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Electric EZGO Electric EZ GO Marathon, Medalist, TXT and RXV.



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Old 03-20-2021, 06:36 PM   #1
jtb51b
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Default Time to upgrade?

I have a 2015 txt-48 on 20" all terrain tires. I had Mr Boyce upgrade the controller for me last year. The cart does go a good bit faster now on but up hill power still isnt where I would like it to be. If the batteries are HOT, straight off the charger I can climb the hills ok once, but after that its pretty much a no go. I plan to replace the batteries this year as they are original to the cart and the range isnt what it used to be. I can still go 5+ miles on a charge but I can definitely tell a difference from before.

MY question is this:
Should I go ahead and buy new batteries, and a give it a try or go ahead and upgrade the controller also? OR.. will I ever be happy with this cart? Should I throw in the towel and go trade it in for an RXV. Would I be happy with an RXV in stock form, i.e. factory controller etc, for normal around the farm use. I do have to drive several miles on hilly paved roads to get from farm to farm and I also have a couple serious hills to climb that are tractor roads.

I just don't want to throw good money over bad here, if even upgraded the TXT is not going to do what I need to do then maybe its time to make a trade?

What says the brain trust?

Jason
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Old 03-20-2021, 06:50 PM   #2
meimk
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Is a golf cart really what you want? Would a side by side UTV meet your needs better? If you need electric rather than gas, I know Polaris makes and electric Ranger so there are probably others.
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Old 03-20-2021, 07:04 PM   #3
jtb51b
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Quote:
Originally Posted by meimk View Post
Is a golf cart really what you want? Would a side by side UTV meet your needs better? If you need electric rather than gas, I know Polaris makes and electric Ranger so there are probably others.
I have had several golf carts over the years, most old resistor carts and they all did fine. This has been the first one to dissapoint me. We really enjoy the carts, overall they work best for us.


Jason
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Old 03-20-2021, 08:53 PM   #4
jtb51b
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

I should mention that going up the hills FAST isnt what I need. Just need to make it up, slow is fine. I never had one of my old carts just QUIT on me. This one will slow to a crawl and then QUIT pulling altogether, just stall. This can happen with just me on it, although it happens more when its me and the dogs, or me and the wife.

Jason
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Old 03-21-2021, 06:25 AM   #5
DaveTM
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

It sounds to me like you simply have a battery "issue."

--How old are your batteries?
--Have you checked them with a hydrometer? What are the readings?
--24 hours after a full charge what is the pack voltage?
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Old 03-21-2021, 07:08 AM   #6
CP241
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Here’s what I’m seeing... the batteries are 6 years old and you’re only getting 5ish miles on a charge. They’re done.

As a point of reference, just to play as an experiment I bought a cart with 9 year old batteries. They were completely toast. Wouldn’t even TAKE a charge let alone work at all. Some actually had negative voltage. I “revived” them and got them to take a charge. They were faaaaaar from “good” but even on those just to play with I was able to get 5 miles on a charge (barely).

On my other cart with good batteries I could get 10-15 miles on a charge no problem, and still have charge left to go. I recently converted that cart to lithium and I honestly can’t see ever owning another cart that’s not lithium. Going from GOOD batteries to lithium, yes it’s that big of a difference. I put 20 miles on it yesterday and still had 50% charge remaining and even 50% charge it still pulls hills better and goes faster than it did with even a full charge on the lead acid batteries. If you can swing the $ for new batteries, it is well worth a few bucks more for lithium. There’s lots of drop in kits available that make the install very easy. It took me about an hour and a half, but on my cart I had to bypass and remove the club car computer, which wasn’t easy to do with the back seat in the way of the access hole. On an ezgo maybe a 20 minute job.

Moral of my rambling, you need new batteries
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Old 03-21-2021, 07:31 AM   #7
jtb51b
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Quote:
Originally Posted by CP241 View Post
Here’s what I’m seeing... the batteries are 6 years old and you’re only getting 5ish miles on a charge. They’re done.

As a point of reference, just to play as an experiment I bought a cart with 9 year old batteries. They were completely toast. Wouldn’t even TAKE a charge let alone work at all. Some actually had negative voltage. I “revived” them and got them to take a charge. They were faaaaaar from “good” but even on those just to play with I was able to get 5 miles on a charge (barely).

