Hiccuping up hill

[Dazed]

I have a 2014 Yamaha electric. It drives really well on a straight away. If you go dont win a hill with it it slows way down and hiccups up the next hill. It takes off real fast on a straight away, but the speed levels out. I have no idea where to start . The batteries are Trojan batteries and only a year old.

[golfcartg]

Batteries can develop issues much earlier than expected such as weak cells, sulfation, or a defective battery that might not show obvious signs right away. Even with newer batteries one or two that are underperforming can affect the overall performance of the entire pack, especially when the cart is under load like going up a hill.

The best place to start would be to measure the voltage of your batteries. This will give you a clear indication of whether the batteries are struggling to provide enough power to the motor. You can do this using a digital voltmeter and alligator clips. The first step is to clip the DVM to the main pack’s positive and negative terminals and drive. You’ll want to observe the voltage especially during the uphill part of your drive where the cart is working harder and the issue is more noticeable. Keep an eye on the voltage during that time. Ideally, you never want your batteries resting voltage to drop below 50% state of charge. This is why monitoring the voltage while driving helps you spot any potential drops that could indicate weak battery performance. Compare this to the attached voltage chart.

Once you've done this initial test with the main pack, the next step would be to check each individual battery. Even though your batteries are only a year old, we want to check each one separately because a battery can develop issues within the first few years like sulfation or underperformance which can affect the whole pack. To do this, move the alligator clips from the main pack terminals to the positive and negative terminals of each battery in turn. This will let you see how each individual battery is behaving. Compare the readings. Ideally, they should all be very close to each other in voltage. If one battery is significantly lower than the others, that could be the culprit even though they’re relatively new. Sometimes, a single bad battery can cause the whole system to struggle especially under load which could explain the performance issues you’re experiencing on the hills. Let me know what you find with this test!