Need wiring help with Navitas 600A Controller in Club Car Precedent!

[F-ING HOSTILE]

Hi guys!

I'm in the process of installing a Navitas 5kw AC motor and 600A controller in my 2012 Club Car Precedent (PH), in anticipation of my Extreme Team Carts & Accessories 72V lithium battery arriving. I have the motor installed, and just had a couple questions about wiring.

The instructions I received from Navitas Vehicle Systems Ltd. are pretty vague (as is their video). I did find a fentertainment video on YouTube that was pretty helpful, but he has a 2014 without the OBC, so it's a slightly different install. I know Blake and Fred are crazy busy right now trying to get everyone's batteries ready to ship, so I figured rather than bother them I would post here.

My main question is, can I completely abandon the OBC? I plan to replace the main neg cable that ran from the battery (through the OBC) to the controller with the 2GA wires I got from Ryan O'Rear. There are two black wires crimped in the eyelet ring with the main neg cable that I'm unsure about. One runs to the OBC (for factory charging I assume). The lithium pack has it's own charger, so I shouldn't need that OBC wire. The other has a bullet connector and runs into the main wiring bundle to the battery box (where I connected the neg wire from my madjax light kit to it). I will be running the madjax lights directly from the 12V terminals on the Lithium pack, so I wouldn't think I would need that wire either.

I was also wondering if the wiring diagram I drew looked correct. Obviously I want to make sure I have everything right before I put power to it!

I've included a couple photos for reference.
The first is the OEM setup with all wires.
The second shows the OBC with the main neg battery cable and other 2 black wires I was curious about.
The third is my wiring diagram.

Thanks everyone!

[PingEye3]

Originally Posted by F-ING HOSTILE

Hi guys!

I'm in the process of installing a Navitas 5kw AC motor and 600A controller in my 2012 Club Car Precedent (PH), in anticipation of my Extreme Team Carts & Accessories 72V lithium battery arriving. I have the motor installed, and just had a couple questions about wiring.

The instructions I received from Navitas Vehicle Systems Ltd. are pretty vague (as is their video). I did find a fentertainment video on YouTube that was pretty helpful, but he has a 2014 without the OBC, so it's a slightly different install. I know Blake and Fred are crazy busy right now trying to get everyone's batteries ready to ship, so I figured rather than bother them I would post here.

My main question is, can I completely abandon the OBC? I plan to replace the main neg cable that ran from the battery (through the OBC) to the controller with the 2GA wires I got from Ryan O'Rear. There are two black wires crimped in the eyelet ring with the main neg cable that I'm unsure about. One runs to the OBC (for factory charging I assume). The lithium pack has it's own charger, so I shouldn't need that OBC wire. The other has a bullet connector and runs into the main wiring bundle to the battery box (where I connected the neg wire from my madjax light kit to it). I will be running the madjax lights directly from the 12V terminals on the Lithium pack, so I wouldn't think I would need that wire either.

I was also wondering if the wiring diagram I drew looked correct. Obviously I want to make sure I have everything right before I put power to it!

I've included a couple photos for reference.
The first is the OEM setup with all wires.
The second shows the OBC with the main neg battery cable and other 2 black wires I was curious about.
The third is my wiring diagram.

Thanks everyone!

Your drawing looks good. If you are adding a DC-DC converter that has a trigger wire to turn it on. Take it to the solenoid and connect to the light blue wire at the solenoid. When KS is on the Converter powers on.

Since you are going lithium, just dump the OBC and if not selling the OBC online, cut the harness plug off the OBC. Then remove all but the Blu and Wht wires from the OBC side connector. You can pull the green pin out of the Deusch connector and easily remove the unused wires. Then put it back together and splice the Blu and Wht together.

Or, you can just cut the connector off the cart side of the OBC harness and splice the Blu-Wht together and cap each of the others with a butt splice.

[PingEye3]

Assuming you have their 100AH 72V pack, you can also move your new controller and solenoid into the battery compartment with the battery for convenience. The stock harness will reach everything except for the Tow/Run switch which will need to have the two wires lengthened. Then you never have to get under cart to reach the controller & sol. Here is my typical setup with an Alltrax controller. Nothin is mounted to the old controller plate except the Tow/Run switch.

First pic shows Roy Pow pack, Alltrax controller and DC-DC converter.
Second is the OBC bypass by cutting off the cart side connector
Third is closer look.

On the riser part of the tub where the main harness comes out at the top, I pull the main harness back out on to floor mat then cut a hole flush with bottom of tub on passenger side of riser and pull the harness back into the tub to reach the new controller. Best to remove the rear body on Precedent for this which is a 5 minute job.

