Motor Sparking after Outdoor Storage

[dszklarek]

Complete amature, but need to diagnose issue and hopefully fix without having it towed and worked on.

Stored outdoors in Indiana with tarp style cover and under roof. First time today puttered, stopped, puttered some more stopped. When I push the accelerator, I can see severe sparking inside the motor. Noticed water on top of batteries after taking cover off.

Not sure what steps to take or what to check first. It is a two year old D&D motor.

Thank you for any help.

[WalterM6]

Noticed no mention of charging. You might need to charge before use. Probably should have had a battery tender of some sort on it in the frozen north. Sparking is common in motors w/brushes. Get a voltmeter to measure your battery voltage.

[dszklarek]

Sorry, yes, the batteries are fully charged and the meter on cart shows them. left a charger on it several times over winter.

The sparks look like almost mini fire to me.

I do have a multi meter and will look up that process.

Thank you

[WalterM6]

One other thought. Can you push the cart easily. Maybe the motor is in a stalled position and drawing max current. Oh and about charging. Charge them completely and let them rest for 12 to 24 hrs and see what the voltage is.

[dszklarek]

Battery pack is 50.3, so not them. I am thinking the motor got water or moisture over winter. So hoping it is not the motor, so expensive.

Pushing the cart seemed normal.

[WalterM6]

The water will dry. You can use a hair dryer to help.

[NCPW]

Originally Posted by dszklarek

Battery pack is 50.3, so not them. I am thinking the motor got water or moisture over winter. So hoping it is not the motor, so expensive.

Pushing the cart seemed normal.

How old and what kind of batteries do you have? 50.3V is only around 85% SOC.

[dszklarek]

They are are only a year old- last April. I need to check them again myself, I had my son text me the info, but it is not a battery charge issue. The motor makes a bad noise and sparks like crazy with cart just bumping an inch at a time.

I put hair dryer and fan on the motor for over a day, and no change.

I emailed D&D and have not heard back yet except to ask the motor number. Anyone have any idea what the issue could be or how to test the motor?

Thank you

[ecaldwell78]

If you want to isolate and test the motor you could do the following:
1. Connect S1 to A2
2. Connect 12 volt posistive from a battery charger to S2
3. Connect 12 volt negative from a battery charger to A1
4. Turn on charger, observe , then turn off charger.
These steps are compliments of Roady...I don't know how to do the quote thing.

[dszklarek]

I was getting ready to see if I could try this and now I see my controller is flashing bad speed sensor. I am wondering if that is because the motor is not turning the axle and causing the fault rather than the speed sensor being the original issue?

Thanks for any help, so frustrated.