Upgrading drive system

[Dwalls]

I am just going to make my own, but it is only because I have some extra 1/0 welding wire at the shop that I have had for years and the ends are supposed to be delivered Friday.

I know that the 1/0 is overkill but I am going to try using that if I can make all of the bends with that wire.

[JohnnieB]

Also seen in the battery pictures, the cable stacking order is wrong.

The black high current cable goes on first, then the smaller gauge white wire from the charger port. Also, the stacking order on the adjacent battery might be backwards.

In a nutshell, the cable/wire that carries the greatest number of amps goes on first, next greatest amps goes on next and finally the low amps stuff.

[Dwalls]

I haven't noticed that, thank you for pointing that out to me. I hope to replace every cable on this thing this weekend. I will do some before and after test on the cart and see what improves with cables alone. Then hopefully next time I'm off my new controller will be here from Scotty, then the real fun will begin.

[BBBHC]

In addition to what JohnnieB said. That battery terminal is beyond suspect. Obviously it got very hot. Heat equals resistance. Resistance equals loss of current, power. That alone will help with your issues.

[Dwalls]

Yes, i noticed the connection after the picture was taken, I am off tomorrow and will do so testing with the meter and record some voltage readings, then do the same after the cables are changed and see the difference. I am also planning on driving the cart and recording the speed with my phone GPS then see what the speed is going up the driveway to the shop. I will be surprised if it is 25% of flat speed. and we're only talking about maybe a 10 foot incline in 400 feet. I plan on doing the speed test both before and after.

[Dwalls]

Update:
Today I got to do some testing with the cart for the first time so I'll post my baseline measurements here. Cable ends will not be here until tomorrow or the next day for me to change all of the cables and see what difference that will make.

Battery voltage after sitting about 8hrs was 38.36

Key on Forward selected voltage on battery side of solenoid was 38.36

Key on forward selected voltage on controller side of solenoid was 37.58

Battery voltage under load

on road flat 35.2

up hill on gravel driveway 31.7

15 minutes after parking with key off 38.25

Before I did this I made sure that all of the tires had 23 psi with stock tires

Like JohnnieB noticed the other day, all of the added on wires were next to the battery with the load wires being on top, I corrected all of them.

There was aslo 2 batteries that were being used to get 12v for lights, I removed them and will add the step down transformer that I bought for the 12v.

The cart both before and after add of the test would run 12mph on the street and drop to 7 uphill in our driveway.

I will do all of the same test when I get the cables changed out.

[yurtle]

Only thing I'd suggest is consider using red/black heat shrink on battery cables. I used black on everything that wasn't directly connected to a battery.

[Dwalls]

Yes, I ordered 2ft of red and black heatshrink that should be delivered tomorrow along with the ends for the 1/0 cable that I have laying around, so I guess that we'll see what I can come up with.

What is the stock speed of a 2002 36v TXT does this look pretty much with what you would expect to see? It may be the batteries that are killing it uphill in the grass.

Even if the cable doesn't make a difference I bet what I ordered from Scotty will. hehe at least until I burn up the F/R switch or motor. LOL

Thank you
Donald

[cgtech]

If you are seeing "typical voltages" of 31.7v when under heavy sustained load, that's a problem. That 31.5v thing is "should not be dipping below that", only for a brief second under Max load from a stop. I guess we'll see what happens. If you are seeing these numbers with a stock controller, you will be disappointed with the upgrade controller, it will really kick the **** out of some worn out batteries. That's the worst, put new upgrade parts in, with lame batteries, and see no real upgrade because the batteries can't support it. Been there, done that....

[Dwalls]

Originally Posted by cgtech

If you are seeing "typical voltages" of 31.7v when under heavy sustained load, that's a problem. That 31.5v thing is "should not be dipping below that", only for a brief second under Max load from a stop. I guess we'll see what happens. If you are seeing these numbers with a stock controller, you will be disappointed with the upgrade controller, it will really kick the **** out of some worn out batteries. That's the worst, put new upgrade parts in, with lame batteries, and see no real upgrade because the batteries can't support it. Been there, done that....

I understand what you are saying, I just wasn't sure what the batteries would drop to under load.
At this point with these batteries all that I can hope for is getting some use out of them, and I'm going to do what JohnnieB did here http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...batteries.html

I may have hoped for more results with the cable upgrade than what I am going to get, but eventually I will not be disappointed. I knew the batteries were not in that good of shape and now I have a better understanding of just how bad they may be. Looks like new batteries may be sooner that later. But for now we will have fun with these.

Just had these delivered yesterday for the motorhome and wouldn't a cart just keep going if you could put 6 of these in there, GPL-6CT AGM of course 6 of these batteries would cost more than the cart.