Resistor Colis Glowing Red Arcing Contacts on Speed Board

gizmo

New Member
I have a 89 EZGO golf cart, (s/n 534071) with resistor coils that was smoking and smelled hot while sitting still with foot on throttle pedal. After reading and searching for three days on the forum I now understand why. While troubleshooting to see if I could get them to stop glowing red I noticed that the speed board was arcing when it transitioned between the second and third contact. This morning I cleaned the contacts (they were dirty with slight corrosion) on the first attemp to see if the arching problem had been solved I found myself with a nice little fire... yes it still arcs, quite nicely too. Things I have also noticed that may or may not be relevent. I have noticed that where the cables connect to the coils the front two connections spin as if they are loose, but the nuts are tight, the third and fourth connections are tight and do not rotate. Battery charges on this cart last only a very short period, the batteries are old and do need replaced. After charging the batteries they do have proper volts. I am open to any and all suggestions, even upgrading from the coil config. if the price is right. fairly handy with mechanics, but not very familar with carts. any help would be very much appreciated. thanks in advance. BTW great forum.
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Welcome to the forum...

You need to see why those two connections at the resistor coils are loose, they shouldn't be.

Have you checked the batteries under a load? Even though they show good voltage with no load doesn't mean they aren't dropping to low under load. If your run time is short chances are good it's the batteries causing it...
 

gizmo

New Member
I agree on the batteries, they are old, and I haven't tested them under a load. I had doubts that they were fully charging, so that was when I checked them. The coils have a metal shroud around them that I am in the process of removing, I am letting a couple of bolts soak in kryoil to see if I can get them loose with out breaking to remove it. I haven't seen any safty warnings about removing power to them while I work on them, any suggestions so I don't start another fire? Thanks
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
It's hard to say. If you have bad coils or bad connection at the coils it will cause arching at the contacts on the speed board.
 

gizmo

New Member
I sure appreciate all your help, still working on the bolts that attach the close out box around the coils, 2 hours= 1 bolt. 2 more bolts to go. if the others are like this, I will just cut them off and get it over with, I was trying to avoid sparks in the area after yesterdays fun.....
 

gizmo

New Member
all righty, the cover is off, and my coil at the second wire is cut in half with one end welded to the attach point, any ideas as to where I can pick up a new coil?
 

gizmo

New Member
Hello,
the new coils are in, I thought they smelled hot after running the cart, my wife with the eagle nose begged to differ. Might have been the oil on my hands or something, I have noticed that the shroud around the coils is pretty warm, not neccessarily hot. I would assume with the function of the coils, the thermal transfer would be something to be taken into consideration. the coils are not touching the shroud in anyway, and they aren't "glowing" while in use. Does this sound about right, the shround would get warm, but shouldn't get hot?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
The new coils will smell the first ride so I'm sure your fine. When driving at less than full speed they can get red hot. As long as they're not hot when the cart has been sitting you should be ok. Also another test you can do is after the cart has been sitting and everything is cool ride it about a block at full throttle ans see if the resistor coils are hot. At full throttle they shouldn't get hot. Keep an eye on the cable connections at the coils. You make want to check that they're tight now that they have been used a little.
 

gizmo

New Member
excellent, thanks for the info. also thanks for all the help with this....after reading through the boards, I have this burning desire to keep working on the cart, making plans for when I change out the battery pack next month. (we live in a golf cart community and prices drop dramatically after next month). wire up grade, change brake pads, re paint the battery trays, a complete tune up. but some of these project completed by others have mashed the "ah ha" button pretty hard. I assume this is normal doctor? would you recommend up grading from coils while I'm "under the hood"?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
No problem, your welcome. It sounds like the addiction is kicking in. :D
Feel free to post some pics in the E-Z-GO drivers club forum...
 
Top