Loosing power going up hills

[uhpilot]

T105's I-9. Just bought em last month from the ezgo dealer in Jackson, MS. They just came in on the truck.

Had some J-4's in it and they would drop down to 30.5 or so.

Right now it has the steep hill "chip" in it.

It seems to get worse after I drive it a bit, not much. Could it be the motor getting hot or being worn out.

[roady89]

Even if the motor were wore out it would not explain the batt voltage dropping that low. Check each battery and post the voltages. Charge them fully and then let it sit at least an hour before checking them. Look on the controller and see if it is a rebuilt unit too.

[tonyton]

If you need any parts to "test" on it, let me know. I have solenoids and remanufactured controllers at the golf course. I know they are curtis, not sure of amps...Stock, I'm sure.
I have EZ GO PDS carts. You know where I am.
282-7666 Tony

[uhpilot]

Originally Posted by roady89

Even if the motor were wore out it would not explain the batt voltage dropping that low. Check each battery and post the voltages. Charge them fully and then let it sit at least an hour before checking them. Look on the controller and see if it is a rebuilt unit too.

If I had to bet I would say the contoller is rebuilt. It looks just like a stock curtis but it has a sticky label on the bottom that says 400a. I cant find a 400a curtis anywhere that looks like this one.

It might be where I have my voltmeter hooked up at. I have it hooked to the 1st positve and the last neg in the series. (ie. passenger side front battery pos and pass side back battery neg)

I was just thinking that if something was worn out electrically, that might be what is causing it to have so much draw on it.

Dunno??????

Thanks for your help

Ricky

[uhpilot]

Originally Posted by tonyton

If you need any parts to "test" on it, let me know. I have solenoids and remanufactured controllers at the golf course. I know they are curtis, not sure of amps...Stock, I'm sure.
I have EZ GO PDS carts. You know where I am.
282-7666 Tony

Thanks Tony, If I can't figure it out I might do that. Right now it's at my dad's in MS. So I'm wanting to figure it out before I go down there, He has dial-up internet and a slooowwww computer. So if I need to order something I wanted to do it before I go back down.


Thanks

Ricky

[roady89]

Originally Posted by uhpilot

If I had to bet I would say the contoller is rebuilt. It looks just like a stock curtis but it has a sticky label on the bottom that says 400a. I cant find a 400a curtis anywhere that looks like this one.

It might be where I have my voltmeter hooked up at. I have it hooked to the 1st positve and the last neg in the series. (ie. passenger side front battery pos and pass side back battery neg)

I was just thinking that if something was worn out electrically, that might be what is causing it to have so much draw on it.

Dunno??????

Thanks for your help

Ricky

If something were wore out that bad you should have things getting REAL hot....but you don't know because the cart isn't with you. A direct motor short will have a big amp draw, a faulty controller can cause a big amp draw. Weak batteries will show a big voltage loss. Even 1 bad cell will cause issues. If in fact you have a Steep hill chip and its not regening you have likely a faulty controller. Faulty motor can cause controller failure and vise versa. Depending on what is faulty may or may not explain the voltage loss under load.


FYI.
All Terrain 13-13.5 NO Chip
Steep Hill 13-13.5 heavy regen: Blue Chip. Wired pin 1 to pin 5
Mild Hill 14-14.5 mild regen: Yellow Chip. Wired pin 2 to pin 3
Freedom 17-19 NO regen: Red Chip. Wired pin 1 to pin 5 AND pin 2 to pin 3. (2 wires)

[uhpilot]

I had the voltage drop with the old batteries. That was the main reason I went ahead got new ones, thought it was the batteries. The new ones do a lot better.
After charging the batts (both new and old) I checked the individual batt readings (after a cool down period) and the old ones were reading 6.4 on three and 6.3 on one and 6.2 on the last two in line. The new ones all read 6.3-6.4.

I just got back Friday from driving it all week.

Should I start with controller and seloniod? or bite the bullet and get cont, selonoid, and motor.

I even installed an additional 12v deep cycle to run my lights and winch so I wouldnt draw off my driving batteries. As far as I know nothing else is hooked to the drive batts (except my voltmeter)


I really do appreciate your help. All my golf cart experience is......of course......on the golf course. But I do have a LOT of it there.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by uhpilot

I had the voltage drop with the old batteries. That was the main reason I went ahead got new ones, thought it was the batteries. The new ones do a lot better.
After charging the batts (both new and old) I checked the individual batt readings (after a cool down period) and the old ones were reading 6.4 on three and 6.3 on one and 6.2 on the last two in line. The new ones all read 6.3-6.4.

I just got back Friday from driving it all week.

Should I start with controller and seloniod? or bite the bullet and get cont, selonoid, and motor.

I even installed an additional 12v deep cycle to run my lights and winch so I wouldnt draw off my driving batteries. As far as I know nothing else is hooked to the drive batts (except my voltmeter)



I really do appreciate your help. All my golf cart experience is......of course......on the golf course. But I do have a LOT of it there.

What is the pack voltage BEFORE recharging? Are you aware of the 50% rule? Never draw the pack down BELOW 50% capacity

[uhpilot]

Oh yeh. I believe 50% is like 37.5 isn't it. Anyway I never drive it very far anyway and charge it over night each night. I believe it's no lower than 37.8 and most of the time not that low when I'm thru and charge it.

(edit- Just saw the chart you posted for me, thanks. The 37.5 I was thinking about is the 80% mark for new ones. Yeh, I got that chart and the chip info from the stickies at top of page. This website is full of info. I printed a lot of it for when I was at dads)

Didn't mean to imply I drove it all week without charging.

Not sure if this info will help but this is something else it did........

My dad and were easing around the woods for bout 30 min and went to ease up this one slight, but a little bumpy, incline. Well it wouldnt go. So he got out and I backed up some to try and get a little momentum but it still wouldn't.

So we just broke out a cold adult beverage and sat around shooting the breeze for about 15 min or so. When I tried again, it went on up the incline. Granted I didnt try ease up it but it didnt even feel like it was slowing down. ??????????

Thats when I figured the batts were bad and went and got new ones the next day.

But since it's still doing the same thing, but a little better, with new batts, I was figuring maybe it might be the motor acting up when it's warm or controler.

[uhpilot]

Originally Posted by roady89

You need a controller upgrade

What would be the best choice for a controller. From what I've read the Alltrax is the brand to go with but I can't decide on the amps?

I've read on here some say 500 is plenty and 600/650 is almost overkill. But I want to make sure I have enough for future upgrades. I might just go with controller first but will probably be upgrading motor soon also. Maybe a 48v at some point too.

Should I also go ahead and get a solenoid while I'm doing this since I'll have it off anyway when installing the controller?

Thanks again so much for your help.


Ricky