Cart won't go up or start on steep grades

[RickL]

2003 club car 48 volt parkway, year old batteries, lights, wiper etc all work fine, cart operates fully normally speed wise. I have a long driveway, going up, fairly steep in some sections. when i head up, it goes beautifully all the way to the top, no bogging down at all. however if i stop on the steep section, it will not go forward again, pedal to metal just sits there, after say 5 or 10 seconds of the pedal down, i hear a click and it rolls backwards. if i back down to less grade and start back up it goes fully normally. i don’t get it. does anyone have any clues? Also, FYI it is lifted and has big tires if that makes a difference. Cart is new to me so this is the only way I've known it to act...where my other 20013 DS will spin it's stock size tires up any grade, even almost pull a wheelie when starting from dead stop on steep grade. hence my confusion on why this one won't even move, yet appear totally normal in operation otherwise.

[Fairtax4me]

Batteries may be low on charge or you may have a poor connection somewhere.

Check voltage on each battery and the entire pack at rest. Then check voltage when trying to climb the hill.

[scottyb]

NEVER hold an electric cart in a stall condition! A stall condition is when you ask the cart to go and it can not, the motor stalls. But in reality - the motor is drawing huge amounts of amperage that it cannot convert to motion so it converts it to heat. This heat will kill the motor. Likely your solenoid is dropping out when the stalled motor has pulled the pack down below the solenoid coil tolerances.
Like the person before me said, have the battery pack tested. Or install an in dash digital meter and simply report the starting voltage & what the lowest voltage read is.

[radelon]

This sounds to me like maybe it still has Stock Controller, Wiring, Solenoid and Switch.


When under that much load the system is asking for more Current but it can't fulfill it do to bottlenecks....

Example: If it's a 225amp Curtis then you have just enough to get going and keep it going on small grades and level terrain. But it doesn't take the same amount of force to get it up a steeper grade and therefore it maxes out.

Your setup only has enough torque/power to do X amount of work. If you want it to do 2 times the amount of X work, then your torque/power will need to be increased also.

[WalterM6]

Here's what happened to me one time. As an experiment I turned my Alltrax armature current down to 250 amps. I had to stop on a hill for a stop sign. When I tried to go again it wouldn't move. I coasted down the hill and it went up the hill ok. Got back home and I changed the armature current back to 500 and the problem went away.

So with a 225 or 250 amp you are also limiting your output to the low limits. Get a 400 or 500 amp Alltrax Controller and your problem will be over. Unless your batteries are so old that they can't put out the amps.

[RickL]

thank you all so much. lot's of good info and advice there! given the difference of how the two 2003's I have operate, same conditions, same motor, I think I'll give the higher amp solution a try and see what happens. thanks all!:lol

[Redbeardcc]

Just a thought but you stated that it has a lift with big tires. If it’s a stock cart otherwise then you probably don’t have enough torque to go from a standing stop on a steep grade with that large of a tire. You could try temporarily mounting the stock size tires from the other cart and see what happens. But definitely get voltage readings of the pack as ScottyB suggested. That will help a lot with a diagnosis.

[_ogre]

would worn brushes in the motor cause this?

[RickL]

thanks all! I checked, batteries full 8+ volts each and just over 48 at the motor. golfcartking.com tells me the armature increase won't do the trick, that i need a "torque system" i may call them as they suggest to discuss what it would take to have them configure one just for my cart. :-) we'll see. had grand kids here all weekend, 4 of us in the cart, still no problem going great up and down hills, level ground ad full speed....just can't stop on hills or take them very slow. i see others in this site have discussed same problem, but no one posted a resolution. I will if and when i get one! thanks to all!

[WalterM6]

but no one posted a resolution

Where you hoping for a resolution that didn't cost any money?