Cart stops running sudden

[Estexhunter]

Ok so I have now done a test on each individule battery after my charger had cycled over night and has been off all day...
The initial pack voltage was only 37.1

During the test I was on a 10 degree inclin and the load voltage is lowest reading under full aceleration.
Bat #1 6.3
Load 5.5
Bat #2. 6.5
Load. 5.6
Bat#3. 6.3
Load. 5.4
Bat #4. 6.3
Load 5.4
Bat #5. 6.2
Load 5.2
Bat #6. 6.2
Load 5.4

37.1. Pack voltage stopped

30.0 lowest under incline load full aceleration
. 32.3 steady.

[scottyb]

okay - I think your pack has lost some of it's ability to hold amperage. 37.1 is a key piece of info = only 70% of a full charge and then going down to 30 is a red flag. No single battery stands out as loosing a cell or failing worse than the rest.......I think these batts are on their way out...resulting in a typical loss of performance even for a stock cart.

[Golf cart guy]

Those numbers seem fine depending on the size of the hill.
Take individual battery vintage numbers after the cart is charged. Drive cart as you normally would and if you experience a failure, jack up the rear of the cart and check each battery under load by pushing on the accelerator pedal and record each battery reading. Post results

[cgtech]

"Under load" while jacked-up? Thats "no load", and can blow-up a motor. Not a good test procedure. Best check for each individual battery is test each batt while driving. Sorry, "golf cart guy", thats just not right to test a battery on "jacks", doesnt provide any valid info, but risks the motor. Loads are different while actually driving then spinning wheels with no load (real cart weight, driving on terrain).

[Estexhunter]

Thank you all very much!!
Like Scottyb said I believe I'll look into replacing my hole pack and see what happens... May be a week or two before I get that done but will post new results as soon as I can with new pack...

[Estexhunter]

Ok so I have now taken my hole pack of batteries off and up to the battery store thinking I will be buying a hole new set... Well come to find out there is nothing wrong with theses batteries he said that they check out good and that I must have a bad connection or bad wires somewhere ... I have brushed down and clean all the connections except the ones that go to the motor... I guess I'll try cleaning those too if anybody has any more suggestions I would be more than thankfull....

[Estexhunter]

Here is a pic of my controller if this will help... I think someone said that it could be failing idk... But thought I would show it just incase... I have also changed out all my cables except the ones going to my control box but have yet had the chance to drive it long enough to see if my control box still gets hot and also to see if it just stops sudden. Any suggestions would be great
Thanks again.

[scottyb]

If the controller gets physically hot and the cart stops going the controller is going into thermal cut off. Thermal cut off is a self preservation mode, letting you know you are over working the control. Repeated shutdown results in a fatal cut off.
If you have bigger tires, back seat, or off road use it is time for an upgrade.

[Estexhunter]

Ok thanks Scotty....
I don't have bigger tires or anything but we do use it off road a lil and tend to drive it at a slow rate.... Will driving it slow or putting around on it cause this thermal shut down ... Cause it does seem to happen when we are just easing around our place checking fence and such after running it down our driveway a ways.... And by upgrade are you meaning the controller ? Also it looks as though it has the wires on it that they sell calling it a chip... If I take that out do you think that could help my problem as I don't really need more speed or anything ???

Thank you

[JohnnieB]

Sounds like you have more than one problem. Batteries and/or charger and controller and high current cables as well.

1. Batteries: They are not being fully charged. A 36V battery pack should read 38.2V roughly 12 hours after the charger shuts off and your batteries read 37.1V.

Unless the battery store you took your batteries to had a load tester specifically designed for the Deep-Cycle batteries used by Golf carts, they more than likely used a load tester designed for automobile batteries and the conclusions they reached are invalid since the testing was invalid.

What are the Make and Model of the batteries?
How old are they?

2. Charger: The charger should not turn off before the On-Charge pack voltage climbs into the 44V to 46V range.

What Make and Model charger?

3. Controller: You have a PDS (Curtis 1206MX) controller with a "Mild Hill" chip installed.

Which chip installed, if any, only changes the top speed and the amount of regen braking. Other than that, the performance is the same, so changing the chip will not keep the cart from misbehaving.

Even with stock height tires (18 inches tall), driving a PDS cart at walking speeds (3-4 MPH) or less for long distances, will overheat the controller (and motor) and the damage is cumulative, so once the controller starts going into thermal shutdown, the time/distance between shutdowns gets less.

4. High Current Cables: A PDS cart has 10 of them and they should all be 4Ga or thicker.

The cable with the green band on it (labeled A1) might be 4Ga, but the one next to it (on the B- terminal) appears to be thinner, probably 6Ga, so the interconnecting cable in the battery pack are most likely 6Ga also.

If any of the cables are getting more than slightly warm, they need to be replaced.