89 club car moves slow in forward and barely moves in reverse

[g22]

Does the v glide look OK?

[scottyb]

It doesn't look real bad but it doesn't look real good either. Hard to see in the pics if it is really pitted and worn or just discolored? Either way clean up the stationary contacts and the wiper arm contact with some fine sandpaper and give it a go.

[Sergio]

You may want to adjust the linkage as well, in the second picture at WOT, the pads should have been 100% over each other.

[g22]

I removed the two middle batteries so I could see the back side of the v glide. The wires on the bottom most terminal along with the terminal are burnt pretty bad. This is the white wire that goes to the first resistor and the wire that comes from one of the big posts of the solenoid. The heat also melted the insulation on the green wire going to the v glide. (see pic below) I am assuming I need a new v glide and new v glide cables. Does anyone sell the cables already made up or do I need to get them made. I would like to keep them the same color. Is this just indicative of a 25 year old v glide that needs to be replaced or is it a sign something else i bad or going bad. Thanks in advance.

[93yellowclubcar]

http://www.golfcartking.com/club-car-v-glide-s/140.htm

You'll want the case, a new wiper, and depending on how crispy yours is (if it breaks on removal), a new wiper arm. Steer clear of the complete assembly with the small wires, that's for controller carts.

I'd say the V-glide melted from long runs or travel under heavy load (i.e. cart loaded or going uphill) with the throttle only partially depressed, that kills a LOT of em. Heavy load means the motor has to pull more amps through the V-glide, and more amps makes more heat. The heat accumulates and melts the weakest link, which happens to be your poor V-glide.

As for the cables, not sure who has them... You might put a WTB on the sale section for good used ones - some folks have theirs lying around from where they've upgraded.

[Sergio]

You see a lot of posts recommending no prolonged use of partial-throttle in a V-Glide system, which I agree, but never an explanation of why that is the case, so here is my analysis.

First, it has nothing to do with the amount of current somehow being less at that pad, actually everything else being equal, that ppad will always carry the maximum amount of current as there are no resistors in series. Motor torque demand is not a factor either as You can easily push the pedal to WOT in less time than it takes for the cart to even start moving.

Engineers are really good at calculations, conceptually anyway, so I am sure the surface area of the pads are adequate to carry the needed current and the density of the pads can easily dissipate the heat generated.

Where engineers usually fail is in the real world usages of their concepts.

What makes WOT and the last pad special is that it is the only position that, with a properly adjusted linkage, will make 100% pad-to-pad contact.

There is a resistor coil between each pad in the V-Glide, as You press the pedal and the wiper arm moves, it makes contact with the next pad and shorts the previously one off the circuit (The wiper is still over both pads).

This is where the engineers at Club Car get an F for real world application, as the wiper arm starts to move into the next pad and barely touches it, You now have 2 parallel current paths:
One thru a resistor coil (previous pad with most pad-to-pad contact), and a new one with virtually zero resistance from the previous one. Of course ohms law will tell you that most of the current will flow thru that sliver of a pad-to-pad connection.

If you continue to press the pedal, the surface contact area to the next pad increases and the heat generated goes down.

The problem is You have no way to tell if you are partially over a pad or fully over a pad in a partial throttle position.

That is why WOT is a safe place to be, you can adjusted the linkage to ensure 100% overlap.

I would not worry about getting the right color cables, just get a set of electricians marking tape with all the different colors for under $10 bucks.

My preference would be to use a V-Glide high step by-pass (just google it) so no current flows thru the V-Glide at all at WOT under any load conditions.

I would purchase a new solenoid to replace you main solenoid and re-purpose your existing solenoid for the By-Pass circuit.

If You would like to have slow speed use of your cart, then the only feasible solution is a solid state conversion as controllers excel at that function.

[g22]

Hi guys,
Thanks very much for all the helpful replies. I changed the v glide and cables, now she is running great again. I really thought about going to a controller set up. The Mrs paid $600 for this cart with 9 month old batteries and a brand new charger about 6 months ago and it is a "third" cart and does not get a lot of use unless we have guests at the campground. If we decide to keep it and lift it, I will go with a solid state setup. This forum is awesome. Thanks again all the help.

[Sergio]

Just for future reference, I forgot to mention two important things about the high step V-Glide bypass.

1) The solenoid you use cannot have any external or internal diodes. That is because the coil activation polarity for that solenoid gets reversed with the F&R switch.

2) You cannot use half-voltage reverse. Most solenoids need at least 75% of the rated coil voltage to activate, so no less than 30v (5 batteries) needs to be used for reverse.