81 DS Resistor Coils Speed Steps

[crowley]

I recently purchased a 81 Club Car DS resistor coil cart. I am have a good understanding of the role the pedal-activated micro switches activate each solenoid to select a "speed", but when I got it, it had one forward/reverse speed. My questions with this system are:

How many "speeds" should it have?

What solenoids should activate at each throttle position?

I assume the further you press the throttle, the fewer resistor coils carry the current, but should a full throttle acivate only the master solenoid and solenoid 4(I number them Master, 1, 2, 3, 4 - right to left) or should all the solenoids be activated at full throttle?

If there is a definitive thread on this subject, my search skills were unable to find it. A point in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
~crowley

[93yellowclubcar]

First, Welcome to BGW!

You have the basics down, so i'll give you a quick run through. The cart has 5 solenoids and four speeds.

Solenoids are from LEFT to RIGHT (DRIVER'S side to PASSENGER'S side) and are Master, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Click one, master engaging - cart will not move
Click two, solenoid two engaging - cart will move
Click three, solenoid three engaging - cart will move faster
Click four, solenoid four engaging - cart will move even faster
Click five, solenoid five engaging - cart will move now at top speed.

*List goes from pedal up > clicks 1-5 > pedal on the floor

The more solenoids that are engaged the less coils that are used to burn off energy as heat, therefore increasing speed.

These carts have a pretty bulletproof system, and they're easy to troubleshoot when something goes wrong. If you've only got one speed, then I'd suggest first off counting the number of clicks you're hearing from the solenoids, you should hear five and get a noticeable speed increase from each of the last four clicks. The solenoids are where I'd start, the microswitches CAN go bad, but I've seen more solenoids fail on these than I have microswitches. After 33 years those solenoids are going to be brittle and getting worn, I've seen the posts on them break out because of a stick or something coming back and literally shattering the brittle old bakelite housing. You should also make sure your coils aren't touching and aren't rusted in two (I've seen it). Do this when the cart hasn't been run in a while, those coils get HOT during operation.

Hope this helps, ask any questions you need to and we'll be sure to try and help you troubleshoot your cart as much as we can. The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask!

[crowley]

Thanks for the reply. Very informative. I have fiddled a bit with the solenoids trying to make certain they are all activating as they should. All of my coils are very sturdy and quite clean. I think I have no worries there. I will have to monkey with the throttle and microswitches to get them in fine working order.

Currently, I direct wired the master and solenoid 2 to trigger at the same time. To me it seemed odd to get a micro and solenoid to trigger and not get any movement out of the cart. It seemed that they first click should activate the circuit and engage first speed. Any thoughts on why this is not the proper way?

The second click, does nothing, as it is already in first speed. Next micro/solenoid triggered, the torque really kicks in and will spin the tires and snap your head back. The last noticeable speed change is very minor, it may be the top speed. I am not sure. Five solenoids and four speeds make perfect sense. I just have to get it all ticking along as the throttle is pressed.

I should probably get the brakes fixed before getting too much speed out of it. The Fred Flintstone method is a bit lacking in safety, but has a surplus of hilarity.

Even in it's current state, it made a fine whitetail recovery vehicle this past weekend and my kids will love it around the house.

[93yellowclubcar]

I'm sure the Fred Flintstone method is a hoot to watch, but believe me, it gets old the first time you forget the brakes don't work right.

As to how it is moving, I really don't know - I suggest looking at the wiring diagram and making sure everything is wired like it shows. That's the first place to start, then troubleshooting by conventional methods can start.

Here's the diagram for your cart:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/attac...e528185if2.jpg

as well as the solenoid wiring:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/attac...6solenofh6.jpg

Hope this helps!

[simple man]

Originally Posted by crowley

Thanks for the reply. Very informative. I have fiddled a bit with the solenoids trying to make certain they are all activating as they should. All of my coils are very sturdy and quite clean. I think I have no worries there. I will have to monkey with the throttle and microswitches to get them in fine working order.

Currently, I direct wired the master and solenoid 2 to trigger at the same time. To me it seemed odd to get a micro and solenoid to trigger and not get any movement out of the cart. It seemed that they first click should activate the circuit and engage first speed. Any thoughts on why this is not the proper way?

The second click, does nothing, as it is already in first speed. Next micro/solenoid triggered, the torque really kicks in and will spin the tires and snap your head back. The last noticeable speed change is very minor, it may be the top speed. I am not sure. Five solenoids and four speeds make perfect sense. I just have to get it all ticking along as the throttle is pressed.

