Alltrax heat

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by kojo

When the Alltrax controller's go into thermal shutdown, does the cart stop altogether or does it reduce the amps and cause the cart to slow down drastically.

I don't know for sure, but from what I read in the Alltrax literature and what is posted on their website, it sounds like the controller stops passing amps to the motor and the LED starts blinking an error code (Four Red flashes).

You mentioned the performance didn't come back 100% after the controller shut down, that worries me. Call or e-mail Alltrax and they should be able to tell you if a DCX goes into a reduced performance mode prior to, or after thermal shutdown.

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Some more investing needs to be done, but the root cause of what has and is happening might be something other that the controller.

[scottyb]

I'm curious too about this. I am not aware of any slow down or reduced output mode in the Alltrax controls. I suspect the motor not the control has reduced performance.

[kojo]

I hope it's not the motor, it's brand new, probably hasn't got 1 1/2 hrs. on it. But, that did cross my mind. I had a thermocouple hooked to it and it only got up to 174f.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by cgtech

Ezgo 2five has fan from the factory. I have done that (2 computer fans added) with HS geared RXVs that get driven hard, the controller can be forced into "reduced output" pretty quickly on a RXV with gears. It worked well. This is not exactly the same, but pretty close. Has anyone else on here ever checked the flatness of their alltrax controller, i can tell you, they're not very flat by "heatsink standards".

I have seen better.
But, I've seen worse also.

There is also a mounting issue that is easy to overlook.
I don't know if all EZGO heatsinks are built the same, but on mine there is a raised area the stock PDS controller was mounted on. Picture-1

Picture-2 shows the heatsink after the PDS controller was removed. The two threaded holes at the top and the one at the bottom of the raised area are where the mounting bolts for the PDS controller screwed in.
You can also see how carefully EZGO aligned the thermal pad on the heatsink.

In picture-3, note the mounting bolts for the DCX400 are outboard of the raised area.
If the bolts are tightened too much, the back plate of the controller will arch in the middle, away from the heatsink.

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The heatsink is in an area that is pretty much a dead air space, so anything that moves air across it will be an improvement.

[kojo]

JohnnieB, I've cut the bottom portion of my cover off but, I think I'll do away with it altogether and have a toggle switch located under the seat like you have in the picture. May let a little more air through.

[kojo]

Looks like you drilled a couple extra holes out in the heatsink for your Alltrax.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by kojo

I hope it's not the motor, it's brand new, probably hasn't got 1 1/2 hrs. on it. But, that did cross my mind. I had a thermocouple hooked to it and it only got up to 174f.

I went back and re-read the first post. It doesn't sound like the controller ever shut down, the cart just lost some performance and what you described could be a battery issue, a motor issue, or a high current connection issue as well as a controller/ITS issue.

It's time to go back to square one, break out the DVM and start checking some voltages.

Remind us what your set-up is. Batteries, controller, solenoid, motor, cables, etc.

IIRC, you have a dash mounted DVM battery meter. If so, are the under load readings about the same as they have been?

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ADDED:
Did the change in performance coincide with the temperature drop that happen a few days ago?

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by kojo

Looks like you drilled a couple extra holes out in the heatsink for your Alltrax.

I had to drill additional holes so I could mount the Solenoid bracket lower and I noticed the DCX mounting bolts being outboard of the raised area on my heatsink, so I used all six bolts holes on the DCX flange and didn't over-tighten them. (I drilled small pilot holes and used self drilling bolts.)

The bolts holding the heatsink in the cart were froze, so I dosed them with Kroil and let it work for a day, then pulled it out of the cart and wire wheeled the thermal pad off. I didn't drive the cart very far or very hard until there was thermal compound between controller and heatsink.

Originally Posted by kojo

JohnnieB, I've cut the bottom portion of my cover off but, I think I'll do away with it altogether and have a toggle switch located under the seat like you have in the picture. May let a little more air through.

One of the forum members cut down the cover and mounted it to the body lip and another used a plastic outlet box, but I don't have a picture of it.

Also, a project box from Radio Shack would work.

I got rid of the cover entirely because I wanted to run all the heavy cables I could up the backside of the heatsink so I had better access to the controller's serial port. (Also, it won't fit over a DCX500, so it wasn't an option when I replaced the DCX400 with a DCX500)

[720Deere]

After seeing the JohnnieB mount for the run/tow switch, I looked around my scrap pile and found an old grill lighter mount that worked perfectly. I had to drill a hole in it, but it was basically a box shape that made a rigid enough mount for the toggle. I mounted it to the body in the same place with a pair of screws from the junk screw drawer. Nobody ever believes me when I say that I actually do use a lot of the junk hardware that I horde!

By the way, my thermal pad came off in about 45 seconds with a razor blade scraper. As I gently lifted on the pad and scraped behind it, it all came off clean as a whistle! I do need to get my hands on some thermal compound and apply it between the controller and heat sink. I did notice that even though the controller only gets slightly warm, the sink temp does not seem to be rising which tells me there isn't really any heat transfer taking place.

[kojo]

I tried a different field map late yesterday evening, and ran it just after dark for about 8-10 miles and it ran fine, never slowed down or anything.
JohnnieB, I did take the heatsink off and took the wire brush wheel to her and got the stock pad off, and got some of the Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound and put it on the heatsink and remounted controller w/o the cover on it. The motor temp got to 179.7 f. on the motor, but nothing strange happened. Not complaining, but I wouldn't mind knowing why it done that the other day. I've got a digital panel meter and a analog meter on cart and neither was showing low. I've got 8 6v US 1800's with Scotty's #808 pkg. and a custom motor.