2001 club car 48 volt/regen... electric issues

afonda

New Member
hey there and thanks in advance for you help....

My cart is having some issues.

It is intermittently loosing power. one minute your fine. hop out to do something get in and nothing. wont go. Let it sit overnight and then its fine the next morning.

Last night it died and this morning i was able to back up about 10 ft and then it died on me again.

There is a clicking sound when depressing the accelerator pedal but cart wont move. When moving the switch from tow to run, you can hear the clicking sound about half the time but lately no sound at all.

The bats are reading 45 to 48 volts across the pack. The bats are getting hot when charging and there is a smell of heat too. They are full of water (no dry cells).

The main problem is the not going!.

I have read about diodes, solenoids, and other stuff.... but I dont know what to check or how to check it to see if its bad. I do have a multimeter and lots of tools. I'm very mechanically inclined and can fix this, I just dont know how to figure out what is broken since I have never repaired /diagnosed a golf cart before.

I will also admit to not treating the cart very well. We use it for horse pasture stuff. feeding and mucking and it gets very dirty top and bottom.

Thanks,
Andy
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Welcome to the forum...

The voltages you posted are real low. A fully charged 48 volt pack should read right around 51 volts 1-2 hours after a charge cycle without using the cart. Check them to see if they need water. Check all your cable connections. Take a voltage test after a charge and again when the cart doesn't move and post your results...
 

afonda

New Member
before I charged it was reading 45 volts....

after charging all night it read 48 volts....


bats are not low on water. They are wet looking on the outside though and some of the bats are a little swolen looking. We have never replaced the bats and have had the cart for at least 3 yrs.


Thanks,
Andy
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
If your only seeing 48 volts after charging all night the batteries are bad. You can check the individual voltage on each battery to see which ones are bad but your best bet is to replace them all..
 

afonda

New Member
I have had the cart go (but slow) even with low battery levels.

this cart is just not going at all as if there is power disconnect somewhere. something seems broken.

I really cant afford $1000 worth of batteries right now.

There must be something I can check prior to a major purchase like that.
 

BadToTheBone

Moderator
bad batteries will cause all kinds of problems. Have you checked all the cables? With only 48 volts after a charge your batteries are junk. The low volts will cause heat on everything electrical and may be why the cart just stops and runs after it sits a while. you should be able to find batteries a lot cheaper then $1000
yikes2.gif
 

afonda

New Member
I've been thinking... Heat = resistance. there is resistance somewhere in the battery configuration.

I am going to start with all new battery cables. That way If i do need new bats i will already have the new cables as well.

I found some bats at Interstate Batteries.
They are the standard golf cart battery and run $94.50 each.

Battery Type U8VGC
Volts 8
Ah Capacity (@ 20 HR) 170
Reserve Capacity (minutes):
25A 337
75A 90

Other than that I have spoken with a tech and he said it could be the bats or cables or both.. or
-pedal box
-diode
-controller
-solenoid
 

afonda

New Member
got 5 new cables. still need to change out the main positive lead and the main negative lead as I noticed they are getting old looking especially the positive lead. But, the cables went on just fine. I got 4 guage wire with pre crimped terminal connectors on the ends. Cart is charging and I can hear the gassing and bubbling going on.. It is gassing pretty good cuz I can smell it.

My initial reading prior to charging was 46.9 volts.

after charging for about 30 mins they were reading 49.7 volts.

We'll see what it reads after charging all night.


Only problem is I am not getting any clicking sounds when swithching from tow to run. I usually get a clicking sound when going to the Run position.
 

JRay

Cartaholic
Never heard of getting a clicking sound when switching from run to tow, that doesn't sound right.
 

afonda

New Member
It has always made a loud click-click sound (from the rear above the motor) as something is now powered up and ready to go.

I let the bats sit overnight not being charged. when I last checked them (last night) they were reading 50.7 volts. This morning when I checked them they were reading 47 volts.

I know I could use some new bats, but I dont see how this would keep the cart from moving. Must be somthing else.


How do you test the Solenoid?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
47 volts will keep the cart from moving. A 48 volt battery pack is dead when it gets to 48 volts. See what the voltage drops to when you press the go pedal. Do you hear the solenoid click when you press the pedal? If you can get the cart to run with the bad batteries you can possibly burn up your controller, motor and other parts. You may have already damaged something by using the cart with junk batteries. The bottom line is the batteries are toast. You may have other problems to, but your fighting a losing battle with those batteries...
 

afonda

New Member
Apparently changing out the battery cables has made a significant improvement. There is no heat coming from the bats except for one of the cables between the the #5 & #6 batts (the far two on the left/drivers side).

The first one (#6) is only reading 6.5 volts. So I know its no good and that the rest may be too far gone as well. The rest of the pack is reading between 8 and 8.5 volts. I am not sure how long they will run for but at least its better. The total pack was reading right at 49.9 volts.

I need to change out the main pos (leads to the solenoid) and neg (which leads to the controller) battery cables which I am going to upgrade to 4 guage wire as well and maybe that will make things even better.

The good news is the cart moves. So, apparently nothing is broken and the problem lies w/in the batteries and cables.

Thanks for your help on this one...

Now I just have to put out for the new batteries ... $$ ouch $$
 
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