1986 Club Car Battery Issue

daseay

Hey all, I'm new to golf carts, bought one a few months ago when I moved to an island town. The guy I bought it from said they had just replaced the batteries and solenoid, so it should be running fine. It's a 36V setup with 3-12V batteries. After doing some research on this forum I've found that this is not the standard setup (6-6V batteries). Anyway, it had been running fine for a while and then after a particularly large bump one day I realized that the wooden plank that was supporting one of the batteries had broken and the battery was riding diagonally. It didn't cause any problems (immediately), so I thought it was okay to run like that, at least until I came across the spare time to fix it. Over the next few days the battery life started to slowly get shorter and shorter to the point now where it won't run more than 10 feet after any length of charge time. I've been looking up things to check to diagnose whats wrong, and after fixing the support board under the middle battery I think I've realized that something is wrong with it (shocking I know). When I use my voltmeter, the other 2 batteries read just above 12 after a charge, and so does the "bad" one. However, when I press the gas pedal the 2 good batteries drop to right around 12V, but the "bad" one drops to NEGATIVE 12. I haven't been able to find anything about what this means, but figured I'd check with y'all before I dropped too much money on a new battery. Any advice on what steps I should take next is appreciated. I'm attaching some pictures of the 3 batteries (grey one is the "bad" one)

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BGW

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Mooncarter

A few observations first.

The battery in the center looks cracked open. You say it was turned over. I would carefully get it out of there.

Those batteries are not new. They don't even match. And yes, it is a poor way to power it.

It has 5 solenoids.

to BGW.

Mooncarter

Are you sure it is an 86? What is the serial number?

I can't find a wiring diagram that looks like what you have at the solenoid group.

daseay

Serial number is A8620-XXXXX. From what I've seen that indicates it is an '86 model. I'll be looking into getting a new battery tomorrow in that case. Would you recommend getting just one new 12V, 3 new 12V, or 6 new 6V batteries?

Mooncarter

6 six volts. Anything else is a waste of money.