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Electric EZGO Electric EZ GO Marathon, Medalist, TXT and RXV.



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Old 06-07-2014, 01:30 PM   #1
shaferz
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Default Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

Man what a few days. :(

Wife and I decided to go ahead and go the Alltrax 400a route. Called up scottyb and got all hooked up. He shipped super quick! Friday afternoon, I started the install. Got it all hooked up, and then it was the moment of truth. With the cart on jack stands, I flipped the run/tow switch to 'run' and turned the key on. Moved the F/R switch to Forward, then slowly stepped on the accelerator pedal. IT LIVED! :) Note that 'lived' is a past tense word. :( Let off the accelerator, waited till the wheels stopped then put it in reverse - hey - reverse works too! SWEET! Hollered at the wife and kids to come out to the garage and admire my handy work ( ) - as they stand there and watch - cart still on jack stands, I slowly accelerate the cart in Reverse. All is good. Let off the accelerator, let wheels stop, place cart in Forward. Accelerate slowly at first, then put the pedal all the way down. Cart runs that way (WOT) for about 2 seconds, then all of a sudden... KABOOM. Loud noise from motor - wheels stop almost immediately - and I get the distinct smell of an electrical fire. IMMEDIATELY Turn keyswitch off, and work very quickly to remove both the positive and negative battery leads, then proceed to scratch my head while my kids stand in awe and my wife in the peanut gallery saying 'well that didnt sound good' ( thanks dear.) The 250a fuse on the negative battery post still looked and tested good for continuity.

Decide to call it a night and have a few drinks to get rid of my sorrow.

Woke up early this morning to pull the motor to inspect what in the hell went wrong. Got motor pulled, and tilted it a bit to try to pull the armature out - and realized it was locked in there solid. It did, however, rain metal bits out:



Thinking this was the only problem, I emailed scottyb to ask about motors. Decided on one and thought all was well.

Went back to the garage a little bit ago to put the last few screws in for the controller mount and realized it smelled a little iffy. Decided to pull the controller back out to get a closer look. After removal, I pulled the small black cover on the alltrax that you remove for programming - and immediately was greeted with the heavy smell of burned up electrical components. :(

I am guessing that the catastrophic motor failure also killed my brand new controller... :( Controller had no smell at all before install. Another follow up email to scottyb to give the bad news and find out what yet another controller is going to set me back. :(

The motor was a 'bandit upgraded' PQ motor. I'm assuming the combo of high RPM, plus the fact that it was freewheeling on jack stands is what caused something to finally let loose. :(

Crappy (and expensive) weekend so far. I'm just glad all hell didnt break loose with my wife and kids on the cart. Hope your weekends are going better than mine!

Just wanted to give a quick e-high-five to scottyb for the tech support - I know its the weekend buddy - and I appreciate everything!
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Old 06-07-2014, 01:51 PM   #2
crash test dummy
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

sorry for your loss .. you never spin up cart to full speed on jack stands .. motor is designed for a set number of rpm's when on the ground under load ... wonder why it took out the controller
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Old 06-07-2014, 02:01 PM   #3
Olman
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

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Originally Posted by crash test dummy View Post
sorry for your loss .. you never spin up cart to full speed on jack stands .. motor is designed for a set number of rpm's when on the ground under load ... wonder why it took out the controller
Very true. The folks that built my speed motor on my EZGO told me to never run the motor wide open on jack stands even momentarily. Also said if the motor goes due to overspeed, there is at least a 50 percent chance it will take out the controller as we'll.
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Old 06-07-2014, 02:16 PM   #4
shaferz
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

Yep - I know that now. Hah! Not sure how many RPM's it was actually turning, but I'd imagine if we were on road - WOT - I may have been close to this many RPM's? Like I said - glad it happened in the garage and not on the road with wife and kids aboard. Could have gotten ugly real quick.

For anyone interested in more carnage pictures - below are some more shots. Motor was already gone, so I snipped the F1/F2 leads so I could push the armature/endplate out of the back end of the case.









Epic carnage.

Mods feel free to sticky this is a maintenance section - NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER go wide open throttle on jack stands. Destruction is imminent.
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Old 06-07-2014, 02:28 PM   #5
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

WOW!
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Old 06-07-2014, 02:31 PM   #6
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

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Old 06-07-2014, 03:31 PM   #7
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

Sorry your new controller is fried. Obviously the motor let go which caused the controller failure. Was the motor tested and working fine before you installed the Alltrax or was it a fresh PQ rebuild?

I've ran many a motor on jackstands to verify 100% throttle when I install an Alltrax. Either I have been very lucky or you got a crap rebuild.
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Old 06-07-2014, 03:50 PM   #8
shaferz
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

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Originally Posted by sportcoupe View Post
Sorry your new controller is fried. Obviously the motor let go which caused the controller failure. Was the motor tested and working fine before you installed the Alltrax or was it a fresh PQ rebuild?

I've ran many a motor on jackstands to verify 100% throttle when I install an Alltrax. Either I have been very lucky or you got a crap rebuild.

No - definitely not a 'fresh' rebuild. Bought the cart used a couple of years ago, and the motor was in there from the previous owner. I'm not faulting anyone here but myself - apparently should not have free-wheeled the thing at WOT on jack stands.

Motor has ran fine on the stock curtis controller since we got the cart - just wanted a some extra torque and maybe a little extra speed with a new controller.

Apparently a poor decision on my part. Frustrating - but it is what it is.

Hopeful that it was the motor that made the controller fail or burn up. Forward and reverse both seemed to work fine before the motor gave up. Kind of wish i would have strapped in with a seatbelt and taken it for a ride before it chunked itself. Maybe testing on the road instead of testing on jack stands would have prevented this...? Guess I will never know now. :( Would have been neat to see exactly how fast the cart would have been going when the motor let go. It ran 21-22 on flat ground on the stock controller.
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Old 06-07-2014, 03:51 PM   #9
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

yes SC you were very lucky , this is what happens when you hold the pedal to the floor while it's on jack stands, it over rev the motor, CTD said it right, a motor can only take so many RPM before it looks like that
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Old 06-07-2014, 06:37 PM   #10
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Default Re: Catastrophic motor failure - smells like it killed my new controller as well

What you did is the same as putting the pedal to the floor in your car with the trans in neutral! You would blow the engine for sure.
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