Golf Cart Motor overheating

[Bob]

I completed a Lo Voltage in Nov.2010. It is powered by a 3 hp 36 volt golf cart motor. It is a neat little boat but after about 45 minutes of operation the motor is so hot that it cuts out. I have mounted a blower to circulate more air over it and added some makeshift cooling fins but didn't help much. Does anybody with a LO Voltage or similar installation have this problem? Any suggestions?
Bob

[Bill Edmundson]

Bob

I don't know. But, my guess is that a golf cart motor rarily runs for 45 minutes. That is a fairly long run for most of use anyway.

Bill

[treetall100]

Hi Bob,

I'm building the Lo-Voltage as we speak and just picked up an 1993 EZ-Go golf cart. I can't really answer your question but this site may help:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/

I've been looking around the site and they are as informative as this Glen-L forum as they are with golf carts.

You'll need the year and make of the motor types and age of batteries etc..for them to give you an idea of what's going on.

Patrick

[slowpoke]

The guys that race (very high speed) electric and also 2 stoke Radio Control boats use water to cool the motors / engines. Try some small diameter copper tube around the outside of the motor, one end is under water facing forward, the other exits behind. Some have the inlet behind the prop and exit above the water.

[angelicalee8]

The guys that race (very high speed) electric and also 2 stoke Radio Control boats use water to cool the motors / engines. Try some small diameter copper tube around the outside of the motor, one end is under water facing forward, the other exits behind. Some have the inlet behind the prop and exit above the water.

+1... This seems like the best way to cool the motor so it does not get too hot. I will be sure to try this method out.

[Iggy]

My 3' remote controlled boat was water cooled around is tiny inboard gas engine. Basically I had a small diameter intake pipe that extended below the transom at the rear and a small outlet at the side of the hull.

I would be some 1/2" copper pipe inlet that wrapped around the motor would do the job. Is your battery also getting hot?

[fergal butler]

Here are some photos from a few post down "16' double cockpit mahogany inboard runabout-electric" https://picasaweb.google.com/lukecraymo ... feat=email It shows the cooling setup he built for his motor.

[Iggy]

Here is the photo Fergal was referring to:

[khundley]

I recently read where someone used square tube bent around the motor, maybe the same post Fergal referred to....that might help get better heat transfer than a round coil. jUst a thought.

[TUGMYWAY]

Put the water pickup be hind the prop. Free water pump! Take a look into the RC model boat building . Lots of stuff their.

[lraymond]

This is Luke, building the electric planing boat. I finished attaching the copper to the motor and will post some pics soon. Good contact is definitely going to be important I think...I tried this method on a golf cart motor on a lawn mower years back and didn't get much cooling due to the round pipe/poor contact. We'll see if this method works better. One issue might be that only the armature will be cooled directly by the jacket but the rotor will still be primarily air cooled. I don't think it will hurt though...

[lraymond]

Also ev builders sometimes use a blower to force air through the motor by placing a custom band around the inlet ports with great results. Not sure if your blower is currently blowing air through or simply around the motor. If your motor has separate inlet and outlet ports for air like mine this might work well and be simpler.

[Trackhappy]

A couple comments... if the motor is fully sealed as they commonly are, you may be able to cut ventilation holes in the end plates and use a small fan for forced internal ventilation. Also make sure you use softened copper pipe so it flattens a little ging more contact area (maybe even "persude it a little", and use some electronics thermal transfer paste before you wrap it around. Also, at displacement speeds you possibly won't get much water through a small diameter copper pipe so I'd get a small electric pump to run the water through. Low pressure high volume so centrifugal is probably best, like a windscreen washer pump but a bigger version maybe. If you can borrow or buy an infrared themometer you can do some tests as to how much temperature difference from inlet to outlet to see how you are doing as you change things.
All the best and keep us up to date.

[BoatG]

The guys that race (very high speed) electric and also 2 stoke Radio Control boats use water to cool the motors / engines. Try some small diameter copper tube around the outside of the motor, one end is under water facing forward, the other exits behind. Some have the inlet behind the prop and exit above the water.

Do you not need any holes in the copper for the water to spray out? Can you post a pic of how this looks? I was thinking of using some automatic water pump but your way sounds simpler and better.

[vupilot]

Go about halfway down this thread. Youll see two types. A water jacket and a tubing type. Water doesn't actually come out of either onto the motor. It just wraps around the motor and cool water is always running through them simply against the motor can, pulling heat away from the motor.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=951092