1999 DCX cart surges when cold

[charlie9092000]

I have a 1999 ezgo 36 volt ( new battery's) with an Alltrax DCX400 controller.
When you run the cart for the first time of the day it surges for about 50' after that it runs fine.

The battery's were replaced in April this year, cart will run 25 mph on flat ground. Do i have a controller issue , motor or maybe cable ?

Please let me hear your thoughts on this.

Charlie

[JohnnieB]

If you are running a stock motor, it's 20 years old and probably needs to be serviced.

[charlie9092000]

It is the stock motor and we have put lots of miles on it since we got it 5 years ago.
Are you suggesting having the motor rebuilt or the purchase of a new one?

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by charlie9092000

It is the stock motor and we have put lots of miles on it since we got it 5 years ago.
Are you suggesting having the motor rebuilt or the purchase of a new one?

If the cart's performance is satisfactory when it is running normally, no need for a new motor. Just remove it from the cart and take it to your local electric motor repair shop and have them replace brushes (and dress commutator if needed), replace bearing and give a thorough cleaning.

In all honesty, I'm only about 94% sure the problem is the motor, but it is the only thing I can think of that can produce the symptoms you stated. There's about a 5% chance it could be the DCX controller and about 1% it is something else. Servicing the motor is relatively inexpensive and after 20 years of use, it needs it.

If you want more torque and speed you can replace the motor, or up the battery pack to 42V or 48V the next time you replace the batteries, or both.

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure it is the motor causing the problem, so the problem may still exist after the motor is rebuilt or replaced and we'll have to troubleshoot from there.

[charlie9092000]

That sounds like I good plan I will do that once the weather cools up here.

[cgtech]

Are we sure it's not a funky ITS? (Throttle sensor)..

[cgtech]

I was going to suggest getting a cable & hooking up to the controller. But, Alltrax's site doesn't seem to have a link to "Controller Pro" software anymore, so I can't even suggest what versions of windows it might work with (after Win 7, which I use it with, and a "gigaware" USB cable-to-serial adapter, since no laptop has had a serial port for a decade or more). Bummer for lost support. I'm sure if you called, they would happily oblige, but lame that it's "hidden secrets", buried where we can't find it. No "software download" page like in the past on their website. Not meeting the spirit of what I thought of Alltrax.

[charlie9092000]

I have the cable , I used it to turn on "turbo mode" when I first installed the controller. I don't have the software anymore it was on a laptop I no longer have.

What your saying is if I can or someone can help me get the software then I can view what voltage ITS sensor is putting out?

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by charlie9092000

I have the cable , I used it to turn on "turbo mode" when I first installed the controller. I don't have the software anymore it was on a laptop I no longer have.

What your saying is if I can or someone can help me get the software then I can view what voltage ITS sensor is putting out?

You can probably get Alltrax to send you a copy of the "Controller Pro" program, but I'm not sure if it ran on anything later than Win-7.

You can watch the throttle in put to the DCX with a DVM.
Connect the test leads to the black and white wires and you ought to see 10V with pedal up and 6V with pedal on floor.

Pins 1 & 2 on top of DCX.