Thinking of an upgrade, suggestions?

[tankdogg60]

I have an '05 EZGO that I have now put on a mid lift kit, 20" AT tires w/ rims, and an Alltrax 400 amp controller. I am getting plenty of speed (25mph), but looking for a little more power as far as climbing hills, etc. Where I hunt has some steep terrain. With just me it's fine, but with a passenger it gets to be a strain, in some situations they have to step off due to loss of power. I have heard send my motor to Plum Quick and get it upgraded, I have also heard swap to 48v. What are your suggestions? If I have to swap to 48v, what all do I have to swap other than batteries and charger? I appreciate any advice!

[kernal]

In my experience the swap to 48v was an eye opener. I got more benefit for climbing hills than top speed although both were markedly better. Note,, however that my cart is used on pavement only with 18" tires and it is a "series" wound motor. I am assuming your cart is sepex.
Range is better with 6x190ah 8v batteries than it was with 6x225ah 6v batteries.

For conversion you would need a 48v capable solenoid, resister, plus the mentioned batteries and charger. Also a 48v SOC meter, if you want one.

[Sir Nuke]

Kernal hit the nail on the head.....

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by tankdogg60

I have an '05 EZGO that I have now put on a mid lift kit, 20" AT tires w/ rims, and an Alltrax 400 amp controller. I am getting plenty of speed (25mph), but looking for a little more power as far as climbing hills, etc. Where I hunt has some steep terrain. With just me it's fine, but with a passenger it gets to be a strain, in some situations they have to step off due to loss of power. I have heard send my motor to Plum Quick and get it upgraded, I have also heard swap to 48v. What are your suggestions? If I have to swap to 48v, what all do I have to swap other than batteries and charger? I appreciate any advice!

You must be running low pressure 20" tires if you are only getting 25MPH with an an Alltrax controller (DCX?).

The controller alone, ups the speed of a PDS on stock height (18") tires at 36V to 24 MPH and, mathematically, upping the height to 20" ought to up the speed to nearly 29.5 MPH. Taller tires take more torque to turn, so even with high pressure tires, the theoretical top speed isn't likely to be reach, but you are only getting a 4% increase in speed instead of a 22%.

The magic Plum Quick does with stock motors is amazing, but you may want to consider upgrading to a more robust motor based on a longer frame than the stock motor.

Also, using seven 6V batteries for 42V is an option.

[scottyb]

[QUOTE=JohnnieB; .........

Also, using seven 6V batteries for 42V is an option.[/QUOTE]

And a darn good option at that. We love our 42v PDS with DCX400 control & D&D motor

[tankdogg60]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

You must be running low pressure 20" tires if you are only getting 25MPH with an an Alltrax controller (DCX?).

The controller alone, ups the speed of a PDS on stock height (18") tires at 36V to 24 MPH and, mathematically, upping the height to 20" ought to up the speed to nearly 29.5 MPH. Taller tires take more torque to turn, so even with high pressure tires, the theoretical top speed isn't likely to be reach, but you are only getting a 4% increase in speed instead of a 22%.

The magic Plum Quick does with stock motors is amazing, but you may want to consider upgrading to a more robust motor based on a longer frame than the stock motor.

Also, using seven 6V batteries for 42V is an option.

I'm not sure of the tire pressure, the place I bought them from said they were a soft tire. The controller doesn't have the turbo turned on, not sure if that's the reason I'm not getting anymore speed. Before the controller o was only running 13, so it's way faster than it was. So I can add a 7th battery without any harm?

[tankdogg60]

As far as my speed goes, that's based on GPS speed app on my smart phone. Seems accurate in my truck.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by tankdogg60

I'm not sure of the tire pressure, the place I bought them from said they were a soft tire. The controller doesn't have the turbo turned on, not sure if that's the reason I'm not getting anymore speed. Before the controller o was only running 13, so it's way faster than it was. So I can add a 7th battery without any harm?

Just want to verify that have a PDS cart. Does it have a rocker switch for F/R and a Run/Tow switch?

Your Alltrax controller will operate from 24V to 48V, but an increase in pack voltage will require a different battery charger and may require a different solenoid.

The Super-Duty solenoid I have (400A continuous/1000A peak) operates on 36V, 42V and 48V, so I didn't have to change it when I went from 36V to 42V.

The 42V DPI charger I have, uses the same transformer as the 48V, so I can got can be upgraded to 48V by changing the 42V output PC Board in it to a 48V one. Granted, it is an expensive PC board, but it is a lot cheaper than a completely new charger if I ever decide to go to 48V.

I goofed when I saifd the top speed ought to be 29.5 MPH, I was looking at 22" tires. With 20" tires, the top speed would be 27.5 MPH, so 25 MPH without Turbo turned on is probably be about right.

In your first post, you mentioned occasionally climb hills were the passenger has to get off to make it to the top. Some of that issue might be your battery pack voltage dropping under load and/or bottlenecks in the Amp deliver system (High current cables and connection), but the 20" tires decreases the torque available where rubber meets the road by 10%.

