Need help figuring out what my problem is 02 txt odd

[wcgolf]

I have an 02 TXT PDS and I am looking for troubleshooting help!

I need to check date on batteries but I believe they are only two years old. 5" all sports lift 12" rims with 22" tires. I have not upgraded controller or anything else. I do have some led running lights for night driving.

If I take a short say 10 minute drive it's fine, however if it's under load for more than 15 minutes it's no doubt dying. I won't even think about taking it for a round of golf. Issue was more evident when I had a radio installed. I need to add a voltage reducer for the lights and radio I know.

Anybody give me a ball park on what to look for first and then go from there? I'm guessing controller or batteries, but I would have thought two year old batteries would be fine. It's not abused by any means. More of a neighborhood cruiser, but once a year we pull a small trailer for the kids on Halloween and it was an issue last night.


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[wcgolf]

Ok so looked at batteries and looks like I have B2 with a Y on one terminal and a 4 on the other. Take off after a fresh charge is great this morning but I just don't trust it and not sure it will last for very long


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[JohnnieB]

What make/model batteries?

Is the cart stopping, or just getting sluggish?

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Measure the pack voltage about 12 hours after the charger shuts off automatically.
Pack should be 38.2V if it is taking a 100% charge.
Each battery should read 6.37V and all of the should be withing about 0.1V of each other.

Drive the cart 10 to 15 minutes, wait about 5 minutes and measure the voltages again.

That voltage will tell us how much they discharged. If a battery or batteries is(are) significantly lower than the rest, it is weak or bad.

Let us know what you find.

[wcgolf]

Us batteries. Real sluggish. Last night it was like batteries were completely dead then in the 20 minutes it took to get my truck to pull it home it was drivable home.


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[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by wcgolf

Us batteries. Real sluggish. Last night it was like batteries were completely dead then in the 20 minutes it took to get my truck to pull it home it was drivable home.


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Just in case you aren't aware of it, be sure to put the Run/Tow switch in TOW whenever you pull or push the cart.
You can destroy the controller, motor and batteries if you don't.

US Battery date code sheet attached:
The Number/Letter sequence is backwards, but "B2" probably means Feb-2012 and "Y" means from Augusta plant.

That means the batteries are about three months shy of three years old, which is a fairly short lifespan except in hot climates or when not being charged/maintained properly.

Cart batteries made by US Battery have a higher voltage when fully charged than Trojan batteries and the charger that came with your 2002 PDS cart is most likely based on a Trojan Battery charge profile, so your batteries are likely to have been chronically undercharged from the beginning, unless your charger has a US Battery charge profile built into it.

What make/model charger are you using?

Also attached is a Voltage vs SoC (State of Charge) sheet for US Battery

[wcgolf]

I'll get a picture of the charger in a few minutes. Definitely know about the tow button, worked at a cc most of high school and been around courses my whole life so that's an easy one. If I replace batteries what kind of damage am I looking at for controller replacement, voltage reducer and any other items I may need? I am going to need to pull the body and such this winter, at least what we call a northwest florida winter and get the undercarriage cleaned up replaced and repainted anyway. I may take advantage of the replacement to get it completely redone.


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[wcgolf]

Ok so I have an ezgo power wise II charger.


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[JohnnieB]

The PW-II is built around a Trojan Battery charging profile, so your batteries have been chronically undercharged.

Try giving them a few back-to-back charges and they may recover some.

Also, you can bypass the relay in the PW-II so it stays on all the time it is plugged into AC power and use a 12 hour timer at the AC outlet. That will charge the batteries a bit higher than the 44-45 volt cutoff voltage the PW-II typically shuts off at. (If you are electrically inclined, there are a couple more things that can be done. )

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Sounds like you want to upgrade your cart this winter.

First thing is to figure out what you want the cart to do. Then build towards that goal.

I didn't have a clear idea of where I wanted to end up, so I tried to leave all options open as I built.
My first upgrade was the high current cables. I went to 2Ga because I'm an efficiency nut, but 4Ga will suffice for controllers up to 500A, which is big enough for most applications.

I didn't know what pack voltage I would end up with, so I got a controller and solenoid that would work with anything I was likely to put in the cart.
Aftermarket controllers that operate from 36V to 48V are easy to find, but solenoids aren't. The only one that I know of is the 48V 400A/1000A Super-Duty solenoid. I've ran it at both 36V and 42V, and others are running it at 48V, so you don't have to change solenoid when you change pack voltage.

The voltage reducer I have works from 26V to 60V

The battery charger has to match pack voltage and battery type/brand. I use a DPI Accusense charger. It has user selectable charge profiles and goes into float charge after the regular charge cycle finishes.

With an Alltrax DCX400 (or larger) controller and matching solenoid and stock height tires, an otherwise stock PDS cart will do about 24 MPH with a 36V battery pack.

[wcgolf]

Well I don't want to do much as I've already spent enough this year, but I don't want to run into issues either. As far as electrically inclined, I am a general contractor with an electrician that lives next door. Cables are going to get built this week. Headed to welding supply house. Any reason 0 Ga is over kill?

As far as for what I'm looking to do is add radio, and be able to ride around neighborhood for an hour straight if possible and make it through a full round of golf. And yes I know not on same charge. I am going to put a gauge on it as well.

Any other suggestions?


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[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by wcgolf

Well I don't want to do much as I've already spent enough this year, but I don't want to run into issues either. As far as electrically inclined, I am a general contractor with an electrician that lives next door. Cables are going to get built this week. Headed to welding supply house. Any reason 0 Ga is over kill?

As far as for what I'm looking to do is add radio, and be able to ride around neighborhood for an hour straight if possible and make it through a full round of golf. And yes I know not on same charge. I am going to put a gauge on it as well.

Any other suggestions?


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Overkill is underrated.

Flexibility will be an issue, so get a high strand count.

The batteries move around some while driving, so make the cables between batteries long enough for an "S" curve.

The motor moves a lot, so leave plenty of slack.

The F1 & F2 cables only carry about 30A max, so the stock ones are big enough. (I'm still running the OEM F1-F2 cables)