Ezgo won't run

Bmw2074 · 09-27-2012, 03:09 AM

Sorry it is taking me so long to write back but I've been at work. I will test out the pot box when I get off this morn.

Oh and scottyb my battery test was done 12 hours and 45 min after the batteries were charged. I know my original posting was a little confusing, but hopefully that clears it up a bit. With that being said, is my pack voltage alright?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Bmw2074 · 09-27-2012, 02:21 PM

OK I did the test of the pot box and I found that as soon as I push the lever down, and it disenguages from the microswitch, I hear a loud pop coming from the coil. Then I noticed that I do not get a reading on the multimeter until I push the lever almost all the way through its length of travel. At about 3/4 of the way down I finally start to get a reading on the meter. If I continue to push the arm down it will show me a reading of 7.76 at its max point. It will go from 0.00
To 7.76 as I push the arm down.

Also I noticed that since I unhooked the two pot box wires from the control box I stopped hearing the high pitched squeel or whistle sound that I was hearing. As soon as I put the wires back on the box, and then hit the gas, the noise returns.

Scottyb I am not quite sure how to test the coil like u wanted me to. Is there any way u could please walk me through it a little better?

Thanks again for all your help. Ben

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

scottyb · 09-27-2012, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bmw2074

OK I did the test of the pot box and I found that as soon as I push the lever down, and it disenguages from the microswitch, I hear a loud pop coming from the coil. Then I noticed that I do not get a reading on the multimeter until I push the lever almost all the way through its length of travel. At about 3/4 of the way down I finally start to get a reading on the meter. If I continue to push the arm down it will show me a reading of 7.76 at its max point. It will go from 0.00
To 7.76 as I push the arm down.

Also I noticed that since I unhooked the two pot box wires from the control box I stopped hearing the high pitched squeel or whistle sound that I was hearing. As soon as I put the wires back on the box, and then hit the gas, the noise returns.

Scottyb I am not quite sure how to test the coil like u wanted me to. Is there any way u could please walk me through it a little better?

Thanks again for all your help. Ben

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Here is where it gets interesting.

The pot box is (basically) a 5k-0 model and Ezgo uses 0-5k models. So it is not the correct pot box for this cart... However, if the controller is also not the correct control for this cart, the incorrect pot and control may work together if they are on the same input. ie: They are for a club car. They would work as long as they are a matched pair... can you google up any info on the control from the label on it?

Bmw2074 · 09-27-2012, 03:50 PM

OK I'm confused. If ezgo used 0-5k pot boxes and my pot box goes from 0-7 doesn't that mean I have the correct pot box?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Bmw2074 · 09-28-2012, 04:55 PM

Ok I got a chance to work on the cart again today and I'm still not getting anywhere. I found an old ezgo wiring diagram for my cart at This website

http://www.vintagegolfcartparts.com/...=100013&Page=1

And I found that my cart had a few smaller wires in the wrong spot, so I fixed all the wiring problems (very few) and now it looks exactly like the diagram on the website. Even after fixing the wiring, I am still stuck with the same problem. The cart continues to make a high pitched noise when the gas is pressed and it will not move on its own.

Next I checked the pot box again with my multimeter to see if my wiring fixes helped out. My pot box still will only show a reading when the lever is pressed almost all the way down. It starts out at 0.00 and then increases to 7.70 when the lever is pressed all the way down. I did notice that when the lever is pressed past the 5k mark, the cart stops trying to move at all. The cart basically acts like it has lost all power and it will not do anything. Once I lift the lever up and allow it to go back up to the 5k mark, the cart will try to move.

I then checked the solenoid by putting the multimeter on the large positive and negative terminals on the solenoid to see what voltage I got. With no load on the cart I got a full 36v across the solenoid. I then left the multimeter on the two terminals and then pushed down on the gas pedal. As soon as the lever from the pot box released from the micro switch, I got a reading of 0 volts across the solenoid. when I released the pot box lever, the voltage slowly built back up in the solenoid until it reached a full 36v.

Finally I conducted the same test as the aforementioned with the multimeter on the B+ and B - terminals on my control box. Without a load there was 0v coming from the B+ and B - terminals. As soon as I pushed down on the pot box lever, and it disengaged from the microswitch, I got full pack voltage of 38.3 volts across the B + and B - terminals. When I released the pot box lever, the voltage slowly decreased back down to zero again.

