A family Christmas Present......

Double00Kevin

I'm not 100% sure how we got to this point but nevertheless......we are here :) Well.....My son kept asking for a 4 wheeler, my wife didn't like that idea one bit. Me, on the other hand, thought it was perfect!!! I wear the pants in this relationship, ******!!!.....she just picks them out and lays them on the bed for me everyday. I grew up with the thought that I was Evil Knievel and my lime green Kawasaki kx80 was going to take me to the record books. Backwoods racing, jumps, wheelies, etc......I ran a few local events and actually got halfway descent at my passion.......until I fell in love with football and basketball at 13. I parked the bike and never looked back.

Anyway, it was obvious that my son would not be "riding" in my footsteps with the bike thing. Mama ain't having it so this Christmas, I'm parking a golf cart under the tree. It's obviously not new because I don't roll like that but its a 95' (owner said it was a '98.....but checked SN online, '95......simple mistake I'm sure......maybe lol) EZ-GO 36volt. Looks descent and should provide a little fun for our family. Body looks in good shape and no real signs of any bad rust.

So.....the previous owner told me the batteries were going bad and would need replacing soon. (they are only roughly a year old so he must have not taken care of them at all). Everything else, for the most part, looks really good!! I think I may redo/clean up/upgrade the wiring. Old 6ga to new 4ga.....maybe an extra deep cycle marine battery for the lights, air horn, ect......just because my OCD has already kicked in and I can't handle the setup now.

The cart came with a EZ-GO Powerwise qe charger......seems to do the job on the batteries.......I say that like I actually know something lol (they were so drained when I first got it, I had to charge each 2 with my 12volt car battery to get some juices flowing and the Powerwise would read them.

So that's kind of my first question to myself (and you guys, so if you feel the need to critique, praise or just say "whats up", please do!!!).....are these batteries really dead? I don't have a load tester (will be grabbing one this afternoon though!!) I do have a hydrometer and a volt meter.......which according to those......batteries are good at a glance, haven't done any major testing as of yet, but that will come today. Charged them up and topped of with distilled water, I'm charging a golf cart like I halfway know what I'm doing. But.......but I honestly think they may be too far gone. Right after the charger light turned solid green, each battery read 7.2 to 7.4. (surface charge obviously) Let them sit overnight (while the powerwise was still plugged up to the cart) and they all now read 6.2 to 6.5 (rough estimates). Unless there is a secret to bringing these things back to life......I should know a ton more this afternoon with the load tester. Or......my charger sucks, which I have read that comment a few times haha)

I really wanted to find more of a "fixer upper" but when I ran across this one......it seemed like a descent start for a descent price. Already had a lift kit and some good rubber on some descent rims. And......we are Bama fans

So......after $1800 and a handshake......I have a golf cart that I can hopefully get up and running before ol' Saint Nick comes through. If not, we can all work on in Christmas morning.......me, the wife and my 12 year old son love a good project......and I have a feeling this project will give us some good "bonding" time. On the other hand.....my 5 year old daughter will use it as a jungle gym for sure.

With all that being said, if any "seasoned vets" wants to lead, guide and direct me in the right direction for battery testing....rewiring....and any other pointers I may need......this dad would be greatly appreciative.

Until next time......I will be snooping around to see what I can learn!!
Merry Christmas errbody!!!

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vagabond

all in all a nice looking ride welcome to the madness

Swan

welcome to the addiction , looking at the pic for 1800.00 you did good even if it needs new batteries . there no real secret or magic to bring back batteries , they are what they are. I give them a couple of full back to back charges . then let them sit and take volt reading. the true test will see how they do under load , that will be the true test on what kind of shape there in.

orangeman6

I'm in California but that would be a good deal in my area. Im getting a bit tired of Alabama:) but that thing looks pretty **** clean.

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you can load test that thing just by clipping the dvm leads and driving it???


Either way, good luck with it, and hope your boy enjoys the heck out of it.

Sir Nuke

Kevin.....you did a great thing.....and the cart looks great. As for the batteries, the fact that you found them DEAD, means that the previous owner didn't take the best care of them. However, after charging them up and letting them set and still have 6.2 to 6.5v is pretty good. Tru8ely, to gauge how good they are, know what the charger actually turns off after a charge, THEN measure the voltage 12 hours later, as a truly fully charged and rested battery that is 100% charged should read in the order of 6.37v, obviously some of the batteries are not is as good a shape as the others, but the true test would be to fire up the cart and take it for a drive and see how long the last, or how far you can get.

OH and before I forget....Congrats on the new ride and Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to BGW. There is a BIG fridge on the back porch with anything you can think of in it...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. Make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom's, wives’, husbands, girlfriend’s and boyfriends here don't care....and take it easy.



oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!!

Double00Kevin

Thanks for the welcome yall!! Orangeman6......I'm a "diehard" Bama fan but between me and you, it can get a little boring watching them play lately. It's kinda funny how us redneck Bama fans are never satisfied though......its always something with us.