On my other cart with good batteries I could get 10-15 miles on a charge no problem, and still have charge left to go. I recently converted that cart to lithium and I honestly can’t see ever owning another cart that’s not lithium. Going from GOOD batteries to lithium, yes it’s that big of a difference. I put 20 miles on it yesterday and still had 50% charge remaining and even 50% charge it still pulls hills better and goes faster than it did with even a full charge on the lead acid batteries. If you can swing the $ for new batteries, it is well worth a few bucks more for lithium. There’s lots of drop in kits available that make the install very easy. It took me about an hour and a half, but on my cart I had to bypass and remove the club car computer, which wasn’t easy to do with the back seat in the way of the access hole. On an ezgo maybe a 20 minute job.

Moral of my rambling, you need new batteries
Thats exactly what I was hoping to hear. Yes new batteries are going in this spring, unless someone talks me out of it I planned to buy the same trojan t-875's that are in it now. I plan to continue to use the watering system that comes on the trojan batteries, as it makes it very easy to add water. I will do the new batteries and big cables first and then if necessary I can add a controller for more torque. Its time for brakes as well as these make some noise from time to time and dont stop as well as they used to.

Thanks for the help.

Jason
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Old 03-21-2021, 07:36 AM   #8
CP241
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Just to throw it out there...

T875 averages around $200 each. That’s $1200 for new Trojans. You can get a couple allied 48v 60aH packs from plowmans for $1500 (each pack is 750 on his website, times 2). You’ll need a lithium charger also which is 300. You’ll be all in around $1800 and can sell your old charger. But then you’re set. Not only do they perform better, there’s no watering or maintenance. They charge in a couple hours and come with an 8 year warranty. You’ll nearly go through 2 sets of Trojans before these are even out of warranty. And if you find that you need more range, you can add another battery or two for 90-120aH within 2 years so you’ve got time to see how much battery you really need.
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Old 03-21-2021, 05:40 PM   #9
jtb51b
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Quote:
Originally Posted by CP241 View Post
Just to throw it out there...

T875 averages around $200 each. That’s $1200 for new Trojans. You can get a couple allied 48v 60aH packs from plowmans for $1500 (each pack is 750 on his website, times 2). You’ll need a lithium charger also which is 300. You’ll be all in around $1800 and can sell your old charger. But then you’re set. Not only do they perform better, there’s no watering or maintenance. They charge in a couple hours and come with an 8 year warranty. You’ll nearly go through 2 sets of Trojans before these are even out of warranty. And if you find that you need more range, you can add another battery or two for 90-120aH within 2 years so you’ve got time to see how much battery you really need.
That sounds great on paper. However, around here the t875's run $860 a set. With that being said, it still wouldnt be a bad investment if the cart were a nice cart. This one is just a bare bones txt with AT tires and a back seat. Not to mention, even if I were to add Li batteries I would still have a txt, not an ac drive rxv. I dont really need tremendous range, in the summer the cart may run closer to 10 miles SOME days but that has never been a problem before, wasnt a problem with this cart and these old batteries last summer even. I doubt it would make that run very easily at this point but thats easily repairable.

I believe in the near future the price of Li will make it reasonable to do that to any old cart but for now I believe I will stick to lead acid. FYI I got 10 years out of my last new set of trojans, they were 105's purchased in 08 and retired in 18. I maintain them well and they treat me well. The ones in this current machine came in it from the golf course, and probably were abused. I hope to get more out of a new set.

Jason
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Old 04-23-2021, 02:37 PM   #10
jtb51b
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Default Re: Time to upgrade?

Update:
I installed new Trojan T875's today. They came pretty close to fully charged but after an hour or two I got the green light and gave it a ride. MUCH MUCH better. Cart will now pull the hill it once had trouble with with ease. Granted I was the only one in it and I am sure an extra person will make a difference but it sure felt better. I decided to keep this cart, and try batteries first due to how expensive an RXV cart is now and not being all that excited about the electric brake. If I decide in the future that this one needs more power the local dealer suggested an AC conversion. He had one on site he had done this way and it was impressive, very large tires, lift ETC and it pulled the hills as well or better than his stock RXV did on small tires. Not sure what the drawbacks to that would be. Anyway, just wanted to give an ending to this story so anyone who reads it will see what turned out to help me..

Jason
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