I should probably get the brakes fixed before getting too much speed out of it. The Fred Flintstone method is a bit lacking in safety, but has a surplus of hilarity.

Even in it's current state, it made a fine whitetail recovery vehicle this past weekend and my kids will love it around the house.

Are all the solenoids the same? I will guess that the master may be heavier than the rest. It is a safety feature to ensure all power is turned off when the pedal is up. We have a V-Glide cart that doesn't use the first couple of contacts as the pedal is pushed. When the solenoid is engaged the first resistor is wired directly! I don't know the reason for this either. I would think it would be connected to the wiper contacts. CC had a reason for this method of operation. Maybe someone else will know!

[crowley]

All the solenoids are exactly the same.

Not real sure what the purpose of triggering only the master solenoid and not any of the speed coils. I'll have to trust CC and run it that way.

I am going to add a power guage and a lock-out switch for the higher speeds (kid-friendly). With the lock-out, I think I should be able to wire in a second 36v ignition-type switch to interrupt the circuits that turn on the high speed coils, requiring a key to turn them on.

[simple man]

Originally Posted by crowley

All the solenoids are exactly the same.

Not real sure what the purpose of triggering only the master solenoid and not any of the speed coils. I'll have to trust CC and run it that way.

I am going to add a power guage and a lock-out switch for the higher speeds (kid-friendly). With the lock-out, I think I should be able to wire in a second 36v ignition-type switch to interrupt the circuits that turn on the high speed coils, requiring a key to turn them on.

You may overheat the resistors doing that. Full speed shunts around the resistors so they are not in the circuit at all. This is where a controller cart excels. You can run slowly and not have to worry about hot resistors! My opinion is (and it's only my opinion), that the resistor carts were made for pretty much golf, where you go 100yds then stop for several minutes or so. This lets the resistors cool off. Running the cart full speed is fine. In fact there is no difference in performance in a resistor cart and a controller cart when in full speed!

[jdunmyer]

I had an old resistor cart that my wife & I would ride around at slow speed for lengthy periods. After a while, I could feel the warm air wafting up from under the seat, but there was never any harm done because of that.

Regarding those solenoids: I have just a little experience with 2 CC's that used that speed control setup and found that the solenoids are less than robust. They "click" OK, but don't pass current between the 2 large posts. If I was to check them out, I think I'd jack up the rear wheels, then slowly press the accelerator pedal and see if the wheel speed increases correspondingly. If not, short out the suspect solenoids to test them. Or, use a voltmeter to check.

[93yellowclubcar]

Originally Posted by jdunmyer

I had an old resistor cart that my wife & I would ride around at slow speed for lengthy periods. After a while, I could feel the warm air wafting up from under the seat, but there was never any harm done because of that.

Regarding those solenoids: I have just a little experience with 2 CC's that used that speed control setup and found that the solenoids are less than robust. They "click" OK, but don't pass current between the 2 large posts. If I was to check them out, I think I'd jack up the rear wheels, then slowly press the accelerator pedal and see if the wheel speed increases correspondingly. If not, short out the suspect solenoids to test them. Or, use a voltmeter to check.

This is good advice. Once you get the cart wired like the diagrams show, this is the conventional method of troubleshooting I was talking about.

[Sergio]

I would agree is not a good idea to run those resistor carts for a long time at anything other than full speed.
Another option You may consider is to get a WR586 type reversing contactor and wire it to provide reduced speed.
1) Get the cable that comes from the +36v and connect it to NC contact.
2) Get the cable that comes from the +18v (half-speed) and connect it to the NO contact.
3) Run a new cable from the Common contact to both of the the bottom connectors of the FNR switch where the +36v and +18v were connected.

Wire your new key switch so when the switch is ON, it connects the activation wire of the main solenoid to the activation wire of the contactor.

That way when you have the key ON, the cart will run off +18v.

If you want to keep the +18v for reverse when the switch is off, instead of jumping the 2 bottom contacts of the FNR, just run the +18v to both the NO contact of the contactor as well as the existing connection to the FNR switch.

You can always run a little more speed this way, say +24v or +30v by just changing where the half-speed cable connects to the battery pack.

Later if you upgrade to solid state, or don't need the slow speed anymore, you can buy another WR586 and use both to replace the FNR switch.

Of course this will wear your batteries at a different rate, but I think is better than running the resistors all the time for lower speed.