I researched my cart set up like Scottyb mentioned and according to my research my cart came stock with the curtis 1204 control box in it. Can anyone please help me to figure this thing out? This thing is kickin my butt.

Thanks for any and all assistance, Ben.

Gonkulor · 09-28-2012, 10:03 PM

I'm confused too. I think Scotty got you confused with someone else. Your pot box shows 0 ohms at rest and it takes your pedal 3/4 travel before you notice a bump in resistance? Your cart should be a 0 to 5K ohm pedal cart correct? Maybe I missed something and that is what scotty is picking up?

When you press the pedal 3/4 travel and the resistance starts, does the resistance ramp up smoothly or does it jump to 7k right away? Your controller has a cutout built in that shuts the power off at approx 5.5k ohms. The 5.5k ohms is an estimate but the intention is to mean the cart will quit with too much over pedal travel. If your resistance spikes dramatically with a slow pedal movement, then your pot is probably bad. If your pot is steady and clean you might only have to follow the manuals instructions for adjustment.

Scotty I'm sorry if I am misleading him. You are one of the kings of troubleshooting but I think something got missed. *shrug.

Gonkulor · 09-28-2012, 10:11 PM

I just googled your controller and it starts output at 300 ohms and is at full throttle when you hit 4400 ohms. Your over pedal travel might be your biggest problem. We won't know without more troubleshooting. We need to know if your pot is outputting 0 to 7.7k ohms smoothly or if it's bouncing around herky jerky like. I think you know where I'm going with this.

As for the whining sound? Just how loud is it? All electric carts have a little bit of a high pitch squeal but if yours is screaming then you might have another or related issue.

scottyb · 09-28-2012, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gonkulor

I'm confused too. I think Scotty got you confused with someone else. Your pot box shows 0 ohms at rest and it takes your pedal 3/4 travel before you notice a bump in resistance? Your cart should be a 0 to 5K ohm pedal cart correct? Maybe I missed something and that is what scotty is picking up?

When you press the pedal 3/4 travel and the resistance starts, does the resistance ramp up smoothly or does it jump to 7k right away? Your controller has a cutout built in that shuts the power off at approx 5.5k ohms. The 5.5k ohms is an estimate but the intention is to mean the cart will quit with too much over pedal travel. If your resistance spikes dramatically with a slow pedal movement, then your pot is probably bad. If your pot is steady and clean you might only have to follow the manuals instructions for adjustment.

Scotty I'm sorry if I am misleading him. You are one of the kings of troubleshooting but I think something got missed. *shrug.

NO, you are doing a great job I thought I read his pot gave 5k-0? I could be wrong...
It just sounds like a bad controller now if we can confirm 0-5k at controller pins 2&3?

Solenoid is clicking each time you try to go?

We can proceed to controller testing.

Bmw2074 · 09-28-2012, 11:50 PM

Thank you guys for all the help. If I remember correctly my pot box moved pretty smoothly from 0-7. I did not notice any jerking on the multimeter. I will run the test again in the morning just to be sure. As far as the manuals, I have not been able to locate one for my pot box, so ill keep looking to try and learn how to adjust my pot.

The noise sounds very similar to my back up alarm, but it is not that loud. Before this problem, I never heard this noise. The noise is loud enough to be heard through the bottom seat though. From what I can tell, the noise seems to be coming from the control box.

The solenoid is clicking each time.

Alright ScottyB from all the previous post that I read, I know that you are the mad scientist at diagnosing and testing carts, but when we start to do the testing of the control box can you please break it down for me in terms that I can understand. I'm a newbie at this stuff, so I'm not nearly as technically savvy as you are.

Thanks again for being patient with me. Ben

Bmw2074 · 09-30-2012, 11:32 AM

Re: 91 marathon controller
Ok so far I have completed the following test on my cart.

1. Pot box wires show 0-7.9 ohms as I push the gas down. Pot box ohms move smoothly from 0-7.9 and there is no jumping.

2. Pack voltage is at 38 after a day or so of not being charged.

3. I put the multimeter on the packs main neg terminal then took the positive lead and placed in on the M- on my controller. With the cart on, and the F-R switch in F, I then hit the gas until the solenoid clicked. Voltage was 0 at M- before I hit the gas, but once I hit the gas my voltage at M - was 38V.

4. After noticing that my voltage was at full pack voltage on the M- terminal, I then gradually pressed down on the gas to see if my voltage dropped down to 0. Upon pushing the gas down, the lowest my voltage got to was 33 volts. It never dropped all the way down to zero..

