Alltrax Upgrade on 85 Club Car DS Still Slow

[Fleawest]

I recently gutted a 1985 Club Car DS. I replaced resistor solenoid setup with an Alltrax SR500 controller, new pot box (0-5K), FNR switch, 400amp solenoid, 2ga wiring and six 8V Napa golf cart batteries (GC8, 85 min. @ 75 amps). The motor was replaced by previous owner and is a 3.5HP Nidec GR1-4001.

The cart does about 10 mph uphill, 18 on flat and 26 downhill. I expected better uphill performance so I ran a controller data log while driving around. Going uphill the motor is only pulling 100amps. I thought the controller would be pushing hundreds of amps to the motor while under load to the point that I would need to limit the amps in the controller programming. Max battery & motor currents are set at 500amps. I'm not sure what is limiting things. Any ideas?

[Fairtax4me]

It’s basically a stock motor. 10mph up hill is about all she’ll chooch. Can’t pull a kangaroo out of a mouse.

The controller doesn’t “push” power to the motor, it just lets the motor pull as much as it can, which in this case is probably only going to be 100 amps. Motor amperage is limited by the design of the motor based on the number of windings and rated power output.

How much throttle percentage does the toolkit show? If it’s not reading 100% throttle then some adjustment on the throttle calibration may help.

[Fleawest]

Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

It’s basically a stock motor. 10mph up hill is about all she’ll chooch. Can’t pull a kangaroo out of a mouse.

The controller doesn’t “push” power to the motor, it just lets the motor pull as much as it can, which in this case is probably only going to be 100 amps. Motor amperage is limited by the design of the motor based on the number of windings and rated power output.

How much throttle percentage does the toolkit show? If it’s not reading 100% throttle then some adjustment on the throttle calibration may help.

Well that's good news I guess. I was concerned that the battery pack wasn't putting out the amps. Throttle is at 100%. I'll start looking into motors.

[Fairtax4me]

Napa batteries are not the greatest, but they are decent and should provide plenty of power. If they’re brand new they’ll need a few cycles to break in. Usually 15-20 cycles they should start to peak. You might pick up an extra mph or two after they’re broken in.
If you’re looking for a lot of hill power you need a torque motor. Speed sounds good on paper but you’ll suffer on the hills, especially if you have a lift and larger tires.