2002 EzGo Elect loses total power when the accelerator is fully depressed

[jdrich12]

My 2002 EZGO electric loses all motor power (not lights, etc.) when I am driving. It does this mostly when the charge is low. Ex. When accelerating from a stop, the cart will lunge forward for just a moment then lose power while the accelerator is still pressed. It does this from a dead stop or when driving slow but then accelerating. It will also do it on a hill just driving normal but trying to accelerate (not from a stop). Batteries are not new but they're in decent shape. I'm new to the cart world and don't know if it's the controller, solenoid, or what. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[Helirich]

A lot of controllers have a minimum voltage. So if you are just above it and you hit the throttle, it will jump. But then the voltage goes down. If it goes low enough to hit the minimum, you lose all power. If you let off, the batteries will recover shortly and you can go. The next time it does it, try pushing real eazy on the throttle. You might be able to keep it above the minimum.

[jdrich12]

Thank you, Helirich !!

[Clemsoncartguy]

I was thinking just what HRICH said. Your probably bumping up against minimum voltage. And harder acceleration causes the batteries to drop below that number and then it dies. That's why easy accelevation does not drop it below that amount and it runs.

[jdrich12]

Thank you Clemsoncartguy !!

[Volt_Ampere]

That feature keeps you from killing the controller when your batteries get too low or die on you.

[jdrich12]

Another issue just happened last night. I was taking the cart on a good cruise
and it started doing it again (losing power when the charge is a little low); the controller thing. Then while limping her back home I lost all electric motor power all together. It was dead as a door-nail. I was going up a hill, the low voltage controller thing kicking in. However, I put it in reverse and had no power in reverse. I was on a steep hill facing uphill; I thought going in reverse downhill backwards the motor would kick in since it would take virtually ziltch, or very low voltage to get this thing rolling downhill when I press the accelerator. But nothing happened (other than coasting backward via gravity). I coasted backward to the bottom of the hill and had no power what-so-ever. No power in forward; none in reverse (lights worked). So I got my Ford Explorer, got a friend, put the tow/go switch in tow mode, and towed her home. Now my charger will not kick-in to charge the low batteries. Anybody got any clue as what may have happened/failed??
Again, thank you guys very much!

[usgicollector]

If this is a 36v system the charger needs to see around 28v or it won't kick on. What is the pack voltage now?

[scottyb]

The cart has one or more bad batteries. This causes the bad battery(ies) to drop drastically in voltage under a load which causes the control try to save itself and the motor. You are doing your best to defeat the save.

This is potentially damaging to the the rest of the pack too. Here's what else is going on while driving with 1 or more bad battery(ies), the good batteries are being asked to make up for the lack of power from the bad batteries. And since voltage has dropped Amperage draw must increase to make up for the loss in voltage to run the motor. Now it's making an extreme demand on the remaining good battery(ies)

Charge needs to see a min amount of voltage before it will come on. What is the voltage reading on the pack now?

[Clemsoncartguy]

Take your car charger and charge them 2 at the time till you have a decent charge on them then hook cart charger up.

You either have very dead batteries AR like Scotty said one or more dead ones.