I have a 1986 EZGO 3 wheel electric golf cart that I've had for nearly 10 years. I use it for hauling light loads around my acre plus lawn. The cart has the standard 6 battery configuration. I bought the cart with 6 old batteries but about 2 years after I got it replaced all 6.
Recently the batteries have been barely holding any charge at all. By recently I mean within the last month or so. The car gets slower and slower after just a half hour of light use. But the batteries have been slowly losing charging capacity over the last few years. I checked the fluid level and there were all a bit low, so I filled them with water. Most of the levels were above the cells inside the battery. Except one. Each battery has three seperate compartments that I had to fill. The one battery had two cells were like the rest, about half-way full between the neck of the fill hole and the cells. But the one compartment in the middle of this particular battery was WAY below the cells. So filled all batteries and charged them overnight. It's still not much better.
So what are my options? Right now I don't have several hundred dollars to plunk down on new batteries or another cart. Plus the cart has other mechanical issues: accelerator pedal sticks, tires need to be replaced, cart doesn't always go forward when directional lever is postioned to forward, brakes are almost shot, and the frame holding the batteries is nearly rusted out...so the only thing holding the batteries up on one side is the brake cable and on the other side a couple bungee cords. So this cart is in pretty rough shape. I have spent nearly $1,000 on this cart in repairs over the years.
Would filling the batteries with battery acid help? How about that recharge system I see advertised on ebay where you mix a solution of epsom salts and distilled water and supposedly that will "revive" the batteries? Originally I purchased a pdf file of instructions as to what to do but never got around to doing it and have since lost the file.
I have also been thinking of maybe changing the 6 battery configuration. Could I swap the 6 batteries for three 12 volt batteries or one 36 volt or similar configuration? And if so how would it work (how would I do it?)? Thank you for any help you can give.
Recently the batteries have been barely holding any charge at all. By recently I mean within the last month or so. The car gets slower and slower after just a half hour of light use. But the batteries have been slowly losing charging capacity over the last few years. I checked the fluid level and there were all a bit low, so I filled them with water. Most of the levels were above the cells inside the battery. Except one. Each battery has three seperate compartments that I had to fill. The one battery had two cells were like the rest, about half-way full between the neck of the fill hole and the cells. But the one compartment in the middle of this particular battery was WAY below the cells. So filled all batteries and charged them overnight. It's still not much better.
So what are my options? Right now I don't have several hundred dollars to plunk down on new batteries or another cart. Plus the cart has other mechanical issues: accelerator pedal sticks, tires need to be replaced, cart doesn't always go forward when directional lever is postioned to forward, brakes are almost shot, and the frame holding the batteries is nearly rusted out...so the only thing holding the batteries up on one side is the brake cable and on the other side a couple bungee cords. So this cart is in pretty rough shape. I have spent nearly $1,000 on this cart in repairs over the years.
Would filling the batteries with battery acid help? How about that recharge system I see advertised on ebay where you mix a solution of epsom salts and distilled water and supposedly that will "revive" the batteries? Originally I purchased a pdf file of instructions as to what to do but never got around to doing it and have since lost the file.
I have also been thinking of maybe changing the 6 battery configuration. Could I swap the 6 batteries for three 12 volt batteries or one 36 volt or similar configuration? And if so how would it work (how would I do it?)? Thank you for any help you can give.
