Is It Time for New Batteries

[rds5150]

hello everyone,

newbie here and to carts, so i definitely have a few questions.



i have 36v 2002 e-z go and i have a couple of questions about batteries. the current batts are trojan 105's and are just shy of 3 yrs old. i bought the cart used about 10 mos. ago and it would run for hours, 10/15/20 miles. two months ago range suddenly dropped to 2 miles and a very noticeable decrease in power and speed. always maintained good water level and charged after each use.


6 weeks ago installed a "battery life saver"
http://www.batterylifesaver.com/
an electronic device that helps de-sulfate acid filled batts. i knew the battery life saver probably would not help these old batts, but i figured it was worth a try and i feel that it should help a fresh set, so i went ahead and splurged. it has not helped at all, and range seems to be steadily decreasing.


voltage on 5 of the batts is 6.28, the 6th is 6.10, load test with a 100amp tester on all 6 showed to hold a load with no voltage drop after 15 second load.
6.28 volts on the load tester shows to be on the weak side, but still good.
6.1 volts, right on the line weak/good
voltage test and load test were done on a full charge, just read, test should be done on discharged batts, is this correct.
i did not take any readings when the cart was running good, so i do not have a baseline for my numbers.




i assume that its just time for a new set of batts.

what is the life expectancy of a set of batts seeing just weekend use and above average maintenance.

is it ok to put one new batt in an old set.

is it normal for your range to drop drastically when your batts die.

how do you know your charger is working properly.

are trojan batts that much better than sam's.

one last question, please
how do you disable the back up alarm, where is it located. is the back up alarm also the diagnostic beeper i have been hearing about.



any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated
thank you very much
rob

 

[HotRodCarts]

Welcome to the forum...

By looking at your voltage numbers I'd say the batteries are bad. You should see about 6.4 volts on a good 6 volt battery 1 hour after a full charge.

With the Trojan t105 batteries you should get 5+ years out of them if maintained well. I've seen carts with 11 year old Trojans that were still showing decent numbers when tested. But 5 to 6 years is the average.

The only time I recommend replacing one battery is if the batteries are only a year old or so. Replacing a bad battery with a good used battery is your best bet if the batteries are older than 1 year. It's hard to keep them balanced if they're different ages or types.

Yes, it's normal for the range to drop if you have even 1 bad battery.

Where is your forward and reverse switch? The back up alarm on a PDS cart is located behind the key switch panel behind the dash. On a fleet cart it's mounted on the forward and reverse switch under the seat. You can put a piece of tape over the hole in the buzzer for the back up alarm and it will quiet it down quite a bit.

If you want to check your charger plug it in and take voltage readings on each battery toward the end of the charge cycle. You should see 7+ volts on the batteries...

Some Sam's Club sell Interstate batteries and I've had very good luck with the Interstate golf cart batteries. Others sell Energizer batteries. I know a lot of guys are running the Energizers but I don't know much about them...

 

[hitmanharleyk]

I assume that its just time for a new set of batts.

what is the life expectancy of a set of batts seeing just weekend use and above average maintenance.

is it ok to put one new batt in an old set.

is it normal for your range to drop drastically when your batts die.

how do you know your charger is working properly.

are trojan batts that much better than sam's.

one last question, please
how do you disable the back up alarm, where is it located. is the back up alarm also the diagnostic beeper i have been hearing about.



any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated
thank you very much
rob
6.28 is what most call a "tired" battery and it sounds as if the 6.1 battery has a dead cell or two. I would say this battery is robbing power from the others. If you can find a good used battery to replace it with I think you could squeeze a little more life out of the pack, do not replace it with a new one as it will cause the pack to be unbalanced.

I think the best way to get a true reading on the batteries is to do a load test. Get someone to help you do this. Put the front wheels against a wall or something solid and check the batteries volt readings as your friend applies lite pressure to the throttle (do not try to push the wall down !!), post those numbers here for us to take a look at.

Also, when you topped off the water in the batteries, did you use the water hose or distilled water ?

Didn't notice, but is your cart a PDS or Fleet model ?

HKH

 

[HotRodCarts]

You should NEVER try to run an electric cart when the motor is stalled with a wall, brick, block, etc. You should never hold a electric cart on a hill with the go pedal.

When a motor is stalled, the connection between the motor brushes, and commutator will heat up fast. The bars will raise on the armature at the spot the brushes are making contact and cause the motor to whine and the brushes will wear much faster from that point on.

The PDS carts have stall protection built in and the controller will shut down to prevent damaging the motor...

Your best bet is to drive the cart with your meter hooked to each battery...

 

[hitmanharleyk]

I'm speaking of very lite pressure to cause the load to pick up, a matter of seconds to get a reading on each battery. You let off and do it again for each battery. You are the first I've heard say this would cause damage.

In my opinion I can't think this would be any worse than climbing a hill but I'm not a expert, I'm just passing along info I got when I had the same issue.

 

[gornoman]

I agree with HRC on the load test. Loading a motor without allowing it to spin is destructive. Period. Either use a purpose built load tester device on the batteries, or drive the cart on the same course while measuring each battery.

 

[HotRodCarts]

When your climbing a hill the armature is turning so the brushes aren't sitting on the same spot with current flowing.

A couple seconds with the motor stalled probably won't cause any damage but not worth the risk in my opinion. You can load test the batteries with the cart rolling and get the same results. It may take a little longer but you won't risk damage to the motor...

 

[hitmanharleyk]

See, this is why you guys are the experts

 

[fabbinman]

why not just use a BATTERY LOAD TESTER??? its available at most auto parts stores. if you don't want the expense of the tester, take the cart to the parts store and have the batteries tested as you would in your car. Advance Auto Parts did mine. This seems to me like the best way to load test a battery