96 EZGO TXT Series - Alltrax 48500EZ problem

[azTony]

Ok I had bought the controller from ScottyB a while back (Thanks ScottyB!) and when I put it on my cart (36V at the time) and took it out to drive it crawled... I mean I could walk faster than it moved. I hooked up the laptop and tweaked it and no change.

I called ScottyB for some help and he told me it had to be something in the settings but nothing was obvious to him as we spoke and I really appreciated the time he took with me.

I finally would tweak one setting and try it... tweak another and try it... this was a painful process for something that should have been easy. Finally the magic combination and it worked and I was happy. I thought it should have gone faster but was not positive because it is my first cart. Never touched the controller again... "If it aint broke don't fix it"

Fastforward to last week.

I finally got my Trojan Ranger 160 batteries in to make my 48V conversion finally happen. I also had a new cusom build motor delivered from PQ and I installed it. I swapped the batteries and ScottyB had posted up to make sure I adjust the Alltrax to make it "PQ friendly". Not understanding his post I went into the controller before I even tried to move the cart.

Once inside I changed the voltage settings and went through the manual again for each setting and setup what I thought would work based on what I have learned on here (Thanks to everyone!).

Ok, the excitement is rushing through my body, I pull the cart out of the garage and down the driveway, over the curb and push the pedal and again... the baby crawl.

Back to the laptop and muching with the settings. I finally got to the point where I was not making any progress, actually lost progress as it would no longer move and I pushed that heavy beast over the curb and up in the garage.

That is a heavy cart by ones self but it must have been me being pissed because I managed with no problems.

I sent Alltrax an E-mail that night (after dark) and explained the situation. They sent me an E-mail and told me to call them when I was at my cart. I take off work early, hook up the laptop and call up and talk to Will. He had me do a lot of diagnostics by probing different points and providing voltage readings (all while the cart is in the air on jacks). Each time I gave hiim a reading he would say "Hmm"

I finally asked why he is saying hmm and he said the voltage readings are not correct and when I asked him what he thought it was he said let's just continue. I wanna play with my new toy so I continue. The entire time it was on the jacks the wheels never moved when the pedal was pressed. The pedal would get to 25%-40% throttle and the light would flash red. I did not record the number just told him while we were working on it. He finally had me separate the cables from the controller altogether and bypass it and touched the cables together. The whole cart junped like crazy and I thought it was going to fall off the jacks. It was a quick moment but scared the begezes out of me.

He said "It is a bad controller, call the company you bought it from and have them get you an RMA number.". I called ScottyB and he hooked me up with a number and I send it off.

They got it on Tuesday this week and I called them and was told it is in testing. They took my number and said someone would call me with result at the end of the day. The next day comes, lunch time is here so I call and get the same thing, it is being tested now. So I asked about the extensive testing as I spoke with Will and he said because of the conversation on the phone and they can not get it to fail they are doing a lot of different things to it. I called again today and it is still being tested.

If it ends up not having a problem, what else could it possibly be? When the pedal was pressed the voltage changed but Will said while we were on the phone the voltages were off (he did not elaborate if they were high or low).

I am also worried about new batteries that I fully charged last Wednesday that is still sitting waiting for someone to use them...

[yurtle]

Since you're a "relatively" new member, I'll say from experience that between ScottyB and Alltrax, you're gonna get satisfaction.

Customer service ain't cheap, and both companies are gonna go above and beyond to make your buggy work.

Have faith, and patience, which is tough, when you wanna play with your "new toy".

[kernal]

Originally Posted by yurtle

Since you're a "relatively" new member, I'll say from experience that between ScottyB and Alltrax, you're gonna get satisfaction.

Customer service ain't cheap, and both companies are gonna go above and beyond to make your buggy work.

Have faith, and patience, which is tough, when you wanna play with your "new toy".

I agree. I have seen some extraordinary customer service on this board from both companies.

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by kernal

I agree. I have seen some extraordinary customer service on this board from both companies.

And occasionally a little help from us "armatures".

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by azTony

..............
I am also worried about new batteries that I fully charged last Wednesday that is still sitting waiting for someone to use them...

You just went upgraded to 48V, so did you happen to buy a 48V charger?

If it is a DPI Accusense, just plug it into the cart and let the new batteries float charge until you get the cart running.

If something else, just give them a regular charge.

[scottyb]

Curiosity is killin' me - Keep us posted.

[azTony]

Yep, bought the DPI Accusense from ScottyB! Cool, I thought I should charge them then drain to the 70% before I charge again to break them in properly.

I am worried because nothing has popped up being wrong at ALLTRAX so far. The only wires removed were the battery cables and cables to the motor. Before I removed any cables I marked them with tape for the motor, the battery cables were a no brainer.

I will let you know when I find out Scotty, they told me again today they would call me but I heard that each day all week. I do not want to rush them... But I want to rush them...

I just received the Reversing Contactors from ScottyB today but do not plan on installing that until the controller is back in and working just so there is not another variable put into the equation to solve. Bummer...

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by azTony

I just received the Reversing Contactors from ScottyB today but do not plan on installing that until the controller is back in and working just so there is not another variable put into the equation to solve. Bummer...

Very good plan. Often when problems arise, multiple things were changed, making "remote control" trouble-shooting more difficult.

[azTony]

I just received a call from Will at ALLTRAX and he said what they found was the chip "lost it's program" so they reloaded it and will be shipping it out today. That is good news for me, at least I know I did not do anything wrong and blow it up.

I should see it some time early next week I guess.

Now I need to find some new 3/8ths cable lugs for my 2ga cable to replace the ends to prepare for the reversing contactor install. Just went through the install instructions that look pretty straight forward so I will make my 12ga wires required and get the lugs ready to replace.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by azTony

Yep, bought the DPI Accusense from ScottyB! Cool, I thought I should charge them then drain to the 70% before I charge again to break them in properly.

After the initial charge, you can float charge new batteries for months without harming them.

BTW: You don't have to discharge new batteries down to 70% SoC before recharging them, you just want to stay above 70% SoC for the first couple dozen charge cycles or so.

Keep the DPI plugged into the cart when the cart isn't in use. If you are just making short trips, just plug it in every night.

If you never take trips long enough to take the pack down into the 70% to 80% range, make an effort to do so a few times during the first couple dozen cycles.

I had to make a conscious effort to take my 42V/245AH pack down to 80% when I was breaking them in.