97 Club Car Motor is Hot and Lights Dim

[rlpg]

Hi
I recently purchased. 97 Club Car 48 volt lifted. DS with an Altrax 500 Amp controller and upgrades motor (5.5 hp). While taking it out last night I noticed again that the lights dim under full acceleration. My cart pulls great and tops out at 23 mph. I have 22 x 8 x 11 mud tires ( that I plan on replacing).
When I got back home I felt the motor and it was hot to the touch.

Is it normal for the lights to dim under full acceleration? Should the motor be hot to the touch? I am not sure if the solenoid was replaced. How can I tell? I also noticed that one of terminals was warm to the touch. I have upgraded 4g and 2g wires through out.

Every time I have gone for ride this happens. I always plug the charger in and let it fully charge. The batteries are 2010.

Sorry for all the questions. I just wanted to supply as much information as I know.

Thanks for your help

[RPatten]

You said a terminal was hot. This happened to me when the terminal nut was coming lose and there was a bad connection. The electric could not properly flow so the energy turned to heat and melted the terminal. Check your battery terminal fittings.

At the time I had four mismatched batteries and old cables. This was the incentive to get new batteries and cables. That made a huge difference in performance. I am still un the process of breaking in the batteries and each day it has run better.

[sunoco]

You need to load test your batteries. Do you have 4 x 12v batts or 6 x 8v? Are the lights running on 8v, 12v, or 16v?

You said a terminal was hot - a terminal on the batts? Like RPatten said this could be cause by a loose connection. Make sure all battery cables (and all cables going to motor, controller, solenoid)

Which cables are 4ga and which are 2? Maybe 2ga throughout would help. Heat is usually cause by extra resistance.

If you have a lever style F/R you should probably replace it with a HD version. Check the connections on the back of it to see if there is any melting. Replace it before its an issue.

[rlpg]

Hi-I have 6 8 volt batteries and the lights are running on 12 volts. All of the cables on the batteries are 2 G (I just switched them over) and the all the other ones are 4 G. All of the terminals are tight and I just installed a new FNR switch that was bad.

Is it normal for the motor to be hot to the touch after running three miles?


I don't think the Solenoid was replaced when they did the motor, amp and cable upgrade. How do you know if it needs to be upgraded and can that cause the problems I was talking about?

Thanks

[sunoco]

So the lights are ran off of a 48v to 12v reducer? When you say you installed a new FNR switch do you mean you replaced the whole assembly or a micro switch on top?

The motor will probably be warm to the touch after a 3 mile continuous run. You should be able to place your hand on it and it not burn. I don't think the solenoid will cause the problem you are talking about but you should upgrade it to a heavy duty version (http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Custom_Options.html) Solenoid is on the bottom of the page.

[jjance]

About the lights dimming. You may be loading the battery pack too much with the new controller and 5.5hp motor. I'd recheck the battery charge and if necessary replace them. Anytime you push 500amps through something it is going to get warm. The more important issue is if you smell something burning.

[rlpg]

I think they are running off a 16-12 stock reducer and I did replace the entire FNR assembly. Will I notice any difference when I install the bigger solenoid? Is it difficult to install? The FNR switch was pretty easy.

Thanks

[93yellowclubcar]

Originally Posted by rlpg

I think they are running off a 16-12 stock reducer and I did replace the entire FNR assembly. Will I notice any difference when I install the bigger solenoid? Is it difficult to install? The FNR switch was pretty easy.

Thanks

If you're still running a stock solenoid with a 500 amp controller and a high HP motor, then the solenoid should be replaced with a HD one. The stock one is a weak link in your upgraded system, and it will choke down the flow through your cables to the motor and controler. It is about the same difficulty level of installation as the FNR switch.

[rlpg]

I have a feeling that the batteries may be weak. They charger turned off after a few hours after the three mile run. I haven't smelled anything burning but one of the positive battery posts looks like it has melted a little bit in the past. That is why I changed out the wiring on all of the batteries to 2GG. I just checked my batteries after sitting idle overnight and all are testing at 8.2-8.3. The front is testing at 48.5

[sunoco]

48.5 is about 55% charge