That is my method for Lithium upgrades on Precedent. I haven't done a Navitas AC kit on one but would do it the same way. Very clean and everything is accessible.

[fstop]

Originally Posted by PingEye3

Assuming you have their 100AH 72V pack, you can also move your new controller and solenoid into the battery compartment with the battery for convenience. The stock harness will reach everything except for the Tow/Run switch which will need to have the two wires lengthened. Then you never have to get under cart to reach the controller & sol. Here is my typical setup with an Alltrax controller. Nothin is mounted to the old controller plate except the Tow/Run switch.

First pic shows Roy Pow pack, Alltrax controller and DC-DC converter.
Second is the OBC bypass by cutting off the cart side connector
Third is closer look.

On the riser part of the tub where the main harness comes out at the top, I pull the main harness back out on to floor mat then cut a hole flush with bottom of tub on passenger side of riser and pull the harness back into the tub to reach the new controller. Best to remove the rear body on Precedent for this which is a 5 minute job.

That is my method for Lithium upgrades on Precedent. I haven't done a Navitas AC kit on one but would do it the same way. Very clean and everything is accessible.

Another alternative is to leave the controller and solenoid in the aluminum enclosure. As Ping mentions, it is harder to get to it in there, but I've removed / replaced / worked on mine several times from underneath (factory lift, though) without much trouble. Not often you should need to do anything in there once the install is done, but it is a little more difficult to get to stuff in there like that.

But, this allows for a clean storage area under the seat (something I wanted and use all the time). But perhaps more importantly, while I'm not familiar with the Altrax controllers, the Navitas appears to be similar to the OEM controllers in that the aluminum cover plate enclosure I believe is part of the heat sink system for the controller. If you mount the Navitas TAC2 somewhere else, I think I'd consider provision for heat removal.

The TAC2 has a flat smooth aluminum surface which is intended to normally mount smoothly against the flat smooth aluminum box cover in the Precedent / Onward / Tempo.

Maybe the controller can function within thermal tolerances w/out having this additional heat-radiating surface area, but it might be worth asking Navitas and see what they think.

In my experience cooler running electronics last longer than ones that get hot, so this was something I was concerned about. I'll say I never asked Navitas about it though, so it's really just conjecture on my part.

[F-ING HOSTILE]

Originally Posted by PingEye3

Your drawing looks good. If you are adding a DC-DC converter that has a trigger wire to turn it on. Take it to the solenoid and connect to the light blue wire at the solenoid. When KS is on the Converter powers on.

Since you are going lithium, just dump the OBC and if not selling the OBC online, cut the harness plug off the OBC. Then remove all but the Blu and Wht wires from the OBC side connector. You can pull the green pin out of the Deusch connector and easily remove the unused wires. Then put it back together and splice the Blu and Wht together.

Or, you can just cut the connector off the cart side of the OBC harness and splice the Blu-Wht together and cap each of the others with a butt splice.

Thanks for all the help!

If I'm not using the factory charging port or OBC, do I need to cut out the obc harness and connect the blue and white wires. I'm a little confused about this part (and the green wire). I basically left all the OBC connectors together just as they were (in the photo with the navitas controller). I did cut the ring off of the main neg battery cable and pull it back through the hole in the OBC. I just abandoned it along with the other 2 black wires that were crimped in the ring with it (on the controller end). 1 ran into the OBC and then back out to the main wire bundle and the other was the neg lead that went to the battery box.

I guess a better way of putting it would be what will happen if I leave everything like it is in the photo (with the navitas controller)? I didn't take an updated photo after I installed the new solenoid and hooked everything up, but I did reattach both spade connectors that were on the factory solenoid, and put a ring on that red wire (that connected to the pink wire) and put it back on the solenoid.

Thanks!

[F-ING HOSTILE]

Originally Posted by PingEye3

Assuming you have their 100AH 72V pack, you can also move your new controller and solenoid into the battery compartment with the battery for convenience. The stock harness will reach everything except for the Tow/Run switch which will need to have the two wires lengthened. Then you never have to get under cart to reach the controller & sol. Here is my typical setup with an Alltrax controller. Nothin is mounted to the old controller plate except the Tow/Run switch.

First pic shows Roy Pow pack, Alltrax controller and DC-DC converter.
Second is the OBC bypass by cutting off the cart side connector
Third is closer look.

On the riser part of the tub where the main harness comes out at the top, I pull the main harness back out on to floor mat then cut a hole flush with bottom of tub on passenger side of riser and pull the harness back into the tub to reach the new controller. Best to remove the rear body on Precedent for this which is a 5 minute job.