So the kids are at the grandparents for a few days. I had a game plan, go to the local parts store, grab a load tester and a few other small things I needed to stock up on, wiring, etc. As I walked out the door, jumped in the truck and thought......let me just check on the charging scenario going on in the garage real quick. As I walked through the door, I'm immediately drawn to a solid green light emitting from the charger.......it literally talked to me. Such a sweet voice.......we all know what she wanted. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the parts store, but we already knew that when I said "I'm just gonna check on it".

I pulled the plug......jumped in......with sunglasses on.......hat backwards so it wouldn't fly off in the wind.....slowly pressed the gas pedal and pulled out of my driveway like a boss!!

Things went really good for the most part......after 20ish minutes of giving that thing hell, she started to give up on me. I brought my volt neter with me to do a few checks. Once it slowed to a crawl, I jumped off and tested the battery bank. It read 34ish (honestly cant remember exactly)......but what kind of surprised me.......I watched the battery bank slowly climb back up to over 36v in the span of maybe 2 minutes. It got me back to the house.....for that I'm thankful.

As I pulled back in the garage, plugged it back in and tended to a few other things that needed my attention. A few hours past......and I look at the charger......solid green light again!!! Do they charge batteries that fast? Are my batteries completely crap.....or my charger??? Anyway, I've got to go wrap some presents for the wife and kids........by the way, aluminum foil is the absolute best wrapping paper for anyone who struggles in that department. All in all......I'm excited though......but I'm still curious about the true state of the batteries. I'm hopefully going to make that trip to the parts store tomorrow before the kids get back home........but don't keep yalls fingers crossed ;)

orangeman6

Haha, great stuff Kevin. I can tell already the bug has bitten you good. I found this forum when I decided to rebuild my cart and checked it about 20x a day when I could. I've been on forums for some other things and have never come across one as good as this. Everyone is super helpful, and there are some crazy knowledgeable guys here. I'm always amazed at how quickly people's questions get answered. I re-did my cart from the frame up, and I wouldn't have even tried it without this place.

I'm still a complete rookie at this but I can give you a couple of things until the big guns jump in. First, you'll want to get a digital meter for your cart so that you always know exactly what your voltage is. The light up graph style just don't give you enough information. There's a point (50% I believe?) that you can cause damage to the electrical components. My voltmeter always comes up a bit after the cart is stopped for a short time, but if you were at 36v, you were down in the 50's as far as % of charge. Second, I've read to fully charge the pack then get a reading 12-24 hrs later. This will give you another indication of their health. I've attached a soc (state of charge) chart I got from Scotty B. He owns carts unlimited, is a site sponsor, and one of the gurus on here. I got all of the "make it go" parts for my rebuild from him. He seems to carry all of the best stuff and the support is top notch.

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BobBoyce

It really does sound like your batteries have diminished capacity due to sulphation. Sulphation is lead sulphate crystals that begin to form in a lead-acid battery when the battery voltage drops. As they grow, the crystals block surface area, which reduces capacity. The longer and/or more often batteries remain discharged, the more capacity is lost. Sulphated batteries run low faster, and charge faster, than the same batteries that are not sulphated. The ends of batteries will usually begin to bulge as internal pressure from sulphation pushes the batteries plates apart.

Bob

Double00Kevin

Orangeman6, the "bug bitten" comment is more of a swarm of locust sent from above.......someone shouldv'e warned me!!! It's refreshing though, to get away from my type of work and just submerge myself into something completely new (as I grunt in my best, "nerdy" impersonation of Tim the Toolman Taylor).

I've ordered some 4ga welding wire and plan on getting my cables built and installed next week......a whole two weeks of vacation coming up!! I also ordered one of those onboard digital meters from Amazon....I went with blue....gotta have blue......green reminds me of the Matrix, I work in the I.T. world......so no green......if they screw up and send green......I may start twitching. Oh, and thanks for the SOC chart.......I've actually been trying to find a "quick and easy" reference for that!!

BobBoyce, I've been reading up on this sulfation stuff as well......so far, it looks like there are tons of de-sulfation hardware and different "techniques" out there, and depending on what site you are on.....they each know the secret which can be had at the low cost of your first-born child. But, I will say I've been researching the BLS36.....seems to be the most sensible as it provides a constant pulse to break down sulfation. Charging, driving or just sitting in the driveway......it's on.....atleast that's what the ol' interwebs say. May be worth a shot......if not for these batteries, maybe it would help prevent that problem on my next set.

Thanks for all the helpful comments, it's cool to know that there are people willing to help instead of bashing a bro.

Sir Nuke

Kevin.....once you have questions on up-grading things, to make it go faster, or have more torque.....that WILL come, its part of the bug....lol

Anyway.....we know you already stated the year of your cart.....the next question that will be ask is what drive system your cart has. if you don't know, there is a simple why to determine that...here is another little chart to show you.

ezgoguide.jpg