I run 17" tires on my cart, so I get a 6% increase in available torque and my cart will spin the tires before the motor will stall climbing a hill.

[tankdogg60]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Just want to verify that have a PDS cart. Does it have a rocker switch for F/R and a Run/Tow switch?

Your Alltrax controller will operate from 24V to 48V, but an increase in pack voltage will require a different battery charger and may require a different solenoid.

The Super-Duty solenoid I have (400A continuous/1000A peak) operates on 36V, 42V and 48V, so I didn't have to change it when I went from 36V to 42V.

The 42V DPI charger I have, uses the same transformer as the 48V, so I can got can be upgraded to 48V by changing the 42V output PC Board in it to a 48V one. Granted, it is an expensive PC board, but it is a lot cheaper than a completely new charger if I ever decide to go to 48V.

I goofed when I saifd the top speed ought to be 29.5 MPH, I was looking at 22" tires. With 20" tires, the top speed would be 27.5 MPH, so 25 MPH without Turbo turned on is probably be about right.

In your first post, you mentioned occasionally climb hills were the passenger has to get off to make it to the top. Some of that issue might be your battery pack voltage dropping under load and/or bottlenecks in the Amp deliver system (High current cables and connection), but the 20" tires decreases the torque available where rubber meets the road by 10%.

I run 17" tires on my cart, so I get a 6% increase in available torque and my cart will spin the tires before the motor will stall climbing a hill.

Yes it's a PDS cart with a run/tow switch and has the fwd/rev on the dash. The solenoid they sold me was a 200amp solenoid. They said at ev drives that's what I needed, I'm not sure that could handle 42v. I did upgrade to 2ga wiring on all battery and wiring coming to and from the motor when swapping the controller. But yes when I go up a steep grade my cart stalls out and won't hardly go, but on flatter terrain it seems to be pretty stout. I'm scared of burning up the motor. It does seem like I suddenly lose power. Someone told me it was due to being 36v. I was told by ev drives that there wasn't anything I could do to my controller to help with climbing hills.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by tankdogg60

Yes it's a PDS cart with a run/tow switch and has the fwd/rev on the dash. The solenoid they sold me was a 200amp solenoid. They said at ev drives that's what I needed, I'm not sure that could handle 42v. I did upgrade to 2ga wiring on all battery and wiring coming to and from the motor when swapping the controller. But yes when I go up a steep grade my cart stalls out and won't hardly go, but on flatter terrain it seems to be pretty stout. I'm scared of burning up the motor. It does seem like I suddenly lose power. Someone told me it was due to being 36v. I was told by ev drives that there wasn't anything I could do to my controller to help with climbing hills.

Sounds like you upgraded all 10 of the high current cables to 2Ga and you're using a 200A solenoid, so there shouldn't be any bottlenecks in the Amp delivery system.

The tell-tale sign of a bottleneck is heat, but some components warm up during normal operation and the motor can get hot. After a hard workout, the 2Ga cables may warm up to about 10°F above the ambient air temperature, but all 10 should feel about the same. The two heavy cables going to A1 & A2 on the motor might be slightly cooler since they carry the least amount of current. The solenoid gets warmer, but that is due to the current flow through the coil rather than the high current flowing through the contacts. The MOSFETs in the controller drop about 0.1V per 100A of current flow through them, so the controller warms up a bit more than the solenoid, but 110°F is the highest I've ever recorded on mine. On the other hand, the motor converts Amps into either motion or heat and it can (and does) get mighty hot. Hot enough to boil water!!!!

The max allowable temperature for the Class-H wiring in the motor is 356°F, but we don't typically have the ability to measure the temperature of the wiring itself, so we measure the case temperature and the max case temperature is 239°F. Hard acceleration, climbing steep inclines and creeping along at walking speed or less, is when the motor generate the most heat.

EV Drives' comment about the controller and climbing hills is essentially correct, buy only if both the Max Output Current and Top Speed sliders are set to 100%. Also, it has to have the correct Filed Map installed. The controller does not push Amps through the motor. Instead, it limits the number of Amps the motor is allowed to draw. What actually determines how many Amps are drawn by the motor is the motor's RPM and the mechanical workload being imposed on the motor.

When your cart is cruising on level ground at 25MPH, the motor is spinning at about 5200RPM and drawing somewhere in the 50A to 70A range. When you start climbing a hill, the mechanical workload increase and the motor slows until it reaches an RPM that allows it to draw the Amps needed to generate the torque needed. The max Amps your controller will allow the motor to draw is 400A, but the motor has to be loaded down to a very low RPM before it is capable of drawing that many Amps.

Bottom line is that your battery pack cannot produce the Amps needed or the motor cannot produce the torque needed at the RPM needed to climb the hill at an acceptable speed.

Connect a DVM to the battery pack and monitor the voltage while climbing a hill. It is going to drop, but it should stay above 1.75VPC (Volts per Cell) which is 31.5V for a 36V pack.

Also, measure the pack voltage and the individual battery voltages about 12 hours after the charger shuts off automatically.
The pack voltage should be 38.2V, each battery should be 6.37V and should be no more than 0.1V from the others.