Program setting to increase Torque

[TropicFury]

Hi All,

New member here. I've had my Icon 40L for 6 months now and have received great advice from this forum and have made a programming cable and downloaded the NEOS software and increased my top speed setting.

The biggest issue I seem to have performance wise is the torque. What setting and value do I need to change to get more torque when I am driving up a 15 degree inclined paved road from a stop? The cart really seems to struggle trying to accelerate in this situation and feels sluggish when carrying 4 adults.

Thanks for any recommendations!!

[thelandposse]

This is the same problem I am trying to figure out. I have been taking some pretty big swings at a few of the settings without much luck. I'm wondering if it's a power/motor issue as opposed to a setting issue.

I lowered the fwd acc rate which definitely increases torque off the line. So why doesn't that stay consistent when at higher speeds or going up a 15% grade?

I wish I could find a glossary of terms related to EM settings. This would make it a lot easier! I searched an hour last night with no luck.

[TropicFury]

I'm wondering if line 144-148 "NT Limit Torque Point" would fix the issue? Maybe increase "B" to 175-180 and increase "C" to 125-150? I'm guessing maybe these torque percentages correlate to the "Speed Points" settings above? Maybe Speed Point B is 7 miles an hour and the Torque Point B would mean 140/200 at 7 miles an hour, etc...?

[thelandposse]

Originally Posted by TropicFury

I'm wondering if line 144-148 "NT Limit Torque Point" would fix the issue? Maybe increase "B" to 175-180 and increase "C" to 125-150? I'm guessing maybe these torque percentages correlate to the "Speed Points" settings above? Maybe Speed Point B is 7 miles an hour and the Torque Point B would mean 140/200 at 7 miles an hour, etc...?

So I messed with these yesterday and didn't notice a difference. Torque point A is 200 while I changed all the others to 160. I changed speed point A to 20 and went up in intervals of 10 for the rest. I'm thinking about changing all the torque points to 200 and see what happens.

[thelandposse]

Originally Posted by thelandposse

So I messed with these yesterday and didn't notice a difference. Torque point A is 200 while I changed all the others to 160. I changed speed point A to 20 and went up in intervals of 10 for the rest. I'm thinking about changing all the torque points to 200 and see what happens.

Setting these lines at 200 didn't do anything on freshly charged batteries.

[TropicFury]

Originally Posted by thelandposse

Setting these lines at 200 didn't do anything on freshly charged batteries.

Thanks for trying!! I didn't have time to experiment with mine today. I had to fix a horrendous squeaky bolt at the bottom back of the front seat crossbar.

Then I added 2" wheel spacers all the way around for better balance since the suspension is extremely light in my opinion. I hope someone shares their knowledge of an aftermarket stiffer coil spring upgrade/option if they've successfully tightened up their suspension.

I'll use your advice and lower the acceleration setting from 7.5 to 6. Maybe that will help just to get some extra momentum from a stop.

[TropicFury]

I just finished changing a bunch of settings (lines 138-148 - no noticeable differences) but I think the biggest impact on torque, maybe the only meaningful torque setting I was able to find so far, is line 134 Drive Power Limit. I didn't have a cart full of adults to give it a real test, but my default setting was 12 and I doubled it to 24 (max allowed is 36) and it just seemed to feel like there was more low end power. So I went back into the setting and clicked on the "graph" and sure enough there appears to be a torque map per RPM level based on the value of this field. The higher the Drive Power value the more torque per RPM level. You can change the value and watch the curve change relative to your values. Perhaps this is why Atrain had his set to "18" in his screenshots and is ultimately what I ended up at too.

I'd be interested in what you all find and hopefully someone can prove it out more scientifically than what I thought I felt. I'd also be curious if there's any effect on runtime as this value increases.

[ATrain]

Originally Posted by TropicFury

I just finished changing a bunch of settings (lines 138-148 - no noticeable differences) but I think the biggest impact on torque, maybe the only meaningful torque setting I was able to find so far, is line 134 Drive Power Limit. I didn't have a cart full of adults to give it a real test, but my default setting was 12 and I doubled it to 24 (max allowed is 36) and it just seemed to feel like there was more low end power. So I went back into the setting and clicked on the "graph" and sure enough there appears to be a torque map per RPM level based on the value of this field. The higher the Drive Power value the more torque per RPM level. You can change the value and watch the curve change relative to your values. Perhaps this is why Atrain had his set to "18" in his screenshots and is ultimately what I ended up at too.

