Amps Volts and Controllers - oh my

[Dela]

Wondering what the difference between amps and volts are

My cart runs great for about 9 holes (approx 1.5 hours / 3 miles) and then starts to really slow down - batteries will go from full charge of 51 all the way down to 48 in that amount of time

Batteries are only 6 months old - Crowns - CR-165 / AH rating 165 (20 hours) AH rating 140 (5 hours)

Running an Alltrax 500 with FSIP motor... would running fast on and off for an hour kill the batteries that much? Should it?

Thanks

[mgray70]

I like to use water in a water hose to explain it to people that don't understand it. Volts is the water pressure on the hose. Amps is the water flow (GPM). You can have the pressure (volts) at the end of the hose but but no flow (amps) until you open the nozzle. A bad connection like corroded terminal is like a kink in the hose. Amp hours AH is how much water you have in the tank. Those 165AH should be getting you more than 9 holes.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Fairtax4me]

What charger are you using?

Amps and voltage are related but nothing the same. In your case you seem to be asking more about the relationship of Amp Hour rating of the pack vs the voltage of the pack. The AH rating is a measure of capacity, and that AH rating translates into run time if you consider other factors such as the power draw from accessories (radio, lights, etc) and the overall power draw from the carts motor. There is no calculation for this because the power demand varies by how far you drive, how heavy your foot is, how many bumps are blasting out of your stereo, etc.

Starting at 51v is no guarantee that the pack is fully charged to its full amp hour capacity, but with a pack that is relatively new it should be pretty close to what is considered a 100% state of charge. This is where the charger comes into play, because having the wrong charger will affect the full charge capacity of the pack, but may still show that the pack is “full” based only on taking a voltage measurement, when really it may not be at a complete full charge.

At a 165Ah rating I would say those batteries are far less than Enough power for a cart that is modded with a higher output controller and modified motor. A stock motor and controller are usually paired with a 170Ah battery pack, which on a totally stock cart should give enough battery for about 36 holes and enough to drive back to the garage afterwards.

With a modded cart, the electrical demand on the battery pack is higher, more amps are drawn from the pack, which shortens run time considerably, and will be even further reduced when paired with a lower capacity pack. Anything under 170Ah is sub-par for golf cart standards. You might be able to get by with the lower capacity, if you are only running perfectly flat ground, and can manage to keep your foot out of the skinny pedal more, but in the end you will get considerably longer run time and longer overall battery pack service life by bumping up to a 180 or even a 190 Ah pack to provide more available power for the motor/controller combo you have.