Wiring a golf cart motor a1 a2 s1 s2?

Question

need to know how to wire the motor to a curtis controller, has four leads, A2 A1 S1 S2, do I put A1 to S1 on the motor and visa versa ??? any help thanks!! the diagrams on the curtis web site seem like something different than I want.

Answer 1

This is a series-wound DC motor, right?  Then the field (s1 s2) should be in series with the armature (a1 a2).  Which way you connect them determines which way the motor turns (clockwise or counterclockwise).  Some motors are optimized to turn one direction, so find out if that's so and what direction that is.

Most of the Curtis electrical diagrams seem to show a set of contactors for doing electrically switched forward/reverse.  But in a lot of EV conversions, people just wire the motor to go forward, and use the vehicle's transmission to select reverse.  If that's the case, then it simplifies the wiring diagram a lot :)