2001 DS 5 mph top speed, new Alltrax control

[PMBlaze]

I have a 2001 Club car DS. I have been upgrading it. Picked up a SR48500 Alltrax and a 400 amp solenoid, replaced all the wires with 4 gauge and are using the stock F/R switch(cleaned it up)and motor 3.1 HP, it has a MCOR 4 installed. When I first installed the controller and solenoid I would only get the wheels to turn if I fully depressed the accelerator and then released it. The wheels would turn faster as I took my foot off and then stop. I changed the controller to Club car setting and increased my throttle rate to 100% that made the pedal work correctly.
Called Alltrax and went through all the wire checking and it all looks good. Reset some of the settings. The controller doesn't throw any error codes. I'm thinking the controller is doing what its suppose to and Alltrax is sending me a field map(?) to download. I show over 8 volts on all my batteries. When I have my lap top plugged in while driving I only show around 36 amps from battery back and motor. Shouldn't this be much higher? I have a 500 amp controller! The throttle shows working properly according to the software.
If it should read higher any ideas of what I should look at next, it seems the amps are getting bottled necked somewhere. Would a worn motor be the culprit? Any direction from the all knowing would be much appreciated.

[Lochlin]

The Club Car gurus, one of which I am not, will be here soon but you may want to check out the sticky on top of the forum and check your speed sensor (assuming you even have one given your upgrades).

Again, I am a Club Car novice compared to the other guys. I am just trying to get ya started.

[Fairtax4me]

There's no speed sensor on a series motor.
Either the controller settings are not allowing the motor to go faster, or you are not getting full throttle command from the controller. Look in the throttle settings and make sure it is set for club car, and try to re-calibrate the throttle.
I'm not super familiar with the Alltrax software, so can't give specifics, but there's not much that will limit a series motor to only a few mph, so it has to be something in the settings in the controller.
Also possible, but maybe less likely is a connection problem (loose or corroded cable), or bad battery not allowing full voltage through. What is the voltage at the controller B+ when the cart is driving?

[Jake_Daddy]

Now I’m no guru but I just installed the same controller and the only settings there really are to adjust are the speed and torque curves and the controller amps and battery amps. I would verify that both of those curves hit 100% at maybe 95% throttle and battery and controller amps at 400 or so. Don’t get to worried about what the motor is pulling, mine will spike a bit over 350a the second I hit the gas and within a second it’s under 100a then cruising it’s around 50-60a, mines 36v so amp draws are higher than a 48v. If all your settings look good I would double check connections.

[scottyb]

The default settings on the Alltrax control are full power and full speed in forward. So unless somebody changed them max armature amperage would be the same as the controller rating (500 in this case) assuming the throttle is correct and the controller is reaching 100% flow the status LED light will change from green to yellow at full throttle...If yes, the solenoid could be the culprit. Put both big solenoid cables on the same post with the small red wire ( if used with this cart) then drive and see if power is restored. If yes the solenoid has a problem.

[PMBlaze]

Thanks for the input, sorry for the delay posting my reply. I did not try to put both cables on one terminal(it kinda of scared me), but when I purchased the SR48500 from Carts unlimited I also purchased a new 400 amp solenoid. The solenoid seems to be working fine. I checked all my connections and everything is tight, all batteries are new. I'm getting around 12-13 mph with stock tires which seems to be within the realm, but when I get to hills, speed drops to around 7 mph. While having my laptop hooked up it shows around 78 amp draw going up the hill. As you have seen I replaced everything except the F/R switch and motor. The throttle shows 100% on the laptop. My next step is to calibrate the throttle(?). Could a Worn F/R switch limit my amps? Tired Motor? Alltrax controller settings are maxed out.

[Dragracer_Art]

Are your batteries definitely good ?

A really old set of batteries or bad battery in the pack will cause issues too.

They may measure fine at rest... but under load could be crashing.

I maintain a fleet (45+ vehicles) of battery powered equipment and see it regularly.
The Fluke shows great voltage under no load.... but as soon as any load is put on the battery it falls off a cliff.

I would start with load testing the batteries first and work your way out from there.

[PMBlaze]

The weather has been crappy here in Upstate NY so my test runs are on hold. They are all new batteries. Fully charged, the alltrax light goes to orange indicating its getting full throttle. Waiting for the weather to break and switch cables like ScottyB suggested.

[PMBlaze]

Put both of the large wires on the same single positive post of the solenoid(left the resistor unhooked). Going up a pretty steep hill I was drawing @98 amps at 8 mph, so nothing has really changed switching the wires. Question is, whats limiting the amps. I have a rear flip seat, so when I was looking into the new controller I was told I would get 40% more torque. Should I be seeing amp spikes of some sort? a 6 pack of 8V batteries should give me all kinds of amps, correct? Do I need to reset something?

[scottyb]

It could be a setting someplace... Since you have the software start posting pics of all the settings on every page. Then collect and share a monitor file here with us. One of us will get you going if we get enough information.


Is the motor or the solenoid getting hot? How about the F&R or any of the cable ends - getting hot?