Major Short in 84cc

ncseadad

Thanks Scottyb, shodowman and all others on my axle fix...Found a new friend that has an old 84cc....Scotty I may still need your sterring, will let you know later..

I have developed a new problem last night....After reading this forum and listining to SCOTTYB about batteries....hehehe...I charge my cart once a week...I live and use my car at a campground at the beach so it dont get a lot of milage like on a golf course....I use to charge every other week but SCOTTYB says more often so I charge once a week....Scotty, I check my batteries before and after charging...ALL batteries when low are within a few hundreds of each other....as in around 5.45 to 5.50 volts....after charging they are ALL around 6.30 to 6.35....they are consistant....I can normally ride all week with no problem and plenty of power.....HOWEVER....night before last I did my normal checking and charging...everything was fine...use it a few time yesterday and then last night the cart went almost completely dead....the only thing going to my battery is a set of lights that have been on there for a couple months...working fine...last night, I would turn the lights on and them seem bright...as I masked the peddle, with each click of the solenoid the light got dimmer...to allmost out at full peddle...had to turn the light out to get back to my camper...barely made it....all batteries showed a normal discharge of around 5.25....
Where do I start looking....is this a deffinate problem of something.....also..put in two new selonoids a while back...they are clicking and car has been running great...
HELP HELP HELP......
THanks.....

BGW

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scottyb

Trojan battery Co. is the #1 manufacture and provider of golf cart batteries. More new carts come from the factory with Trojan batteries than any other.
Trojan reccommends that golf cart batteries not be drawn down below 50% of capacity.
THE READINGS YOU ARE POSTING ARE OFF OF THE BOTTOM OF THE SCALE...

I'm pretty sure this type of abuse is killing the batteries. It is the equivalent of running your engine without oil or your tires without air.

Attached Images

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ncseadad

How did I know you were going to say batteries...LOL....I have learned from you scotty...thats why I charge every week....However,...the problem is it went from fully charged 6.20s plus...(all consistant) to 5.20s (all consistant) in a matter of one day with very little driving.....on a normal weekly recharge the batteries will be around 5.70s when I recharge....when I recharge at 5.70s the cart still has plenty of power....yesterday..with very little driving I almost didnt make it back to the camper...
Would you think there is a major short somewhere...????????....
If so...where would I start.....
Bill

ncseadad

Reminder from other post.....The headlight are bright...with each click of the selonoid they get dimmer.....(almost out on full peddle)....

JRay

How old are those batteries? I would load test them.

scottyb

A six volt cart battery should never be drawn down below 6.05 volts. the equivalent of 50% capacity..... you are taking them down to 0% and telling us this is an improvement in the way you use them. They SHOULD be dead.
The manufacture says so.
The average golf cart can be recharged after as little as 15 minutes of actual run time.....
On top of this I'll bet you have the lights wired to 2 batteries instead of using a pack voltage reducer...... so those 2 batteries are getting their a$$es kicked
P.S.
If you read the chart and test your batteries 1 hour after the charging stops ..... you will see that they are no longer coming up to 100% capacity.

I know you want me to tell you how to fix the lights.... I think it is a battery usage and light installation problem

ncseadad

I think the batteries are about three years old Ray....and yes Scotty you are right...I have the lights hooked to two batteries....and yes I want you to tell me how to properly hook them up....I will have the batteries load tested...Is a 12 volt load tester too big or too much to test 6 volt batteries...
HOWEVER...keep this in mind....batteries my be getting old....BUT why all of a sudden do they drop that quick....the car lost its power without the lights being on...the lights going dim was just one of the things I noticed...didnt need the light to drive...just turned them on for a test....

ncseadad

I will disconnect the light just to make sure they are not the problem...the cart is charging now....I have noticed something this morning though...My charger only stays on for 12 hours...I noticed this morning that the needle wasnt quite to full charge...so I turned it back on for a few hours...so, Im not sure at this point if I have been charging them to full or not......but still not sure if that would kill the batteries in that short of time or not

scottyb

I'm gonna type this one last time just for clarity........ NEVER draw the battery pack below 50% capacity.....See Chart. To do so will lead to permenant damage to battery and greatly reduce it's ability to take or hold a charge.....

ncseadad

OK..no problem....so you are saying that my batteries have gone bad all of a sudden over night because I let them drain down too far....and it dont have anything to do with some kind of short that has pulled them down from 6 plus to 5 plus in a few hours time....
I need $500.00 with of new batteries...and there is no short.....