08’ 48v txt smoking, motor hot

[Jeverall]

Thank you, Fortunately, I have not been able to replicate the smoking issue. Coming off the "full charge" 50.65 I floored it for about 50 yards. My reading went down to 49.76, then I drove it for about a half mile, and my reading is now 49.63. I went down 1 notch on battery indicator. I am not comfortable taking out/apart that motor. I did clean all around it yesterday. My wife said she smelled the burning pretty much immediately, (within a couple hundred of yards). Now she is super nervous about getting back on the cart, especially with my daughters. I feel like it was a fluke incident, maybe from sitting on the charger for multiple days and the charger didn't kick off and possible batteries boiled over?

[ThreeCW]

Maybe post a picture of your motor tag so we can dig some specs on it.

I missed the fact that this is a 6 passenger shuttle ... it looks like a pretty big motor ... you certainly should not have been overloading it in 5 minutes with only 1.25 passengers .

Given your flat terrain, light load and hefty motor ... that motor should not have even been warm.

Something else is happening in your incident.

Brain storming here ... any chance of a dragging brake or the parking brake being on?

[ThreeCW]

Maybe jack up the rear end and see that everything is rotating freely.

With both rear tires jacked off the ground, try engaging it VERY LIGHTLY in reverse and forward. CAUTION - DO NOT OVER REV as in an unloaded situation, the motor can quickly reach it maximum RPM limit ... above that limit, they can often come apart !!

[bronsonj]

Jeverall, give each battery cable a decent tug on each end to see if one of them comes loose. They can look good but still be bad. There was one battery cable in your initial photo that seemed to have quite a bit of corrosion on it. I'd look at that one a bit more than the others.

Do you have a thermal temperature gun? Point it around your battery tray to see what's the hottest part. I'd doubt it was your motor unless someone was driving with the e-brake on. I'm wondering if there is a bad cable and she was smelling the insulation on the cable getting hot.

Lastly, issues that cause smoke don't generally fix themselves. Unless it was the e-brake on while driving... Good luck!

[bronsonj]

In the attached pic I circled the cable I think looks suspect. Also circled are the big cables that spin the motor going past a metal corner on the battery tray. While you are there check that spot to see if any of the protective insulation has rubbed off of the cables and if so correct as necessary.

[Jeverall]

Originally Posted by ThreeCW

Maybe post a picture of your motor tag so we can dig some specs on it.

I missed the fact that this is a 6 passenger shuttle ... it looks like a pretty big motor ... you certainly should not have been overloading it in 5 minutes with only 1.25 passengers .

Given your flat terrain, light load and hefty motor ... that motor should not have even been warm.

Something else is happening in your incident.

Brain storming here ... any chance of a dragging brake or the parking brake being on?

ThreeCW for the win.. My wife just got home and acknowledged she likely drove with the parking brake engaged. Phew...

THANK YOU ALL to those who contributed. Sorry for being such a novice at this stuff. If anything else this experience forced me to get a hand held DVM, clean my batteries&cables.
I didn’t realize so much went into maintaining these things ... it’s like having a pet.




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[Cobra,1]

One thing I learned on this site is battery maint. Is key along with Multimeter to trouble shoot.
Almost like owning a pet except my cart never dug holes in yard or pooped in house lol😊

[ThreeCW]

Originally Posted by Jeverall

My wife just got home and acknowledged she likely drove with the parking brake engaged. Phew...

Not an uncommon problem ... I have actually done that myself. I have a sensor and alarm in my shop that I plan to install on my cart to tell me when the park brake is engaged while in Forward or Reverse. With more than one person using our cart, it will be a handy reminder.