PDS speed controller diagnosing

[Gibb]

Meaning take the blue wire off the solenoid and connect it straight to one of the - you said or take the blue wire out of the pin and connect it to one of the -?

[usgicollector]

Take the blue wire off the solenoid cover it with electrical tape, it has some voltage on it. Get a new wire run it from the controller's B- or from the main battery pack main - to where the blue wire was. You now will be getting the negative you have been missing. I believe that's what scottyb is talking about.

[Gibb]

I just tried that and when I put the F/R switch in F the solenoid instantly clicks and the cart still won't move.

[scottyb]

Replace the controller with XCT48400 and HD 200 solenoid.
See item #4 here > http://www.cartsunlimited.net/alltrax-xct-sepex--.html

[Gibb]

YIKES I was afraid of that! Does this my controller is shot....

[scottyb]

If the solenoid is good and the ITS signal is good - then yes. Other wise we go back to test the solenoid and ITS components again

Measure voltage between controller B- and M- just when the solenoid clicks. It should be same as the pack voltage. Then - it should go down as the pedal is depressed.

[Gibb]

Well if I did it right (I put the multimeter on M- which was A1 on the motor post and B- on controller) my max reading was 6.9v and it dropped when I pushed on the pedal to 0. I never tested the ITS, if I get time tonight I'll test it unless at this point there is no need? I appreciate the help and feel like I learned a lot about the electrical system this time around!!

By the way, when testing for error codes are there times when it won't beep for one? Mine didn't this time.

[Gibb]

I figured I would test ITS so I did and think it's bad. If I did it right I probed the white wire in the pedal box and it started at 14.5v and with the pedal pushed all the way I got 13.9v. Seems super high from what I've read. Could this be the culprit or maybe a bad controller as well still with what I found in the last post.

[ARKSoft84]

The controller supplies the ITS with it's voltage, so if it is way too high seems to me it would be the controller.

[JohnnieB]

I just reviewed this thread and spotted some inaccurate troubleshooting information, some misdiagnoses and some red flags waving that weren't noticed.

With Run/Tow in Run. Key On, F/R in F and pedal NOT pressed, you ought to have full battery pack voltage on all of the pins in J1 except Pin-2. (With F/R in R, there will be voltage on Pin-2 and none on Pin-3)

If your voltmeter has a low input impedance, Pin-10 may read less than full battery pack voltage since it is the feed-through from the high impedance piezoelectric beeper. As long as you measure a positive voltage, Pin-10 is okay.

When the pedal is pressed, (pedal switch contacts close), the battery pack voltage on Pin-6 (Solenoid coil feed-through), will drop to Zero and the solenoid will click. (In your post#9, you said your solenoid clicked when pedal was pushed, so the solenoid activation circuit is working.)

The red flag was having less than full battery pack voltage between the A1 (M-) and B- studs on the controller when pedal was push just far enough for solenoid to click. In your post#17, you said the max voltage seen between B- and A1 was 6.9V. The max should have been whatever the full battery pack voltage was at the time (38.2V if full charged). This indicates a serious problem in the high current cables, connections or contacts.

The fact that the voltage between B- and A1 dropped to Zero when pedal was pushed to floor indicates the ITS was working. The weird ITS voltage reading are likely to be associated with whatever is causing the voltage between B- and A1 to be so low when solenoid first clicks.

Also, it sounds like you don;t have a pre-charge resistor installed. If there was one, the voltage between B- and A1 would be slightly below the battery pack voltage before the solenoid clicks and then drop to 6.9V in you case. (Normal it increase to full pack voltage when the solenoid contacts close)


At this point, with the pedal pushed just far enough the make solenoid click, measure the voltage drop on the eight high current cable connecting the six 6V batteries in series and connecting battery pack to controller. If any of the have a voltage drop, repair or replace it.

You can connect blue wire on solenoid to B- and get the solenoid to click when a direction is selected on the F/R.