Are Curtis controllers junk?

[w4thm]

I'm looking at my options to modernize a 1973 Vanguard (Club Car) Sport Coupe.

The cart weighs 988lbs. It rides on 4.80-12" trailer tires so it does have a rather low rolling resistance on pavement which is where it will be used. Being in South Fl, we have no hills. My intended use for the cart (or car technically as this thing was originally sold) is cruising the neighborhood and an occasional 5 mile round trip. Two adults, all flat roadway.

I spent some time on the phone with a fellow at cartszone.com and learned a bit about an Alltrax kit. The Alltrax stuff seems top notch but I'm not sure I need to go so fancy.

While researching controllers, I found this kit..
https://www.nocoev.com/product/1205M...assemblage.htm

Seems like a darn good deal considering I get everything I need in one package. It uses a Curtis controller which I'm guessing is what's stock in many carts? The kit is $590 with a 500A controller versus $720 for the Alltrax kit with a 300A controller. I'll be upping this cart from 36v to 48v for some extra pep.

Opinions?

[Golf cart guy]

So I work on golf carts every day. Ive never been an altrax fan. If I was into selling a customer a controller and making a bunch of money on it and didn't care how long it lasted, I would have sold altrax controllers. The reality is, I used Curtis stuf and so much of it could be upgraded to do what I needed it to do and it was better than the aftermarket stuff I wasn't fooled by the hype. It was also great when I saw a altrax catch on fire and then sell the customer a a new Curtis controller and tell them they wont have that issue again.

[teecro]

I've no other experience beyond installing a 500 amp Curtis 1268 in my CC but it has been absolutely trouble free since installation in 2014

[nickdalzell1]

They're junk on EZGO RXVs. We replace far more dead 1206AC-5201s on the new RXVs over the older Danaher controllers. I think an RXV really needs more than 230 Amps of controller IMO.

I personally miss resistor cars. That's what I learned on and if a customer installs a radio and shorts anything, the worst that happens is they're out $100 for a solenoid and some wire. Or a resistor or an accel board. If they hack into the harness of an RXV or TXT T48 they're out a grand or more. Also, the amount of equipment and time to diagnose a controller cart is awful. The handhelds can tell you it's the throttle sensor but it'll be the speed sensor or the key switch. It can take hours to diagnose on a modern car what used to take 10 minutes on a resistor car.

These are golf carts for crying out loud. They are a simple machine designed to do a simple thing. Why are they using Drive-by-wire and stupid electric motor brakes?!

I hate to be 'that guy' but I hate solid state golf cars. Customers are getting cheaper but parts on modern cars are far more expensive. But today and this week was a good week. Two resistor cars and one 2-cycle. Little did I know how much I missed those and how easy they are to repair compared to modern garbage.

[w4thm]

Nick,

I'm new to carts but been around auto mechanics all my life and do electronics as a hobby. I can see your frustration with some of the electronic carts but this system I'm looking at cant be any easier to diagnose. The pedal is 3 wires and it's nothing more than a volume control. a simple ohm meter can diagnose it. whats left? solenoids and a magic box. if you can read a schematic, you can troubleshoot it.

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so anyways, looks i'm gonna go with that Curtis setup then. i like the fact it all comes prebuilt and mounted on a slab of aluminum.

[DaveTM]

FWIW, I've been running my Alltrax controller since 2009. So that's 11 years of trouble free use.

I've adjusted the settings in the controller when I installed my lithium batteries and set LV settings as a backup to my BMS. I've also limited the amps the controller will provide in "big" use draws in order to stretch the drive time without hurting performance.

It's been a real champ!! And I can't comment more positively on Alltrax support. Even for a novice like me their team is very patient and very good at helping you understand what the controller will do.

FWIW