That is my method for Lithium upgrades on Precedent. I haven't done a Navitas AC kit on one but would do it the same way. Very clean and everything is accessible.

Thought pretty serious about this, but had plans for the empty battery box!

[F-ING HOSTILE]

Originally Posted by fstop

Another alternative is to leave the controller and solenoid in the aluminum enclosure. As Ping mentions, it is harder to get to it in there, but I've removed / replaced / worked on mine several times from underneath (factory lift, though) without much trouble. Not often you should need to do anything in there once the install is done, but it is a little more difficult to get to stuff in there like that.

But, this allows for a clean storage area under the seat (something I wanted and use all the time). But perhaps more importantly, while I'm not familiar with the Altrax controllers, the Navitas appears to be similar to the OEM controllers in that the aluminum cover plate enclosure I believe is part of the heat sink system for the controller. If you mount the Navitas TAC2 somewhere else, I think I'd consider provision for heat removal.

The TAC2 has a flat smooth aluminum surface which is intended to normally mount smoothly against the flat smooth aluminum box cover in the Precedent / Onward / Tempo.

Maybe the controller can function within thermal tolerances w/out having this additional heat-radiating surface area, but it might be worth asking Navitas and see what they think.

In my experience cooler running electronics last longer than ones that get hot, so this was something I was concerned about. I'll say I never asked Navitas about it though, so it's really just conjecture on my part.

I think you're right. Plus, I like the idea of that under seat storage area!

[PingEye3]

Originally Posted by F-ING HOSTILE

Thanks for all the help!

If I'm not using the factory charging port or OBC, do I need to cut out the obc harness and connect the blue and white wires. I'm a little confused about this part (and the green wire). I basically left all the OBC connectors together just as they were (in the photo with the navitas controller). I did cut the ring off of the main neg battery cable and pull it back through the hole in the OBC. I just abandoned it along with the other 2 black wires that were crimped in the ring with it (on the controller end). 1 ran into the OBC and then back out to the main wire bundle and the other was the neg lead that went to the battery box.

I guess a better way of putting it would be what will happen if I leave everything like it is in the photo (with the navitas controller)? I didn't take an updated photo after I installed the new solenoid and hooked everything up, but I did reattach both spade connectors that were on the factory solenoid, and put a ring on that red wire (that connected to the pink wire) and put it back on the solenoid.

Thanks!

If you leave the OBC connected to the system, it will eventually lock you out and the cart won't move. The OBC is used to control the Power Drive 2 charger. After 30 days of not seeing a charger plugged in it opens the Blu/Wht circuit, stopping the cart. Once you change charger, lead acid or lithium, you need to remove OBC as above.

[PingEye3]

Originally Posted by fstop

Another alternative is to leave the controller and solenoid in the aluminum enclosure. As Ping mentions, it is harder to get to it in there, but I've removed / replaced / worked on mine several times from underneath (factory lift, though) without much trouble. Not often you should need to do anything in there once the install is done, but it is a little more difficult to get to stuff in there like that.

But, this allows for a clean storage area under the seat (something I wanted and use all the time). But perhaps more importantly, while I'm not familiar with the Altrax controllers, the Navitas appears to be similar to the OEM controllers in that the aluminum cover plate enclosure I believe is part of the heat sink system for the controller. If you mount the Navitas TAC2 somewhere else, I think I'd consider provision for heat removal.

The TAC2 has a flat smooth aluminum surface which is intended to normally mount smoothly against the flat smooth aluminum box cover in the Precedent / Onward / Tempo.

Maybe the controller can function within thermal tolerances w/out having this additional heat-radiating surface area, but it might be worth asking Navitas and see what they think.

In my experience cooler running electronics last longer than ones that get hot, so this was something I was concerned about. I'll say I never asked Navitas about it though, so it's really just conjecture on my part.

fstop: fully agree with all you said, but in my installs the bottom of the tub is covered in .100 thick aluminum. So no issue with heat dissipation for a Navitas conversion. Plus, I doubt that there will be much heat in the Navitas at 80V on a golf cart.

I am a retired old fart and when I have to go back to any of the dozen or so Precedent lithium conversions I have done at the club, sure beats getting under it. The member didn't have storage with regular batteries and I didn't offer it

[fstop]

Originally Posted by PingEye3

fstop: fully agree with all you said, but in my installs the bottom of the tub is covered in .100 thick aluminum. So no issue with heat dissipation for a Navitas conversion. Plus, I doubt that there will be much heat in the Navitas at 80V on a golf cart.

Didn't see at first that the plate on the bottom was aluminum. Would have thought you might have engineered a liquid-cooled copper block.