2013 Yamaha YDRE Electric - Still Slow Need Advice...

[Jeffm7]

I have a Yamaha 2013 YDRE that was pretty much stock as far as performace goes. It had a lift and 12 inch rims with a back seat kit.

However, it seemed to be very slow. Using a mobile app on my cell phone it would only register about 12mph downhill and uphill 8 to 10mph.

It had a stick controller, soleniod, and motor. I checked the batteries at least after an overnight charge and they all showed 8+ volts on the meter.

The batteries are Trojans and all seem to be about 4+ years old. They also have a hydro kit on them connecting all batteries.

Also the cart would go dead after about 30 minutes of max throttle driving around paths.

Purchased a Navitas 600 Amp controller and OTF Programmer and installed it last week. Noticed significant down hill speed increase to about 17mph but the uphill even maxed out only reached about 12mph.

Not what I was expecting for kind of cash outlay.

Any suggestions? I'm also getting the following errors out of the Navitas unit diagnostics now

Star Up Errors
Run Time Errors
Low Battery Limiting...

Also it is now not seeming to take a charge as the charger lights will not come on outside of the red power light. It used to light up yellow while charging and green when it finished. Not doing this any longer.

Should I upgrade the soleniod? Also thoguht about the wires...

Motor would be another big expense or even batteries... Not sure though on the batteries as I ordered a load testing and it should get here today. Thinking maybe batteries are bad under load...

Water levels also seem to be good...

Thanks - JM

[cgtech]

4+ year old batteries are probably it. And all those fancy upgrades you threw in there can't do anything with bad batteries...

[CP241]

Upgrade controller increases current draw from the battery pack. More current draw = lower voltage due to faster discharge rate of the battery pack. If anything, those upgrades will kill the pack faster than before. You probably wont notice a lot of speed upgrade from the controller, but torque should be noticeable.

You should start by load testing your batteries. Use a digital multimeter across the pack to start with, should show close to 51V with a full charge. Drive the cart with the meter connected, note the voltage when accelerating from a stop, and the voltage as you're full pedal up a hill and post your results

[Jeffm7]

Will do and thanks for the feedback. One item I already tried yesterday before reading this is did a voltage test on the batteries one by one before driving and all read 8.14 to 8.34 all six of them. Then I ran the cart around for about ten minutes and noticed that it already seemed to be going slower like it was drained. Came back and measured the batteries again one by one and all read 8.05 to 8.14 except one of the batteries only measured 5.7 volts. Perhaps I have one bad battery???

I'll try as you stated and measure across the entire pack at stand still and under load. Talk back to you shortly. Thanks!

[Jeffm7]

OK so took a measurement of the batteries voltage across the pack before driving at all this morning and crazy as this sounds it showed exactly 48.0 volts. So based on what you said earlier of it being 51Volts then this does sound low.

However, I cannot use my voltage meter while driving so what I did was just use the bluetooth Navitas application which shows all of this wirelessly.

Not sure if this data is as good as using the actual voltage meeter but this is what it read.

Before driving it showed almost the same thing that my voltage meter did of 47.7Volts. However when driving it on average drops down to 30V and at one point up a hill which it would not climb went as low as 24Volts.

The Navitas application shows a lot of good data just not sure what these items should be at under load.

Let me know your thoughts. Also checked the water levels with the Trojan Hydro system and all the batteries are showing up as Black dots. Apparently if they are low on water this system will have a white dot.

Should I actually open up the batteries and manually check each one visually at this point?

Also one other thing to note. Drove it for a bit and it acts like its batteries are close to being dead. Then I stop the cart and measure the pack as a whole manually again and it shows 48Volts.

Also tried to see if I could plug the yamaha charger up to it to see what this would do and it will not show its charging the batteries. The charger has a red light on it indicating it's one and getting power. Then it has another light that is orange that usually lights up when it's actually charging the batteries and then goes green when it's done.

However I cannot get this unit to go orange or green...

My guess is that the unit sees the 48 volts and will not begin to charge them???

Thanks again...

[Tha_B_Man]

[Tha_B_Man]

Comparing your info to the pic I posted above, you definitely have weak batteries. Probably time for a new set.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jeffm7]

Question...

Would anyone recommend trying to refurbish these batteries? New liquid and Acid checking it with a Battery Hydrometer to make sure they are solid?

Then taking them out one at a time and doing a slow charge on each one?

Or should I just bite the bullet and buy new Trojan batteries?

Also would you recommend Trojan batteries just like I have or are their better batteries out there for the money as Trojans seem pricey.

What is a good deal on these? I found (6) brand new Trojan 875 batteries for $750ish. This would also allow me to re-use the hydation unit that hooks all of them together...

Just wondering on what the best approach would be and the best battery and price. Any recommendations for a place to buy them here in DFW? Dallas - Fort Worth?

[cgtech]

Ahh, BFS? Pop the lids off your lowest battery to check for a low cell, BFSs are known to do that. The Hydrolink black/white indicator only indicates on the cell just below it, not all the cells in the battery.

Also, on the "should I referb my batteries?", If that were a fix that actually saved batteries, this site would be loaded with stories singing the praises, search for some (beware of stories in sites that are selling "battery fixers", conflict of interest). So, if it really worked, everyone would be doing it, thereby lowering demand for new batteries (lower demand = lower prices).

[Jeffm7]

Ok last question. Would it be dum to replace only the two batteries that are showing to be weakest now and the. Doing more later?