5. Attempted to trace the high current circuit by putting negative terminal on the multimeter on the main pack negative, and then moving the positive to the M-, C and B on the F/R switch, then the S1,S2,A1, A2 on the motor, then the control side of the solenoid, the and finally to the battery side of the solenoid. The test was done by pressing down on the gas until the solenoid clicked, and then reading the voltage at all the points.. The result as are as follows:

M- = 38
C. = 38
B. = 38
S1. = 38
S2. = 38
A1. =38
A2. =38
Control side of solenoid = 38
Batt side of solenoid read 38 volts constantly without having to press down on the gas. When I did hit the gas I got 37.5.

Ok I got all this data and no clue how to interpret it. I have read on this forum that test 3-4 indicates that my control box or my pot box are bad. Can anyone please help me to determine what I need to do or what exactly is going on with my cart. Money is tight right now, so I don't want to waste it on parts that I don't need and that might not fix my problem.

Thanks again for any and all your help.

09-27-2012, 03:09 AM	#21
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29	Sorry it is taking me so long to write back but I've been at work. I will test out the pot box when I get off this morn. Oh and scottyb my battery test was done 12 hours and 45 min after the batteries were charged. I know my original posting was a little confusing, but hopefully that clears it up a bit. With that being said, is my pack voltage alright? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29

09-27-2012, 02:21 PM	#22
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29	OK I did the test of the pot box and I found that as soon as I push the lever down, and it disenguages from the microswitch, I hear a loud pop coming from the coil. Then I noticed that I do not get a reading on the multimeter until I push the lever almost all the way through its length of travel. At about 3/4 of the way down I finally start to get a reading on the meter. If I continue to push the arm down it will show me a reading of 7.76 at its max point. It will go from 0.00 To 7.76 as I push the arm down. Also I noticed that since I unhooked the two pot box wires from the control box I stopped hearing the high pitched squeel or whistle sound that I was hearing. As soon as I put the wires back on the box, and then hit the gas, the noise returns. Scottyb I am not quite sure how to test the coil like u wanted me to. Is there any way u could please walk me through it a little better? Thanks again for all your help. Ben Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29

09-27-2012, 03:50 PM	#24
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29	OK I'm confused. If ezgo used 0-5k pot boxes and my pot box goes from 0-7 doesn't that mean I have the correct pot box? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29

09-28-2012, 04:55 PM	#25
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29	Re: Ezgo won't run Ok I got a chance to work on the cart again today and I'm still not getting anywhere. I found an old ezgo wiring diagram for my cart at This website http://www.vintagegolfcartparts.com/...=100013&Page=1 And I found that my cart had a few smaller wires in the wrong spot, so I fixed all the wiring problems (very few) and now it looks exactly like the diagram on the website. Even after fixing the wiring, I am still stuck with the same problem. The cart continues to make a high pitched noise when the gas is pressed and it will not move on its own. Next I checked the pot box again with my multimeter to see if my wiring fixes helped out. My pot box still will only show a reading when the lever is pressed almost all the way down. It starts out at 0.00 and then increases to 7.70 when the lever is pressed all the way down. I did notice that when the lever is pressed past the 5k mark, the cart stops trying to move at all. The cart basically acts like it has lost all power and it will not do anything. Once I lift the lever up and allow it to go back up to the 5k mark, the cart will try to move. I then checked the solenoid by putting the multimeter on the large positive and negative terminals on the solenoid to see what voltage I got. With no load on the cart I got a full 36v across the solenoid. I then left the multimeter on the two terminals and then pushed down on the gas pedal. As soon as the lever from the pot box released from the micro switch, I got a reading of 0 volts across the solenoid. when I released the pot box lever, the voltage slowly built back up in the solenoid until it reached a full 36v. Finally I conducted the same test as the aforementioned with the multimeter on the B+ and B - terminals on my control box. Without a load there was 0v coming from the B+ and B - terminals. As soon as I pushed down on the pot box lever, and it disengaged from the microswitch, I got full pack voltage of 38.3 volts across the B + and B - terminals. When I released the pot box lever, the voltage slowly decreased back down to zero again. I researched my cart set up like Scottyb mentioned and according to my research my cart came stock with the curtis 1204 control box in it. Can anyone please help me to figure this thing out? This thing is kickin my butt. Thanks for any and all assistance, Ben.
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29

