Hunting Cart Broke

[busman9]

1999 TXT 48V. Alltrax 4440 controller
The cart will go for a while and them start hesitating and the will quit. The green light and the controller flashes when taking off and then stays on solid green. I am thinking solenoid but it is clicking when the pedal is pushed. The solenoid has battery voltage on both post??? Please help there are deer to harvest

[JohnnieB]

Sounds like a battery issue.

1. What is the pack and individual battery voltages when measured about 12 hours after the charge shuts off?

2. Monitor the pack voltage while driving. It will drop a few volts when under load, but shouldn't drop below 42V.

3. What is the pack and individual battery voltages when measured about 15 minutes after the cart stops being driven?

[busman9]

Pack voltage when it quit was 50.3V Did not measure each battery. I let it sit in the field overnight and was able to drive it back to camp and the pack voltage while driving was 46.5V

[radioman]

Has the cart been exposed to rain or high humidity?

[busman9]

No rain or humidity. Problem occurred this week and suddenly. I checked the trottle micro switch. It was clean and dry. The problem seems to happen after vehicle has been driven for a while.

[JohnnieB]

Feel the studs on the F/R after driving around a bit.

If the feel hot, or some feel warmer than the others, you may have some F/R switch high current contact issues.

If your tires are taller than 18", the F/R takes quit a beating with a 400A controller.
Is it stock or HD?

[busman9]

All parts are from Scotty including the F/R switch,HD I tighten the center contact nut 1/4 off turn with no change.

[radioman]

The solenoid has a keep alive resistor across the big terminals to keep the controller charged and ready to go when you step on the accelerator. That is why you read voltage on both terminals all the time. Once the solenoid energizes it bypasses the resistor and puts solid power to the workings in the cart. When running you should have close to the same voltage on both big terminals as the positive battery pack terminal. You need to make some more voltage tests when the cart is acting up preferably with a deer you harvested to help load it down on the way back to the camp.

[JohnnieB]

Am I correct? The problem is repeatable and it happens after cart is driven for a while, but it heals itself when it sits for a while.

Since it stays broke for more than a few minutes when it fails, we ought to be able to narrow it down a bit with some voltage measurements while it is misbehaving.

Connect your DVM between the B- and M- terminals on the controller.
Since you have the pre-charge resistor installed, you'll read 3-5 volts less than pack voltage before the solenoid clicks and FULL pack voltage when the pedal is pushed just far enough to make the solenoid click.

If you don't have pack voltage between B- and M- when the cart is misbehaving, the problem is in the high current loop. (Cables, solenoid contacts, F/R contracts, motor and all the high current connections)

If you do have pack voltage when the solenoid first closes, but it doesn't decrease towards zero as the pedal is pushed, the problem is in the ITS or controller.

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What motor are you running? If it is stock, have the brushes ever been replaced?

[busman9]

Johnnie. You are correct that it happens after driving for while. I just drove up and down hills for 1 hour and it did not mid-behave. I did check all wires,solenoid,F/R and nothing was hot. I also looked at the ITS and was dry and not bad wires. I am running a stock motor and the brushes have not been replaced. ?????