Wanting to Upgrade my old 87 Club Car DS completely.

[Wakko47]

Right, but how would the system handle it? I have a toaster here with bad batteries and it's going to be for sale soon. I'd rather not buy new batteries for it in case the new owner wants to convert to 48, but I can't very well sell it with batteries that are 5-5.5 volts. I was thinking of dropping 5x8 in there as a demo.

[LEMANSZ20]

Originally Posted by CP241

Also your resistor coils won’t last very long on 48v. They will last a while and it will be fast as hell compared to before. But I’d expect them to fail, sooner or later depending on their condition.

Personally I’d sell it and buy a 48v. You’ll get around 20mph with a speed magnet ($30) and have a much more efficient drive system than you do now.

I think what Ill do is when these batteries go, ill call scotty and buy the vglide highspeed by pass if thats what he recommends. I truly anticipated that I would need alot more to get more speed. I honestly just want to be able to put 4 people on the cart and not be doing 10 11 mph.

SHes an old cart with all new solenoids, but shes the simplest they ever made, no computer. So if I can just buy the 48 volt batteries, Ill do that and get a charger with the bypass.

[Sergio]

If You have the old 5 solenoid system that will work much better than the VGLide and no "by-pass" is needed.

My neighbor ran his 81 DS 5 solenoids system at 48v with a plum quick bandit motor upgrade for many years. He did replace two or three of the old 36v solenoids through the years as they burnt.

Wakko47, the system handles the higher voltage it just gets hot during prolonged operation.

[LEMANSZ20]

Originally Posted by Sergio

If You have the old 5 solenoid system that will work much better than the VGLide and no "by-pass" is needed.

My neighbor ran his 81 DS 5 solenoids system at 48v with a plum quick bandit motor upgrade for many years. He did replace two or three of the old 36v solenoids through the years as they burnt.

Wakko47, the system handles the higher voltage it just gets hot during prolonged operation.

Oh ok, yeah my system is the very basic cart. Just has 5 solenoids that control the speed of the cart. I mean I know shes not gonna be doing 30 mph or anything, but id like a solid 20 on light loads, and then when the cart is full of people that I can at least get 15 mph on the regular.

So basically I guess when its time to swap batteries, im just gonna buy 48V, but Ill have to rewire I would assume. I think though I might look into just changing the motor like scotty is saying if I dont have to buy any crazy computer stuff.

[el monstro]

I have pretty much the same cart as Lemansz20 with 5 solenoids. Are you guys saying I could add 2 more 6v batteries to make 48 volt, and run it till the solenoids stop? then I can just swap out to 48v solenoids? my cart is really slow especially going up a slight incline around my neighborhood.

[mgray70]

Originally Posted by el monstro

I have pretty much the same cart as Lemansz20 with 5 solenoids. Are you guys saying I could add 2 more 6v batteries to make 48 volt, and run it till the solenoids stop? then I can just swap out to 48v solenoids? my cart is really slow especially going up a slight incline around my neighborhood.

You can do that. You will need a 48 charger.

[Sergio]

I did not mean to imply that by increasing the voltage to 48v by itself would be the same as a complete upgrade to a Controller.

It does work well at full throttle but if You do a lot of partial throttle driving the old coil resistors will be dissipating more heat and they could fail so keep that in mind.


I would recommend making two modifications to the cart, see diagram below for reference.


First, convert the key switch to a positive activation circuit:

Disconnect the two wires from the back of the key switch (#11 and #13) discard #13 as it will not be used (#11 will be used in the second modification).

Disconnect the wire from the speed box to the FNR pack positive terminal (#14) and connect to one side of the key switch.

This will be the "cold" or "switched" side of the 48v key switch.

Run a new wire (14 ga) from the other side of the key switch to the FNR location where the #14 wire was connected.

This will be the "hot" or "always ON" side of the key switch.

Second, use the +12v pack position (or +16v if 8v batteries) for the Solenoids negative side so they will still operate at 36v:

Connect the wire #11 that was disconnected from the key switch on previous step to the "anode" or the side without the stripe on a 10 amp diode.

https://www.amazon.com/MCIGICM-Recti...ZZF/ref=sr_1_3

Connect the cathode of the diode or side with the stripe to the battery posts that measures +12v from pack negative.

That will allow the Solenoids to continue to operate at 36v (or 32v if 8v batteries) in order to prolong their life.


You can now also install a 5 wire voltage reducer and connect the "trigger" wire to the 48v "switched" side of the key switch.

[el monstro]

Looks like you really know your stuff Sergio. I was able to follow along up until the second part
"use the +12v pack position (or +16v if 8v batteries) for the Solenoids negative side so they will still operate at 36v"

I understand the concept of reducing the voltage to not burn up the components, I'm just not sure what you mean by "+12v pack position" and "battery posts that measures +12v from pack negative"
I'm assuming it's wires # 7 and 8 on the diagram if using 6v batteries. I probably just need to study it a little more

[morvolts2]

Originally Posted by el monstro

Looks like you really know your stuff Sergio. I was able to follow along up until the second part
"use the +12v pack position (or +16v if 8v batteries) for the Solenoids negative side so they will still operate at 36v"

I understand the concept of reducing the voltage to not burn up the components, I'm just not sure what you mean by "+12v pack position" and "battery posts that measures +12v from pack negative"
I'm assuming it's wires # 7 and 8 on the diagram if using 6v batteries. I probably just need to study it a little more

what hes saying is that since the batteries are all in series,easy way to reduce the voltage is skip the first 2 batteries for your controls circuit.
Total pack voltage wont change,but the point where you pick up controls voltage will.

[Sergio]

That is it, just use your voltmeter to make sure the battery post You connect that wire measures +12v with the negative meter probe on the pack negative battery post.

The diode is to make sure that connection will only be used as a return line and not back-feed power into the system when the cart is off.