is 100% and the Battery Current and Output Current show the same number of Amps, or very close to it.

FWIW: You can log the data from the controller to a file and review it as a spreadsheet afterwards rather than hitting the refresh button while driving.

Select "Log To File" on the monitor screen, follow instructions on naming the file to be saved and where to save it. Select "Continuous". Select "Start" to start saving data and then select "Stop" to save the file. (If you don't hit stop, the file isn't saved.)

The saved file is in a .CSV format (Comma Separated Values), which can be opened by most spreadsheet programs like Excel or Quattro Pro.

The nice thing about the data log if that it also has a column called Output Voltage and at top speed on level ground with 100% throttle, both battery voltage and output voltage should be the same.

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Check the F1 & F2 cables for worn through insulation where the are routed around the battery frame. See attached picture.

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Flip Run/Tow switch to Tow and push cart over hard level surface. Take some effort to start moving since it weighs half a ton, but once moving it should continue moving with little effort. Shouldn't be any squeaking or dragging sounds (Bad bearings - dragging brakes)

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Conradconrad

1. Decided to drive around with the monitor mode. Most output current I could get from a still stop to full throttle was 443 but most of the time it would be 220, 170,150,120,80,70,60,56 as I refreshed(I had to click refresh while driving) while under continuous acceleration. Definitely pulled more amps with turbo on.

2. Battery voltage drops to about 34.2/33.8 upon take off

3. and creeps up to 36.2-36.4 as I near top speed.

4. Let go of accelerator and voltage goes up to 37.1/37.2.

5. Sit for a minute or two and it's up at 37.6
I can't help but sit and scratch my head (these are taken on my seventh run- and at 5.5miles of use)

6. Only other thing I notice was in the throttle reposnse tab, the map selected was custom, I changed it to linear and now custom has been deselected and is shaded gray as if disabled

7. Any thoughts? Just me in the cart(back seat installed/flat ground) stock wheels and tires.

Some info to reduce sitting and head scratching.

1. The number of amps the motor draws is determined by the motor and the controller limits the maximum amps the motor is allowed to draw. The faster it is spinning, the fewer amps it is capable of drawing. For example, a theoretical motor can only draw 500A below 200RPM, draw 400A below 500RPM, draw 300A below 1000Rpm, draw 200a below 2000RPM, draw 100A below 3000RPM, etc.

2. Battery voltage drops when amps are drawn from it. The batteries in and of themselves in a standard 36V pack (225AH) drop about 1V per 100A of current draw. The amp delivery system (High current cables, contacts and connections) have resistance and also drop voltage when amps pass through them, so the total voltage drop can be 2.0V or more per 100A of current flow.

3. The voltage increases as the speed increases because the faster the motor spins, the fewer amps it can draw.

4. When you lift your foot off the pedal, regenerative braking occurs and energy is returned to the battery pack. Voltage is determined by motor RPM and is mitigated by battery SoC at the time.

5. The voltage drop when alps are drawn is almost instantaneous, but the voltage recover after load is removed is slow. It takes over an hour to fully recover, but it recovers by about 62% in the first five minutes. When I do battery related testing, I rest the batteries for 30 minutes, which is 92% recovered.

6. Changes how controller electrically responds to physical position of pedal. Doesn't change top speed.

7. What are your tires inflated to?

[Conradconrad]

Ok so I didn't get a chance to log a file last night. It I can verify the throttle position does show 100% when pushed all the way down

Output and battery currents are identical and change simultaneously

I pushed the cart all around on flat area forwards and backwards and while it's a hard initial push then it's easy and I hear no rubbing or squeaking or gritty noises.

I checked the remainder of my wires. Mine are several inches away from the frame in the picture you provided and look good. To be picky at this point, there is only one wire that goes from B(+) to the controller that had no tape between the battery terminal connection crimp and the sleeve of the wire. Not sure if that could be an issue this big. It cleaned up with a wide brush and when I move the wire around the strands look well connected and I don't hear anything/feel anything. I noticed I have two fuses. One looks like the recommended one by alltrax(I uploaded the page they have on that-I'm sure you've seen it) two pictures of my fuse and then another picture of the other terminal with another fuse of some sort but on a different wire, maybe the fnr switch? Not sure. Any further suggestions? I can log a csv file tonight if helpful

[yurtle]

Just a suggestion, but I'd move all smaller wires in the first two pics off of the negative post and on to the fuse. That battery post looks pretty full. May want to do the same on the other post as well, with the wire, not the cable.

[Conradconrad]

OK will do yurtle, thanks.


I thought about it, max current @ 100% = 19.1/19.2mph max current set to 80% yields about 18.5/18.6mph, so it is responding to the current setting. The other thing I noticed is much more torque after solenoid swap and a quicker acceleration to top speed, I assume those observations are what would be expected.

So any chance maybe my controller needs a software updates? I did search other threads and did see several mentions of software updates on the controller

The cart operates perfectly minus the "lack" of the increase in top speed.
Otherwise maybe worn brushes? But I feel like I'd have other symptoms if that was the case?

[kgsc]

Other fuse is for the charging circuit..