Recommended upgrade path for 36V Ezgo

[kevin588127]

I followed Scotty's advice and bought one of his kits. It did exactly what I was told it would do. My cart is a 2000 txt series cart. Lifted and on 22" tires. I ran it for a year on 3 deep cycle marine batteries and had planned to eventually add one more 12v battery. I ended up getting a killer deal on a lithium 51v pack and I'm currently running that. Updated controller, reversing contactor, hd solenoid, stock motor, 22" tires would run about 18 mph on my 36 v set up. Now on the lithium, it runs about 23 mph, has way better acceleration and awesome range. I have the controller turned down to 200 amps to make it more manageable.

One note about the dual voltage kits: the coils on the FNR contactor are only rated to take 52v or so. If you go lithium, you will be over that when the pack is charged. I ended up using a 10 ohm 25 watt resistor to knock my voltage down to the acceptable range.

[scottyb]

You pose an interesting question. I don't know how to mathematically compare series to sepex power. I know hp is hp but there are many ways to measure electric motor hp. This is an apples to oranges comparison.
Consider series motors make their maximum torque (hp) at 1 rpm and the faster they spin the less hp they make.
Consider a Sepex motor makes it's power at a much higher rpm; say mid-range. Which one do you want to be cruising along in when you hit the hill? The series that has to slow to 1- 100 rpm to reach max power or the sepex that slows to half speed (2500-3k rpms) to reach max power.

Also everything be relative your stock motor is 2.5 hp. So 9-10 hp is still going to be more than 3 times the stock power and double the series cart speed assuming you have the right battery, controller, tires etc.

[augiedoggy]

I can only speak for my old 93 yamaha series 36v cart but going from 36v FLA to 48v lithium my speedometer went from 14mph to 20 mph with the stock 2.5hp 36v motor.. And its is with an inexpensive curtis clone controller.. dont underestimate the 53-51v under load on a lithium pack the fact that theres no real voltage sag is a real benefit also dont forget the 300lbs in weight savings which can cover the weight of 2 of those 4 people....

[mbbeaubi]

Thought I’d post an update.

I went with the 5kw Navitas AC conversion. That required that I get my cart to 48V. Also had to lay my hands on a txt48 wire harness.

I squeezed in 2 more 6V batteries, and a new solenoid.

I figure my total expenditure has been about $2.5K between controller, motor, solenoid, batteries, 48v charger, wiring harness, and other random parts.

Just took it out for a brief spin. 25mph is achieved easily. Much quieter then the series motor as well. Torque is insane, pretty sure it will do a wheelie. I’ll post more results after I get it put back together with more weight and see what the top end speed I can get.

Installing was fun, had to get creative with battery placement, but if you like projects anyone can watch some videos and figure it out. This was the first golf cart I’ve ever owned or worked on.