PDS cart intermittently goes into limp mode

[coosa]

My 2008 PDS cart has been intermittently going into limp mode for a couple of years now, and seems to be doing it more often. It has a lift kit, 500 amp Alltrax DCS controller, Admiral motor, and upgraded wiring and solenoid. I am running it on 42 volts with Trojan t-105 batteries that have been maintained well and are in good shape. I replaced the its sensor, but that didn't fix it. The problem must be in the wiring or the controller itself. JohnnieB, if you read this it is the controller you helped me with before. It's getting some age on it so it could be the problem.

The cart runs great most of the time, but occasionally without rhyme or reason it will kick into limp mode and run about 5 mph. When it does this, I first turn everything to off and then back on and that will sometimes reset it and it runs normally for days. Sometimes that doesn't work, so the next thing I try is to take the positive cable from the last battery off, then put it right back on. Sometimes that resets it, but not always.

What has so far worked every time is to take all 3 of the connectors on the controller apart and spray inside each connection with electronic cleaner, let it sit a minute or so, then snap them back on. That always fixes it and it may run for a month before doing it again. It's done it 3 times in the past month, so I am concerned that the day is coming when none of my fixes are gonna work.

Does this sound like a controller going out, or could it possibly be a wiring issue? All of the connections look clean and shiny at the controller, but I haven't tried to check anywhere else. Is there any test I can run the next time it happens? It always seems to happen when I am far away from the house.

Thanks for any ideas.

[kgsc]

May be a harness issue if you are moving wires around and it works after that. Is it flashing any error codes or have you hooked up your computer to it?

[coosa]

Originally Posted by kgsc

May be a harness issue if you are moving wires around and it works after that. Is it flashing any error codes or have you hooked up your computer to it?

No error codes; I'm just getting the normal lights on the controller. I thought it could be something in the harness, but by the time I get it back home the problem is solved and I don't know if testing anything will tell me much.

I was just wondering if other folks have ever had an intermittent issue like this, and what the problem was.

[JohnnieB]

Are you cleaning all the plugs and jacks? The cart's wiring harness plugs into an adapter cable which in turn plugs into the DCX.

Did you change the Field Map when you went to the Admiral motor?
(If it is a B2, the map ought to be #45)


IIRC, there isn't many things that will cause a DCX to go into limp mode. They mostly just shut down instead. Contact Alltrax, they might still have some info about it.

Also, putting Run/Tow into Tow for a minute or so, ought to reset the DCX.

[coosa]

Thanks Johnnie B, I did add a new field map when I changed motors. The thing that always makes it run again is to clean the connections where the wiring harness plugs into the 3 adapter cables. What makes me think it could be something else is that I can clean them and make them all shine and 3 days later it does it again. I guess this is not something that happens often, so I may have to wait until it does for good before I can figure it out.

[JohnnieB]

If you still have what is needed to record a data log, and the intermittent problem starts occurring regularly, you might be able to capture the error codes on the data log.

You'll probably see some 0x10 and 0x84 codes, but IIRC they are routine and harmless according to Alltrax when I spoke with them back in 2014.