Ian Baxter I know used to run a 48v system and always did well. He had good things to say about it. Everyone else, however, uses 24v. We experiemented with the 48v system last year and experienced electrical problems, and we haven't yet figured out if those were due to the system voltage.
Most controllers have a set voltage for high and low limits. Towards the end of the race, most controllers (Alltrax, Curtis) will start cutting power when voltage drops below 16 volts (or 8 volts per battery) under load. But for the high limit it differs with different controllers. I know Alltrax has a whole slew of different types where they range from 24 volt to 72 volt. I'm assuming this but Curtis also has similar stuff as well. I remember Ian told me at PIR two years ago that he didn't like his controller because since he had such a high voltage the controller was at the point of not working due to over voltage of the battery pack. I have a Alltrax AXE controller where it allows me to program the controller, one of them being the high voltage setting. You can probably also call Alltrax if you need help, they have helped me before in the past with issues with throttles not working right.
I, too, would like to know if there is any distinct advantage to running higher voltage. I would like to try 24 and 48 volts in the same car with the same motor, same track, etc. Unfortunately, since I retired I don't have the resources. Has anyone done a comparison like this?
RPM is determined by voltage, The etek motor states 72 rpm per volt. Brush per mag motors list higher efficiency for higher voltages. The main problem for high voltage is the number of batteries. Some think that you are using more plastic and less lead. We ran a 96 volt car in So. Cal at the ZEV challenge and when 42 mph. It is more dangerous to go above 24 volts so this is an issue. We like the high voltage idea and named our car High Voltage it ran on 8- 10 amps.
