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Old 08-26-2010, 09:11 PM   #1
SaltLifeCC
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Default Calling all Precedents with lights installed

Posted something about this the other day but didn't get a lot of input. I put a light kit on my cart last week and it didn't seem to take long driving with the lights on for the rear lights to not work and the front light to get very dim. The cart still ran strong after this happened but as soon as I put it on the charger, the lights began working fine again. I have the lights wired to the stock blue wire on the 4th battery as I do not have a 48v to 12v converter on board.

I've got plenty of time to work this out but we plan to use this cart at a campground for many weekends next summer and I'm sure the lights will be used quite a bit.

I did have a suggestion to just rig up an extra battery somewhere and run the lights and the stereo I want to add at some point off of the extra battery. But I didn't get a lot of feedback on what kind of results I might have by instead installing a 48 to 12v converter and running everything, instead, off of the stock red wire on battery #1 (the entire battery pack). Would this be an alternative I'd see significantly better results with?

If you own a precedent with lights, how do you have them wired and are you satisfied with it?

Please chime in. It's only opinions you are giving folks - no need to fear criticism and not post. If nothing else, send me a pm if you don't want your opinion here for all to see. I want to do this right and need help - that's what these forums are all about, right?
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Old 08-26-2010, 09:22 PM   #2
TahoeDawgZ71
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Default Re: Calling all Precedents with lights installed

Mine are wired the same as yours and yes... they get dim when the battery pack gets weak. Check the battery voltage of the #4 battery when they go dim... That'll tell ya why they're dim. You'll be able to confirm whether you've got a weak battery or if the whole pack is losing voltage evenly throughout the driving cycle.

Yes, the voltage reducer would correct this, but it won't correct a bad battery. Your lights are just giving you a warning that something else is wrong.
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Old 08-26-2010, 09:29 PM   #3
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Default Re: Calling all Precedents with lights installed

Thanks TD. I'm not handy with voltmeters, etc. but my neighbor/buddy is. What should I ask him to check and at what stage? Should we check the output of the 4th battery by itself when it starts showing weakness and then check each battery individually and then the pack overall, or is that not going to tell me anything. Any kind of how-to would be great and appreciated.

Even with a good 4th battery or battery pack overall, am I always going to have limited use of the lights as compared to wiring them to the pack with a converter?
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Old 08-26-2010, 09:47 PM   #4
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Default Re: Calling all Precedents with lights installed

You just want to check to make sure that the battery isn't dropping out under a load.... If it is, it will be considerably lower than the other three.... Check them all in a resting position with the lights on... and then check them all under a load (with the accel pedal on the floor) This is easier with a jack under the rear end to keep the car from driving off... Even with a good 4th battery or battery pack overall, you're not necessarily limited to using your lights... It's plenty good enough for 90% of the people who have carts with lights, but there's always that 10% that uses the heck out of them and keeps their batteries out of sync because of it. Your main goal is to keep all of your batteries as close to each other in overall condition as possible to achieve maximum life out of the pack. The reducer would help with this, ESPECIALLY if you use the lights a lot. Personally, I dont need one for a few reasons... Working at a dealer, I can get a half decent battery pretty much any time I need one... We've got pallet after pallet of them. Another reason is just the simple fact that the only time I use the lights is on the way to the deer-stand in the morning for about 5 minutes... other than that, my lights stay off.
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Old 08-27-2010, 08:12 AM   #5
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Default Re: Calling all Precedents with lights installed

Gotcha. We'll use our cart for 2 purposes. 10 months out of the year, it's a neighborhood cruiser used mostly during the day only needing the lights when hanging out after dark and needing to ride home - 3 minutes at a time, tops. But 2 months out of the year, the cart will be mostly at a campground and will be used a lot by my kids to cruise around at night and lights are required at night by the campground.

My son really wants to add some tunes to the cart. We never had that on our gasser but that's a different animal anyway. So, that's just going to put extra load on that battery. So, I still want to check the battery out and see where it stands but it sounds like my best bet is to also plan on adding a 48v to 12v converter.

So, my question about what to look for and where to get it still stands. If anyone can recommend one sufficient to run a stereo that is probably pumping a few watts to the speakers and lights at the same time. I don't want something that is cheap and dangerous either because it's cheap or because it's not powerful enough to do what I need with it. And is it, realistically, something I can install myself with average tools and skills?
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