Navitas ac conversion kit

[Fairtax4me]

If you have any hills a 2g cable set is pretty much required. On flat ground the motor doesn’t typically pull enough amps to need them, but on a hill that AC setup will still run upper 25+mph and pull enough amps to get 4g cables pretty hot.

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Originally Posted by alangsam

My cart came with 4ga. Wires get warm not hot. I have the 2 ga welding cable and logs just have gotten around to making the cables. My batteries are the 170ah interstate about 18 mos old. Will be going lithium at some point.

Won’t try to go faster until I get front discs and seatbelts for every seat. I also notice that at nigbt you can. Out drive the headlights it’s going so fast

So you currently have the stock cables in the cart, correct?

Do you know what kind of voltage your battery pack holds at top speed (not under acceleration, but once you've maxed out and are just holding that speed) on level pavement?

The Navitas app displays battery voltage if you don't have a meter.

Thanks for sharing the details of your installation.

[Fairtax4me]

Stock cables are 6g. 4g are upgraded cables for most carts.

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Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

Stock cables are 6g. 4g are upgraded cables for most carts.

As far as I can tell my 2018 Onward has 4 gauge cables, unless the insulation is unusually thick. Haven't been able to read any printed text on the cables themselves so going by diameter. Maybe they put 4 on factory lifted carts?

Seems like the big 23" tires would create enough additional amp draw to maybe warrant them using larger wire - just a guess though.

[alangsam]

Have 18.77 diameter tires. My cart came with 4ga I am positive. It’s a stretch cart.
My pack voltage off the charger is 51.0v the volts get as low as 44 max acceleration and 47 at 31 mph level ground. I bet that with 23 “ tires this cart would do high 30’’s.

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Originally Posted by alangsam

Have 18.77 diameter tires. My cart came with 4ga I am positive. It’s a stretch cart.
My pack voltage off the charger is 51.0v the volts get as low as 44 max acceleration and 47 at 31 mph level ground. I bet that with 23 “ tires this cart would do high 30’’s.

What motor RPM are you turning at WOT / 31mph ?

Thanks

[alangsam]

7000

[alangsam]

Motor is rated to 9000! Incredible. No brushes or armature to fly apart.

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Originally Posted by alangsam

Motor is rated to 9000! Incredible. No brushes or armature to fly apart.

Thanks for the additional info.

I installed the same Navitas 5KW AC conversion into my Onward last week, but haven't had a lot of time to drive / adjust it so wanted to wait a bit to give my first impressions.

My cart is a 2018 factory lifted Onward 4 passenger, which has the 23" Kraken / Kenda all terrain tires. It has the PD Plus "Club Car" batteries, which I believe are US battery models. Stock cables are 4 gauge in my case.

The cart is stock except for the Navitas 5KW AC kit (600 amp controller, 5KW AC motor and an On the Fly programmer unit) and a HD solenoid I installed at the same time.

Many thanks to forum member David Hicks and Revolution Golf Car for helping me get this all together and sourcing the components. We knew this was going to be a bit of an experiment, as info on this system is scarce, but having his expertise at the ready made it all very easy.

As I still haven't had much drive time, I'll try and keep this fairly brief initially.

Acceleration:
B+ I'd say. The large tires on my cart I think are the limiting factor. Much quicker than stock, but it's not going to throw anybody out. More than adequate for my use (neighborhood commuting). Pretty quick from 0-23 or so, less so from 23 to max speed.

Speed:
I'm hitting peaks of 31 (GPS), but I'd say normal flat road real world conditions would be closer to 29-30. This is just me in the cart, windshield up, 15 PSI in all 4 tires.

Other:
There can be some mild to moderate jerkiness to the regen when decelerating slightly (but not taking your foot completely off the accelerator). You can adjust most of it out by dialing regen back, and if you learn how to gently ease off the accelerator, you can pretty much eliminate it even with higher regen. You can eliminate it completely if you back off the regen most or all the way. If you decelerate by taking your foot completely off the pedal, there is no issue at any regen setting that I've tried. There is an "analog brake gain" in the bluetooth app, and after a conversation with Navitas tech support, they say that could help - but I haven't found a setting that changes anything yet. Still have hardly any time on this - so don't take this as an issue because it likely isn't, but it should be mentioned.

Efficiency / Range:
Very much untested, but I can say that when programmed to duplicate the top speed (18 mph), regen and acceleration characteristics of the stock Club Car controller / motor, I can tell you that WOT voltage drop is less on the Navitas than stock - implying to me that range at those settings should be better. Probably not a lot better, but better. Just a guess really at this point on my part. At aggressive acceleration and speed settings (24 mph or more) you can pretty much watch the battery meter drop - not surprising - but I'm guessing it's probably the most efficient way to go that fast.

My batteries drop to about 43.5 volts at top speed, and can drop to 42 under hard acceleration, so speeds would definitely be higher if the batteries could deliver. My cables don't get hot at all - at least on short test rides - but they are slightly warm. Initial pack voltage is 50.8 generally. I read voltage from a digital meter I have on the dash - it is also available from the controller app, but I haven't looked at the readings to see if they agree. I know my meter is accurate.

My guess is that 23" tires coupled with the stock Onward gear ratio are bogging the motor a little bit, causing robust amp draw which is reducing voltage and not letting the motor RPMs get up a little more where it produces more HP.

I may try 2 gauge inter-battery and battery to controller cables, but I wouldn't expect it to change things a whole lot.

Cart does great at high speeds - super stable, no sway or squirrellyness whatsover.

Looking forward to some more drive time and tweaking parameters.

[alangsam]

Try 25 psi of air pressure.