04-10-2019, 08:10 AM | #1 |
Flat Out Hooked on Carts
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 1,115
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Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
So I was going to wait until this was finished, but we made such progress last night that I thought I would share.
My buddy has a 2007? DS with 4” lift, 20” tires (yes looks a little like a roller skate but taller tires coming) that he keeps immaculately clean. His batteries died and I have been talking to him about doing a lithium conversion for some time, so he decided to take the plunge. We started by removing the old batteries. We are using Nissan Leaf cells again here, Gen 1’s. The whole pack was $500 on EBay. Will be using these seven 2S modules for 58.8V. We then removed the rear body and cleaned up the frame with baking soda and water with a stiff brush. . Gave it a couple coats of satin black from a rattle can. We are putting in polished diamond plate floors and aluminum panels, so the only part of this battery tray area that will be visible is the main frame rails. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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04-10-2019, 08:24 AM | #2 |
Flat Out Hooked on Carts
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 1,115
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
We then went on to assemble the pack with aluminum plates sandwiching the cells together using 1/4” allthread, washers, and locknuts. Also, mounted the bus bars, Anderson connector, top plate, and tap harness for the Zeva BMS.
. At the cart, the aluminum panels were fitted and secured using self tapping screws and a drill. The process required an impossible amount of times where we kept scratching the paint on the top rails, so we decided to sand them off. Actually looks better without paint on top. You can also see that we mounted the Alltrax 500 amp controller. Got this used on EBay for a couple hundred dollars. Mounted the battery, accessory fuse panel, forward/reverse contractors, and began making cables with 2 gauge welding cable for the high amperage stuff. During this process we discovered that an old Club Car cooler I had laying around fit snuggly between the frame rail on the other side. We decided that I need to fabricate a bottle holder for liquor out of plexi and this will hold the ice. While we were at it, an MCOR 4 upgrade was done for a bit better throttle response. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
04-10-2019, 08:42 AM | #3 |
Flat Out Hooked on Carts
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 1,115
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
The BMS touchscreen needed to be mounted in the dash. Since this cart is a beach theme (it’s name is the “Stone Crab”), I thought this vinyl floor sample would make a great way to inset the screen in the factory dash. I had to use two samples and trim to fit, then used shoe goo to hold them on.
. It came out great. Here’s where I got a little artsy. I just bough an engraving but kit for my Dremel, and I wanted to try them out. I started doing bubbles, seaweed, and a jellyfish across one frame rail. At first I was worried what my buddy would think as it needed a lot more work, but the more I worked on it the better it came out. Doing this without his permission, but decided that the top plate for the battery needed to be done with a stone crab and the other frame rail needs to match this one. More on that later. Last night finished all the high amperage cable and wiring the forward/reverse contractors. Lots of temporary connections for the low amperage stuff. Using the factory harness is looking like less of an option since we are eliminating the solenoid, forward/reverse switch, and OBC. I think we just ended up staring at the factory harness diagram for at least an hour trying to figure out how to make it work. We did power up the controller and unfortunately found that this controller was set up for 0-5v throttle input and not the 0-5k ohm signal we need. I have to dig out my usb to serial adapter, download the drivers, load the software onto a laptop, and plug in and program the controller. With that small setback, I set my sights back on the engraving if the stone crab. It’s coming in awesome, and the frame rail engraving makes sense now. It looks different from every angle, with some of the metal reflecting light and other parts deflecting it. Getting close to having this thing going, but I really think it might be easier to make my own harness or modify the original. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
04-10-2019, 09:08 AM | #4 |
Gone Wild
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Southwestern Pa.
Posts: 6,215
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Love the crab!!!
Nice work.....it reads like a textbook approach as to how I did my build. But....where's your on board charger? (Not a requirement....but I really like mine) If he is going to use this primarily for street\golf course purposes, you may want to consider using the Alltrax controller Pro software (download from Alltrax onto a Windows based laptop) and adjust the "Max Output" setting (it's a slide-bar in the software window) to perhaps 50%. By doing this, the maximum pack amps that will be "allowed" to the motor (in your case) would be 50% x 500 - 250amps. What that would do is extend the run time of the battery pack since it would only draw (in this example) 250amps at the most. Even if the motor "ask" for more. You will want to see how this affects the performance.....but instead of jackrabbit starts.....longer run time may be more important. FWIW |
04-10-2019, 10:32 AM | #5 |
Just Gone
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 3,549
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Good work so far! Those panels look mighty familiar...
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04-16-2019, 12:09 PM | #6 |
Flat Out Hooked on Carts
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 1,115
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Got the battery cover etching done. Looks great. Made jokes for some LED eyes. Want to hook them up to the charger so that they glow red when charging and green when done. Also got the low amperage wiring mostly done, including the 12v stuff for the LEDs I put under the tops of the frame rails.
Only thing really holding ya back is the controller. Downloaded the drivers for the usb to RS 232 interface, downloaded the software, changed the parameters, and now it won’t leave programming mode. Might have to call Alltrax. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
04-16-2019, 08:23 PM | #7 |
Gone Wild
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Lady Lake, FL.
Posts: 457
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Another Ping pack! Looking great and I love the engraving!
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk |
04-23-2019, 05:56 PM | #8 |
Flat Out Hooked on Carts
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 1,115
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Got a little further on the cart. Have the throttle wires up, controller and cart working with jumper cables being used to substitute forward and reverse switch. Mounted the charger and the voltage converter. Cleaned up the wiring and put in some loom. Put the LEDs around the inside of the front seat to light up the work. Have the plexi cut out and ready to run into a bottle holder for the bar. Lots left to do but great to see progress. A couple of mysteries I have yet to figure out- the throttle position won’t go past 61%. Might be a linkage issue on the MCOR. I also can’t for the life of me figure out why the Alltrax won’t leave programming mode but works like it is supposed to.
Also, got a deal on these full range Phillips TV speakers. $2.80/pair at partsexpress.com. I figured for the class d amp we are putting in with all the gain and crossover adjustments these would be perfect without taking up the storage space. They required some trimming but shoe goo and screws hold them solidly in place. Will be making some grills for these to hide them Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
04-23-2019, 06:21 PM | #9 |
MOD of all BS!
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Florida
Posts: 17,477
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Looks terrific!! Great Job!!
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04-23-2019, 06:55 PM | #10 |
Gone Wild
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 1,308
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Re: Club Car DS Lithium Conversion
Great job on assembly and pictures. The artwork is incredible. Even the polished I-beam frame has artwork.
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