I'd be interested in what you all find and hopefully someone can prove it out more scientifically than what I thought I felt. I'd also be curious if there's any effect on runtime as this value increases.

I'm in CA and my brother-in-law is in IN, and he is an EE who designs these systems for a living, and I had him visit here to enjoy the weather and have drinks with my sister and he spent maybe 10 minutes looking at the settings and tweaked a few things he thought would be good and then went and had dinner/drinks w/friends. So it's 10 minutes of an experts time before he could go have fun on the beach...so evaluate that how you will lol.

One important thing to note about the "max" settings...those are just parameters in an XML file. The "max" RPMs should be 6k, but I spoke with the ICON guy and he's had carts running around at 10k in the factory...that's ideal conditions though and probably on a lift.

My point being is somebody at the factory set extra-safe max limits because golf-cart dealers aren't the always the sharpest with computers. The more I learn, the more I want to start bypassing those limits while closely monitoring the temperature and the current draw...I think those are really the main things to watch closely.

Pull too much current, you can ruin the batteries or the cables can't handle it. Get the motor too hot, well it's fried. So if you're feeling adventurous, give it a shot. My cable is on loan for a few months (my parents) so I haven't been able to tinker lately.

And can you link the wheel spacers you're talking about? I'd like to tighten my suspension up a bit too. Fully loaded w/adults, going around a turn and the thing leans pretty good.

[TropicFury]

Originally Posted by ATrain

I'm in CA and my brother-in-law is in IN, and he is an EE who designs these systems for a living, and I had him visit here to enjoy the weather and have drinks with my sister and he spent maybe 10 minutes looking at the settings and tweaked a few things he thought would be good and then went and had dinner/drinks w/friends. So it's 10 minutes of an experts time before he could go have fun on the beach...so evaluate that how you will lol.

One important thing to note about the "max" settings...those are just parameters in an XML file. The "max" RPMs should be 6k, but I spoke with the ICON guy and he's had carts running around at 10k in the factory...that's ideal conditions though and probably on a lift.

My point being is somebody at the factory set extra-safe max limits because golf-cart dealers aren't the always the sharpest with computers. The more I learn, the more I want to start bypassing those limits while closely monitoring the temperature and the current draw...I think those are really the main things to watch closely.

Pull too much current, you can ruin the batteries or the cables can't handle it. Get the motor too hot, well it's fried. So if you're feeling adventurous, give it a shot. My cable is on loan for a few months (my parents) so I haven't been able to tinker lately.

And can you link the wheel spacers you're talking about? I'd like to tighten my suspension up a bit too. Fully loaded w/adults, going around a turn and the thing leans pretty good.

Thanks for the insight Atrain, it's good so many are trying to increase the knowledge for everyone.

Here are the spacers I bought, but you can go with lug based (lug centric?) spacers for maybe half the price. I just like the looks of hub spacers (hub centric?) better.

2 inch Golf Cart Wheel Spacers (4x4 Bolt Pattern, 62mm Bore, 1/2x20 Studs, Cone Seat Nuts) Compatible with many EZ GO EZGO Club Car (Widens Track by 4 inches) 4x101.6 50mm 4pcs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MWHXI5S...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Additionally, I increased my tire psi to 25. It was 20 from.the dealer and had dropped to 18 so quite squishy when loaded. Between the wider stance and 25 psi - it feels better/safer at 25+mph. It looks more aggressive too. The red calipers really stand out on the front.

Also, I talked to an Icon mechanic about increasing the FWD Drive Power setting and he confirmed by increasing the power of the motor with this option, you should see less total runtime. His thought was increasing rpm, torque, power would most likely decrease runtime in varying degrees based on the values changed. So something to keep in mind. Not sure if you noticed less runtime with your setting at 18?

[Virjose]

Got this info from someone who knows a lead mechanic for these carts if you want to try it

Under the accel torque release rate setting move the max (try min if max doesn’t work) from-10.0 to -15.0 and if it needs more then go to -20.0

Let me know if you notice a difference. I don’t have a cable so I can’t try it out yet.