This will be a bit of a read, but I feel the need to explain fully.
I’m trying to fix my son’s Realtree 24 V UTV. We actually have two, and one of them needed a new battery, so I replaced both since both vehicles are the same age. I also noticed the coupler, that connects the electric motor gearbox to one of the wheels, was sheared. So I have a 24 V UTV with a new battery and one new electric motor/gearbox combo. When my son drove it for the first time, I noticed the vehicle would bog down pretty quickly, as if there was a lot of resistance of some kind. So the first thing I tried to do was test the voltage drop across the motors while the rear tires were off the ground. I was having trouble getting consistent readings, so I removed the motors and connected gearboxs from the vehicle and tested them with a power supply. When I tested the new motor/gearbox combo, I set the current to 1 amp and the voltage to 24 V. The voltage took about 30 seconds to ramp up to 24 volts (I don’t know if that is normal with a new gearbox). When I tested the older motor/gearbox, the power supply was never able to get above 18 V. I assumed that meant the older motor/gearbox was no good due to either mechanical resistance or internal resistance in the motor. So I removed the electric motor from the gearbox and replaced it with the other old motor I had replaced earlier. For this test, the power supply pretty much immediately went to 24 V. I assumed I had fixed the problem, reattached the motors to the utv, charged the battery over night, and….the same thing happened. The UTV didn’t hardly move! Should I try to measure voltage drop throughout the circuit next? Should I just purchase a new motor/gearbox?
Thank you,