New to carts, and searching HELP

[Ky07ezcamper]

New to cart ownership and of course this group. Let me start with my rig 2007 txt series 36v/with 18 x 9.5 tires, no lift, utility bed, Sams club batteries less than year old. 20lbs PSI in tires and am at 13 MpH by Waze. Now to where I want to be....22x10 tires and 6” lift with more torque....From what I have gathered so far a controller,solenoid, maybe F/R switch are my most logical steps to gain the torque I hope for. With possibly a motor later on down line. I am a “simpler the better” type person so would a Curtis or Alltrax in a 400or 500 amp configuration be my best bet ? Or are there other manufacturers Out there I have missed. Use will be campground, neighborhood, and hunting commuter through fields. No heavy off road stuff. Thank you in advance!

[cgtech]

A larger controller would gain you some torque, at least 25%, but not any speed. It also would not improve your uphill speed loss situation (all series carts exhibit this, so even tho you didnt specifically mention that, I decided to cover it anyway). A bigger controller is the gateway to unlocking future possibilities (the stock controller is pretty hopeless). Speaking of controllers, which one do you have? 2 were available from the factory. The better one (400a) is in a black aluminum body, the smaller/weaker one is in a plastic housing, most have the smaller one. Just to put the bigger tires on there, your initial upgrades should include a heavy duty solenoid, a heavy duty f&r switch, a new set of all cables (4g or larger). The stock components I mentioned replacing were barely adequate for golf use on stock tires.

[Ky07ezcamper]

Minimizing the uphill speed loss is my ultimate goal. Notice I said minimizing. which from all I’ve read is best case scenario. That is why I’m looking to gain torque I’m fine with the speed if able to maintain it while on an incline. I’m am not sure which factory controller I have but will be looking tomorrow. So does it boil down to personal preference on the Curtis or altrax ? At this point I’m just trying to wrap around everything.

[cgtech]

Your current motor will lose just about the same amount of speed up a hill, no matter what controller you put in front of it, and it will only get worse with big tires. The torque gain you would get with a bigger controller is the torque to accelerate faster from a stop, climb over a rock, or hop over a log at low speeds, not speed loss on hills. By the time that the motor rpm is at "speeding up a hill" speeds, all the controllers are able to feed all the motor wants (within reason, some are better than others, like 1-2 mph), and no upgrade ones will do much better than stock as far as speed loss on hills goes. The motor draws max power when at low speeds, like jumping away from a stop sign, or climbing over a rock, its power draw actually diminishes as its speed increases. Its draw is around 80-120a when at full speed, well below the rating of even stock controllers. The controller of choice in my opinion is the alltrax, because of its flexibility to suit most any need, and its tuneability with any PC laptop. (The curtis controllers that can be tuned require expensive tools to do so).

I think your next move is to measure your battery pack voltage, in your current configuration, while going
up the steepest hill you regularly see. (Not while sitting in the garage). Before you spend a penny on upgrades, be sure batteries are healthy first. All the upgraded parts in the world cant do a thing without a good power source. I know you already told us "how old" they were, but, do they perform well currently? Only a little testing can verify that. I can say from experience, doing upgrades only to find out the batteries weren't "as good as we thought they were" is the biggest let-down ever....

[Sir Nuke]

Ky07ezcamper.....once upon a time, I was in a very similar situation...although the cart I had just bought already had the larger tires and lift done, and new batteries (36v pack)...I needed to do the upgrades you are wishing to do.

The advice cgtech has given you is on the money, I would like to add a few more things to consider.

First I would highly suggest you use an Alltrax Controller....and a 500a model. its better to have a bit more than you need, than need it and not have it. the price difference if minimal.....and it would better suited for possible other upgrades in the future. the same goes for the Solenoid, HD F&R, and I would suggest 2 ga. cables.

Second...considering your batteries are fairly new.....and if you find yourself still in need of more torque/speed, you can make the jump now to 48v by adding 2 more 6v batteries (which you would need to make a mount in the bed, seeing as how you don't have a bagwell), and of course you would need a 48v charger as well. the bump to 48v will increase your torque and speed by roughly 33%.

HOWEVER, if you just go with 36v for now (like I did, and waited to go to 48v at my next battery change out) ....and intend to eventually go to a 6-8v, 48v configuration....when buying you new cables, buy the new cables for that setup (48v) as a few of them are a bit longer but can used in your current 36v configuration. the reason being, if you look at a 8v battery vs. 6v battery, you will see that on 6v batteries the posts are on opposite sides, where as on 8v batteries they are on the same sides.

on a final note....once its all said and done....you still will have the options of changing out the motor as well.

