Sooo slow!

[chrislovessushi]

Hello all! I recently purchased my first cart, a 2013 48v Yamaha Drive. It's been a blast cruising around town on this thing for the past couple of days but having to constantly pull over to let people pass is getting old and I'm ready to try and get some more speed out of this thing. Right now with me and my wife on board, it tops out at about 13mph. I would really like to see 20mph. Even though I live in a large city, I can't seem to find anyone that will work on a Yamaha so I've decided to do some upgrades myself. From my reading, it seems like the best place to start would be the speed controller, do you guys agree? It seems like I can upgrade the speed controller without having to replace the motor or wiring, is that right? I'm looking at a Navitas 600-amp. Am I understanding correctly that I can order this part, slap it on, and ride without having to do any other upgrades? Is there a different upgrade that you guys would recommend over the speed controller? To give you some more info, my serial begins with JW9, and I always drive on flat pavement, so speed is more important to me than torque.

[Tha_B_Man]

Starting with the controller is a great first step, along with a 2 gauge cable set. I recently put an Alltrax 400amp controller on my 2007 and I’m very pleased. Cruising around at 20+ mph.


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[chrislovessushi]

So it will be necessary to upgrade my cables as well? Or is the controller plug-n-play?

[LukeL]

I have two Yamaha drives that have had the PTV speed code. A good cheap way to get about 20 mph. Ask your dealer.


Club Car DS driver’s club #59

[chrislovessushi]

Originally Posted by LukeL

I have two Yamaha drives that have had the PTV speed code. A good cheap way to get about 20 mph. Ask your dealer.


Club Car DS driver’s club #59

Wish I had a Yamaha dealer somewhere nearby, but I haven’t had any luck getting in touch with anyone. I also don’t have lights so I would have to have those installed first before I can do the speed code. Not cheap anymore :/

[scottyb]

Email replied to . See my 2013 YDRE transformed with an Alltrax install here > http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...ht-yamaha.html

[chrislovessushi]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Email replied to . See my 2013 YDRE transformed with an Alltrax install here > http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...ht-yamaha.html

Thanks so much! For anyone interested I've decided to go with an Alltrax 400a speed controller/solenoid combo from cartsunlimited.

[LukeL]

Originally Posted by chrislovessushi

Thanks so much! For anyone interested I've decided to go with an Alltrax 400a speed controller/solenoid combo from cartsunlimited.

Sweet. You’ll love it. By the way the light kit is an easy upgrade. Here’s one of mine:




Club Car DS driver’s club #59

[chrislovessushi]

Originally Posted by LukeL

Sweet. You’ll love it. By the way the light kit is an easy upgrade. Here’s one of mine:




Club Car DS driver’s club #59

Looks great! I'll definitely be doing that in the near future, but first I have to satisfy this need for speed :)

[chrislovessushi]

Just to give everyone a follow up:

I contacted the nearest Yamaha dealer I could find. He needed to install the "street legal kit" before he could do the PTV code. He wanted $400 for the kit (with halogen bulbs), plus labor, plus $75 to pickup/deliver the cart. Then he said that the PTV code would be $150, however, it may not work. If it didn't work, then he said the motor would need new brushes ($200 plus labor). I looked this up and apparently other people have had this issue. It also sounds like the new brushes are actually a downgrade for the motor. So I would end up with a max speed of 19MPH, a downgraded motor, and a halogen bulb light kit (it's 2018, I want LEDs!). None of that sat well with me.

So I decided to do the upgrades myself and contacted Scotty with Carts Unlimited as well as Buggies Unlimited (because I still wanted the street legal kit). In the end I have a 48v-12v reducer, LED lights that I love, turn signal, horn, etc. then the Alltrax XCT400, SW180 200a Solenoid, and a new dremel that I've been meaning to buy anyway. The install of the light/turn signal etc kit was shockingly simple. just a matter of cutting some holes and running some wires and plugging everything in. The new speed controller/solenoid install was even easier thanks to Scotty's instructions. I did make a huge mistake by leaving the ignition turned on (at least I flipped the tow switch!) during the install which lead to a very minor shock from my A wire and a fireworks display when my socket wrench bumped the battery + wire while I was tightening the B- on the controller. That welded the B+ onto the inline fuse and melted my socket wrench. Fortunately I was wearing gloves. Afterwards I went to test the cart (this is when I noticed that I had the ignition turned on the whole time) and to my amazement it all worked. Not only did it work, but I was hitting 23MPH! Almost twice as fast as the previous max speed of 12MPH! I put the backseat back on and piled my wife and two other friends onto the cart and was again surprised to see that we still were going about 20MPH. All in all everything cost me about $800 and I learned a ton in the process. Now it's time to upgrade the cables to 2awg and drop in a high speed motor :)