Cart Slowly Shutters After Controller/Motor/Cable/Solenoid Upgrade

[Sergio]

You mean the Regen diode on the Solenoid big posts was also installed backwards?

If that was the case your cart was running through the diode and it could have been damaged by excessive current.

Does your multi-meter have a diode test function?

If so you should test that diode by disconnecting one of the diode leads and placing the multimeter probes on the diode leads.

In one position it should show 0v, if you flip the meter probes it should show around 0.5v-0.8v.

If You get 0L or a very low voltage in both directions the diode is bad.

[Sethmac]

Not at home but I will check...how would the damage likely manifest itself (ie. what would happen)

[Sergio]

You would not notice anything different but it would be like the diode was not installed and therefore it would not provide the Controller protection it was designed to do.

[Sergio]

Originally Posted by Sergio

This has some pretty big implications to members here and again I would wish Alltrax releases an official communication throughout their distribution channels.

I see two possibilities:

1) The engineers finally came to talk to the tech support folks and informed them the XCT Controllers have no built in solenoid suppression and it needs to be added externally.

2) Since the Controller needs access to the positive side of the coil for the built in suppression to be effective and since that may not be the case in all cart makers and models, management made a decision to tell everyone to install the diode to avoid confusion.

If the issue is #2, no big deal for everyone that has received an XCT from a site sponsor without the diode.

If the issue is #1, we need to know right away as many Controllers will be at risk for not having the diode installed.

Scotty or David, can You guys please clarify this with someone above tech support?

Bringing this to the Top so our site sponsors that sell the Alltrax XCT can comment to members that currently have not installed the suppression diode because they were told in this site not to do it.

I have no trust in the Alltrax Tech support at this point since they are the source of the miss-information so it would be nice to get confirmation from someone at Alltrax that is more knowledgeable with the Controller design to give the definitive answer.

Hopefully someone else has a better direct connection to Alltrax.

[Lrbergin]

Originally Posted by Sethmac

Just upgraded to A4, alltrax 500, solenoid and 2ga cables. Cart just shutters forward and backwards.

Controller has a solid green light.

Any ideas?

I had the same thing happen to me and it ended up being that the Alltrax came with the wrong throttle type preset. It would cause the cart to shutter and then stop. As soon as I checked it and selected the correct one, it ran fine. Worth a shot to look at.

[Sergio]

Originally Posted by Lrbergin

I had the same thing happen to me and it ended up being that the Alltrax came with the wrong throttle type preset. It would cause the cart to shutter and then stop. As soon as I checked it and selected the correct one, it ran fine. Worth a shot to look at.

He already fixed the problem, the suppression diode was installed incorrectly (You can see on the picture) and it prevented the Solenoid from engaging (direct short when controller tried to activate).

[Sethmac]

For regen diode I got .466 one way and 0L the other. For the other I got .475 one way an 0L the other. Good?

[Sergio]

Yes

[Sethmac]

So I got it out for a test drive to break in the new motor. I noticed as I get to higher speed the cart seems to slow itself down. I'm completely new to this...is that the regen braking or a potential issue. Can I disable it?

[Sethmac]

Went out again...seems to be when I let off the accelerator but it is pretty sensitive. If it's regen, can I just make it less se sensitive?