[Ky07ezcamper]

Originally Posted by cgtech

Your current motor will lose just about the same amount of speed up a hill, no matter what controller you put in front of it, and it will only get worse with big tires. The torque gain you would get with a bigger controller is the torque to accelerate faster from a stop, climb over a rock, or hop over a log at low speeds, not speed loss on hills. By the time that the motor rpm is at "speeding up a hill" speeds, all the controllers are able to feed all the motor wants (within reason, some are better than others, like 1-2 mph), and no upgrade ones will do much better than stock as far as speed loss on hills goes. The motor draws max power when at low speeds, like jumping away from a stop sign, or climbing over a rock, its power draw actually diminishes as its speed increases. Its draw is around 80-120a when at full speed, well below the rating of even stock controllers. The controller of choice in my opinion is the alltrax, because of its flexibility to suit most any need, and its tuneability with any PC laptop. (The curtis controllers that can be tuned require expensive tools to do so).


I think your next move is to measure your battery pack voltage, in your current configuration, while going
up the steepest hill you regularly see. (Not while sitting in the garage). Before you spend a penny on upgrades, be sure batteries are healthy first. All the upgraded parts in the world cant do a thing without a good power source. I know you already told us "how old" they were, but, do they perform well currently? Only a little testing can verify that. I can say from experience, doing upgrades only to find out the batteries weren't "as good as we thought they were" is the biggest let-down ever....

Thank you for that clear explanation! I haven’t read it explained that way. Now to study how to perform the testing on the incline

[Ky07ezcamper]

Originally Posted by Sir Nuke

Ky07ezcamper.....once upon a time, I was in a very similar situation...although the cart I had just bought already had the larger tires and lift done, and new batteries (36v pack)...I needed to do the upgrades you are wishing to do.

The advice cgtech has given you is on the money, I would like to add a few more things to consider.

First I would highly suggest you use an Alltrax Controller....and a 500a model. its better to have a bit more than you need, than need it and not have it. the price difference if minimal.....and it would better suited for possible other upgrades in the future. the same goes for the Solenoid, HD F&R, and I would suggest 2 ga. cables.

Second...considering your batteries are fairly new.....and if you find yourself still in need of more torque/speed, you can make the jump now to 48v by adding 2 more 6v batteries (which you would need to make a mount in the bed, seeing as how you don't have a bagwell), and of course you would need a 48v charger as well. the bump to 48v will increase your torque and speed by roughly 33%.

HOWEVER, if you just go with 36v for now (like I did, and waited to go to 48v at my next battery change out) ....and intend to eventually go to a 6-8v, 48v configuration....when buying you new cables, buy the new cables for that setup (48v) as a few of them are a bit longer but can used in your current 36v configuration. the reason being, if you look at a 8v battery vs. 6v battery, you will see that on 6v batteries the posts are on opposite sides, where as on 8v batteries they are on the same sides.

on a final note....once its all said and done....you still will have the options of changing out the motor as well.

Thanks for your reply, was your change to to 48v done in steps or as a whole? Since you talked about cables, I intend on making my own 2ga cables, but for whatever reason I’m not seeing that mentioned being done a lot, is that something else I’m missing ? I’m not going to buy something I can make on my own.

[orangeman6]

To test your batteries, get some alligator clips to attach to the dmm leads. Fully charge your pack and wait 12 hours without driving the cart to let the surface charge dissipate. Record the pack voltage and each individual battery voltage. Attach the leads to pack main +, - then head up a good hill. Record what the pack voltage is dropping to when the cart is under a heavy load. Repeat for each battery.

You can make your own cables. There are lots of guys here that have done it, myself included. Make sure you get high quality welding cable. You can get it on ebay or online suppliers.

You can upgrade in stages, you just cant make 48v your first upgrade. You can start with the controller, cables, solenoid, f/r, then go to 48v.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by Ky07ezcamper

Thanks for your reply, was your change to to 48v done in steps or as a whole? Since you talked about cables, I intend on making my own 2ga cables, but for whatever reason I’m not seeing that mentioned being done a lot, is that something else I’m missing ? I’m not going to buy something I can make on my own.

when I did my upgrade (rebuild) as I mentioned I had bought a new set of batteries....so I left it at 36v, but I did the rest all at the same time....including the motor, then went to 48v when I need a new pack 5 1/2 years later.

as far as making your own cables, make sure you use as a minimum 600 strand welding cable.

here is my total build....its just like your cart....or at least awful close.

MY FIRST CART

[handtools]

I have a utility bed on my cart and my 2 extra batteries are in the bagwell, and I also made my own cables.

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