Battery/Power Question

[Buckscent]

First time I drove this cart. Just got it. 99 txt all stock except lift and 11" wheels 22" tires. Batteries are said to be about 2 yrs old and are powertrons. Fully charged in the first say 20 minutes the bar on the batt meter goes down to like the 3rd bar. Stays there for a good hour or so. Then jumps while I am at full throttle down 2 more bars fairly quickly. It starts good then the more pedal you give it it seems to get slower. Stop or awhile then Starts off again good then gets slower

Batteries bad?
If I want to make this cart fast what all is needed besides batteries and a good controller?

[JohnnieB]

Is it a series drive cart or a DCS? (If it has a Run/Tow switch on the controller cover, it's a DCS)

With either, the stock speed is about 14MPH on 18" tires, so you ought to be getting about 22 MPH at 36V with 22" tires.

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The symptoms you describe sound like batteries nearing the end of their useful life, but could be other thing also.

To check the batteries, you'll need a DVM (Digital Volt Meter) that resolves pack voltage to the nearest tenth of a volt and individual battery voltages to the nearest hundredth of a volt. IE: A fully charged 36V pack has 38.2V and each battery will measure 6.37V.

The LED bar-graph type battery meters lie more than some politicians and are marginally useful as "Fuel" gauges, but are totally worthless for troubleshooting.

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As for what is needed to make the cart fast, it depends on what type drive it has, how fast do you want it to go and what else you want to do with cart other than going fast.

[Buckscent]

I see DCS wrote on it so I assume thats what it is. Some of the batteries where very low of water if any at all. Couple of them where so hot could not touch them. I added water, cleaned some very dirty posts and charging now. Well see if it helps

[JohnnieB]

If it is a DCS, an aftermarket controller will typically kick the speed up to 20 MPH at 36V on stock height tires, which would be 24 MPH on 22" tires, mathematically, but it probably won't reach that speed because the 22" tires are costing you 18% of the torque that is available from the motor.

[Buckscent]

I am just using it for a hunting cart. The club i am in now is flat ground and i access different parts of the land from country roads either blacktop and/or dirt. But in the future i might not be in this club and the next club might be hilly, which are a lot around here. Of course while i am on trails in the wood i do not go that fast but to get to the trails off some of the roads is where i need speed... Right now i can job faster than this cart and just a very slight hill is a struggle for it. What would be the plan of action? Change to good batteries and see how that does? I am sure i need to replace them anyway no matter what. If that is not the solution then what? Change controller, then motor? Thanks for all the input!!!

[JohnnieB]

The stock DCS controller has some design flaws and I'm surprised it is still working with tall tires and bad batteries. (No undervoltage cutoff, so low battery pack voltage kills DCS controllers.)

The stock DCS motor is a good one and it leans toward low end torque rather than speed and I've heard they work pretty well for hunting cart applications.

Replace all 10 high current cables with 4Ga or thicker cables.
Replace the controller and solenoid with an Alltrax DCX (or XCT) that will operate on 36V, 42V or 48V.
When you replace the batteries, go to 42V (7 x 6V) or 48V (6 x 8V or 8 X 6V) to get more speed and more torque.

42V will give you 16.7% more speed and torque while going to 48V increases speed and torque by 33.3%.

It depends on the what type tires you have, but if they are not the low pressure type, you ought to get about 24 MPH at 42V and about 28 MPH with 48V and have plenty of speed on hills.

[Buckscent]

This afternoon I looked at the batteries. There where a couple that had like NO water in them and a couple that where low. Also, there was corrosion on a few of the connections. I cleaned them all and added water to the batteries. Let it charge and is reading 38.1V as soon as the charger stopped, well within an hour of it. Seemed to run better, i rode hills and flat for about 3-4 miles and the meter bar went down 2 bard to the 3rd bar right when I got back. Charging again.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Buckscent

This afternoon I looked at the batteries. There where a couple that had like NO water in them and a couple that where low. Also, there was corrosion on a few of the connections. I cleaned them all and added water to the batteries. Let it charge and is reading 38.1V as soon as the charger stopped, well within an hour of it. Seemed to run better, i rode hills and flat for about 3-4 miles and the meter bar went down 2 bard to the 3rd bar right when I got back. Charging again.

Hopefully, it was distilled water. (Tap water can kill batteries)

38.1V an hour after the charger shuts off doesn't sound like the batteries are taking anywhere near their full charge.

Try doing a series of back-to-back charges. (IE: Initiate a charge two or three time a day even if the cart hasn't moved)

My cart came off a 3 year lease at a golf course in AZ with 36V pack of T-105 batteries that would only charge to 85% SoC and I got them to take over 95% SoC with about two weeks of back-to-back charges. My goal was to get them to last the rest of the summer and replace then the following spring, but they ran so good, I ran the the following summer also and half the next.