09-28-2012, 10:03 PM	#26
Gonkulor Astronautilator Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: North Idaho Posts: 1,494	Re: Ezgo won't run I'm confused too. I think Scotty got you confused with someone else. Your pot box shows 0 ohms at rest and it takes your pedal 3/4 travel before you notice a bump in resistance? Your cart should be a 0 to 5K ohm pedal cart correct? Maybe I missed something and that is what scotty is picking up? When you press the pedal 3/4 travel and the resistance starts, does the resistance ramp up smoothly or does it jump to 7k right away? Your controller has a cutout built in that shuts the power off at approx 5.5k ohms. The 5.5k ohms is an estimate but the intention is to mean the cart will quit with too much over pedal travel. If your resistance spikes dramatically with a slow pedal movement, then your pot is probably bad. If your pot is steady and clean you might only have to follow the manuals instructions for adjustment. Scotty I'm sorry if I am misleading him. You are one of the kings of troubleshooting but I think something got missed. *shrug.

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09-28-2012, 10:11 PM	#27
Gonkulor Astronautilator Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: North Idaho Posts: 1,494	Re: Ezgo won't run I just googled your controller and it starts output at 300 ohms and is at full throttle when you hit 4400 ohms. Your over pedal travel might be your biggest problem. We won't know without more troubleshooting. We need to know if your pot is outputting 0 to 7.7k ohms smoothly or if it's bouncing around herky jerky like. I think you know where I'm going with this. As for the whining sound? Just how loud is it? All electric carts have a little bit of a high pitch squeal but if yours is screaming then you might have another or related issue.

09-28-2012, 11:50 PM	#29
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29	Re: Ezgo won't run Thank you guys for all the help. If I remember correctly my pot box moved pretty smoothly from 0-7. I did not notice any jerking on the multimeter. I will run the test again in the morning just to be sure. As far as the manuals, I have not been able to locate one for my pot box, so ill keep looking to try and learn how to adjust my pot. The noise sounds very similar to my back up alarm, but it is not that loud. Before this problem, I never heard this noise. The noise is loud enough to be heard through the bottom seat though. From what I can tell, the noise seems to be coming from the control box. The solenoid is clicking each time. Alright ScottyB from all the previous post that I read, I know that you are the mad scientist at diagnosing and testing carts, but when we start to do the testing of the control box can you please break it down for me in terms that I can understand. I'm a newbie at this stuff, so I'm not nearly as technically savvy as you are. Thanks again for being patient with me. Ben
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29

09-30-2012, 11:32 AM	#30
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29	Re: Ezgo won't run Re: 91 marathon controller Ok so far I have completed the following test on my cart. 1. Pot box wires show 0-7.9 ohms as I push the gas down. Pot box ohms move smoothly from 0-7.9 and there is no jumping. 2. Pack voltage is at 38 after a day or so of not being charged. 3. I put the multimeter on the packs main neg terminal then took the positive lead and placed in on the M- on my controller. With the cart on, and the F-R switch in F, I then hit the gas until the solenoid clicked. Voltage was 0 at M- before I hit the gas, but once I hit the gas my voltage at M - was 38V. 4. After noticing that my voltage was at full pack voltage on the M- terminal, I then gradually pressed down on the gas to see if my voltage dropped down to 0. Upon pushing the gas down, the lowest my voltage got to was 33 volts. It never dropped all the way down to zero.. 5. Attempted to trace the high current circuit by putting negative terminal on the multimeter on the main pack negative, and then moving the positive to the M-, C and B on the F/R switch, then the S1,S2,A1, A2 on the motor, then the control side of the solenoid, the and finally to the battery side of the solenoid. The test was done by pressing down on the gas until the solenoid clicked, and then reading the voltage at all the points.. The result as are as follows: M- = 38 C. = 38 B. = 38 S1. = 38 S2. = 38 A1. =38 A2. =38 Control side of solenoid = 38 Batt side of solenoid read 38 volts constantly without having to press down on the gas. When I did hit the gas I got 37.5. Ok I got all this data and no clue how to interpret it. I have read on this forum that test 3-4 indicates that my control box or my pot box are bad. Can anyone please help me to determine what I need to do or what exactly is going on with my cart. Money is tight right now, so I don't want to waste it on parts that I don't need and that might not fix my problem. Thanks again for any and all your help.
Bmw2074 Not Yet Wild Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 29