RXV questions

[Volt_Ampere]

Lock up is the one negative I know of for the RXV. I have seen it happen and it can be dangerous if you are going fast when it happens. My buddy had it happen twice on pavement and he was almost thrown out of the cart. Turned out to be a failing solenoid. The design weakness is that without power, the only brake you have is the emergency brake.

[ojo]

Some called the RXV Intelli Brake System " over engineered " i don't know... what i can say is, NOT ANY problem with lock ups for nearly 6 years now, neither with the Danaher controller nor with the Navitas conversion:)

[Volt_Ampere]

Fortunately, the lock-ups are rare but they do happen. Probably more likely with Lithium conversions due to BMS possible shutdowns.

[ojo]

Yes, lithium could be more critical or the pretty new (Curtis) carts, the OP talked about?

[nickdalzell1]

Whenever an RXV senses a fault, and it don't matter how minor or major, the only way they react is by shutting down all power which locks the e-brake up. That's been the case since 2009 when they came out. RXVs look nice, but are a perfect example of the Star Trek III quote "the more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain"

They're not rare here. But where I work and live, they run these things into the ground. RXVs are not kind to idiot drivers/owners. They're not friendly to mechanics either. You need an electrical engineering degree to even properly diagnose/repair them, because 9 times out of ten, the fault shown on the handheld (such as 'Throttle Wiper' on a Curtis) is a lie.

Either way, whenever I have to test drive one that someone claims 'up and quits' I brace myself. It ain't fun to have one lock up at 20MPH, especially with a lift kit and 23" tires.

[Volt_Ampere]

And most of them around here go way faster than 20mph!

[nickdalzell1]

They probably got the treatment that Bob Boyce can do, but that takes equipment that EZGO won't sell us (they act like it's some FBI secret and refuse--in fact, one time one of their techs was here and told me that I shouldn't even be able to get the Danaher handheld that can program those to go 19.5 MPH, claiming 'don't tell EZGO you got that--you're not supposed to have that handheld!')

Like I said earlier though, I don't understand the obsession with speed. At one point it becomes a liability. When our business begain in 2007, people were super happy with a '70s two-stroke that could barely go 8 MPH because it was $800 and cheap. In 2010 the sign near the price saying '20 MPH uphill!' was a selling point. Today? nobody is happy unless they can outrun a Ford Mustang. On a Golf cart. Tell me how that makes any sense?

[OnTheFence]

Not sure I would call a stock RXV torquey . If you put big tires on it, it will not do well on hills. With 23” tires, and a 350amp controller modified, you can have a torque monster that is a lot of fun in the woods.


Lock ups do suck. But should be rare. iE you are more likely going to have a failure that prevents you from going anywhere in the first place.


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[nickdalzell1]

Trust me, in rural Kentucky, the RXV throwing people off like an angry mule is still the #1 failure. It happens for ANY fault, not just for e-brake failure. A lot of the time it's because their cables on their batteries are loose and arc and cause intermittent shutdown. We deal a lot with 'DIY repair attempts' that increase the issues. The more fancy the electrics, the worse it is for both customers and myself alike. In fact, since the Curtis became standard in 2011, the fact they check for more faults than a high school textbook makes the situation even worse than it was with the Danaher variants.

That's why I still firmly believe that 'drive-by-wire' is a solution in search of a problem. Have any of you seen the '60s show Green Acres? the characters in that show and their little town of Hooterville is pretty much dead on rural Owensboro.

[Volt_Ampere]

The weakness of the RXV IMO is that it has no pedal controlled mechanical brake. It's all controlled by the motor / controller. The mechanical brake on the motor serves two purposes: One - it is a parking brake that holds the cart when stopped. Two - it's an emergency stop brake to stop the cart if the motor can't due to an electrical issue. The failure that I have seen and fixed for a buddy was a bad solenoid that would suddenly drop out and cause the cart to emergency brake.
If it did not have that mechanical brake feature, the cart would not stop if the electrics failed. Stopping too quickly is probably better than not stopping at all.