DCS or ITS problem

[Jrichard]

I have a 1997 ezgo txt 36v DCS cart it has a lift kit and 22x11-10 tires. I purchased this cart with it not working. The wiring harness was melted and controller had been replaced with a rebuilt one. I ordered all the harness for the cart except the one that goes to ignition switch and the one that runs to the pedal cause they were both ok. I put 4 gauge battery and motor wires on. The problem I have after installation of all these is the cart will work till about 3/4 throttle to full throttle then the DCS controller shuts down and stops working then I have to turn key off and switch to tow/maintenance mode for a lil bit then switch it back over. Then it will do the same thing. I measured the voltage from ITS switch on pedal and it’s a tick over 14v and slowly decreases while pedal is depressed until 3/4-full throttle then as the controller stops the voltage jumps back up to starting voltage. Same thing happens for output voltage to motor from controller. It goes up to about 26v then drops when controller trips or something. Any advice ?

[jclark138]

Welcome!

[Jrichard]

Thanks. Hopefully someone can shed a lil light on this situation.

[Jrichard]

Anyone know what would cause this

[Imapled]

Originally Posted by Jrichard

I have a 1997 ezgo txt 36v DCS cart it has a lift kit and 22x11-10 tires. I purchased this cart with it not working. The wiring harness was melted and controller had been replaced with a rebuilt one. I ordered all the harness for the cart except the one that goes to ignition switch and the one that runs to the pedal cause they were both ok. I put 4 gauge battery and motor wires on. The problem I have after installation of all these is the cart will work till about 3/4 throttle to full throttle then the DCS controller shuts down and stops working then I have to turn key off and switch to tow/maintenance mode for a lil bit then switch it back over. Then it will do the same thing. I measured the voltage from ITS switch on pedal and it’s a tick over 14v and slowly decreases while pedal is depressed until 3/4-full throttle then as the controller stops the voltage jumps back up to starting voltage. Same thing happens for output voltage to motor from controller. It goes up to about 26v then drops when controller trips or something. Any advice ?

Welcome to DCS hell. :) The Curtis 1204SX controller that you have does not have a speed sensor. The common issue with them (melted wires and controller) is that when going down a hill and you have the pedal to the floor they overheat and melt. The controller doesn't know the RMPs of the motor and guesses at it I believe. So when going down a hill the controller feeds too much power and bad things happen. (JohnnieB will correct my nonsense if incorrect.)

This is what a melted 1206SX controller looks like:

Warped1206SX.jpg

It "sounds like" your issue is the controller overheating. When you shut it down it cools off and then operates again. The other issue is that you have a "refurbished" (aka repaired) DCS controller. When most places repair them they replace boards and parts from other returned controllers. So you get a sort of Frankenstein controller. They are often unpredictable and could inherit other issues. They are not "new" by any means.

It is sort of like organ transplants. You could get a new organ with a disease even though the doctors think it is ok. Or if you continue to miss treat your organs (like accelerating downhills with a DCS controller) you will kill the new organ. :(

If you have to replace the controller put in a Navitas TSX3.0 or an Alltrax product. Don't put back a "rebuilt" DCS controller. I put a TSX3.0 into a DCS and the nice thing with the Navitas is that they include a port for a speed sensor. So I also replaced the motor on the cart with one that has a speed sensor. You keep the DCS wire harness and get a speed sensor.

Alltrax and Navitas both make competitive products in my humble opinion. I live in Canada so I have a preference for buying local as Navitas products are made only 48km away from my home in Waterloo, Ontario. But, the majority of posters here will vouch for the Alltrax products as well.

The build of my DCS cart can be found here:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...questions.html

I had an issue with the Molex on my ITS sensor and pedal switch. Documented it in the thread provided above. I removed the Molex and direct-wired it to the harness. The Molex that connects to the DCS wire harness is not weatherproof.

Cheers,
Impaled

[Jrichard]

Replaced controller with alltrax and it’s good to go now. Thanks for the reply and link to the tread.