Surging and reduced speed

[ticklechicken]

2001 Club Car series cart - AA0130
I bought my first cart a few weeks ago. It was completely stock and went 11mph. It has 5 year old Trojan batteries. Initially, I never used it for more than 2 hours between chargings, and the batteries did fine. After using it about 5 times, it became obvious that we needed more traction to get through the trails around our house. I added a 6" lift and 23" tires.

First ride after the lift kit
I was surprised that the top speed was still 11mph. I expected it so scale up by 23"/18" (14mph).

It was really wet, and we were often in several inches of water. After about an hour, the cart suddenly got very slow. I assumed the large tires caused the batteries to run down quicker than normal. We also spent a lot of time seeking out mud holes.

I charged the batteries over night, but the cart was still slow. Resting voltage was 50V, and it never dropped below 46V during any throttle application. It launched quickly, but it seemed like it hit a speed limiter around 5mph. While driving at full throttle (5mph), it would occasionally surge forward with rather quick acceleration. But within 1-2 seconds, it would de-throttle and coast back down to 5mph.

I charged the batteries overnight again. Same issue the next day, but maybe a little better. Couldn't tell. I parked the cart for two days, not on the charger. When I tried it yesterday, it worked fine. I wondered if it got wet and took a few days to dry out.

Second ride after the lift kit
I took it out again today. The trails were still very wet, but I went slower and tried to keep things dry. After about 30 minutes, I had a pretty sudden loss of ~50% power. I limped back home and did some diagnostics. I did some reading here, and did what I've learned so far. Voltage readings were 49V at rest and 47 under load. Then I disconnected the 3-wire computer connector and ran a jumper from the yellow solenoid to the controller negative post. The cart still had little power. I checked the motor controller yellow/green wires for resistance. My readings were 7300/1200 ohms, which seem close enough.

I didn't plug in the charger. I want to see if it dries out and runs properly within a few days. If this doesn't work, I can charge the batteries and see if that fixes it.

Ideas?

[smokey tennis shoe]

Originally Posted by ticklechicken

2001 Club Car series cart - AA0130
I bought my first cart a few weeks ago. It was completely stock and went 11mph. It has 5 year old Trojan batteries. Initially, I never used it for more than 2 hours between chargings, and the batteries did fine. After using it about 5 times, it became obvious that we needed more traction to get through the trails around our house. I added a 6" lift and 23" tires.

First ride after the lift kit
I was surprised that the top speed was still 11mph. I expected it so scale up by 23"/18" (14mph).

It was really wet, and we were often in several inches of water. After about an hour, the cart suddenly got very slow. I assumed the large tires caused the batteries to run down quicker than normal. We also spent a lot of time seeking out mud holes.

I charged the batteries over night, but the cart was still slow. Resting voltage was 50V, and it never dropped below 46V during any throttle application. It launched quickly, but it seemed like it hit a speed limiter around 5mph. While driving at full throttle (5mph), it would occasionally surge forward with rather quick acceleration. But within 1-2 seconds, it would de-throttle and coast back down to 5mph.

I charged the batteries overnight again. Same issue the next day, but maybe a little better. Couldn't tell. I parked the cart for two days, not on the charger. When I tried it yesterday, it worked fine. I wondered if it got wet and took a few days to dry out.

Second ride after the lift kit
I took it out again today. The trails were still very wet, but I went slower and tried to keep things dry. After about 30 minutes, I had a pretty sudden loss of ~50% power. I limped back home and did some diagnostics. I did some reading here, and did what I've learned so far. Voltage readings were 49V at rest and 47 under load. Then I disconnected the 3-wire computer connector and ran a jumper from the yellow solenoid to the controller negative post. The cart still had little power. I checked the motor controller yellow/green wires for resistance. My readings were 7300/1200 ohms, which seem close enough.

I didn't plug in the charger. I want to see if it dries out and runs properly within a few days. If this doesn't work, I can charge the batteries and see if that fixes it.

Ideas?

Then I disconnected the 3-wire computer connector and ran a jumper from the yellow solenoid to the controller negative post. The cart still had little power.

Why did you run this jumper wire?

[ticklechicken]

I read online that this was a way to bypass the computer. If the symptoms disappear, then the computer is bad.

EDIT - Here's the video where I found that test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4VCrQyFSDM&t=4m56s

Just realized I posted this on EZGO, not Club Car. Can someone move this?