Battery bubbling?

stuff4mason

Guys, I have a Deep cycle battery - about 2 years old powering my G8. The battery is fully charged and gives plenty of power to the starter and lights. What would cause the battery to bubble over after running the cart for about 20 minutes?

BGW

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gornoman

A failed voltage regulator will cause a battery to overcharge and "boil".

sho305

Yup, make sure you check the level and fill if needed.

stuff4mason

Does this destroy the battery? Where is the voltage regulator, and how can I test it to see if it's putting too much voltage in the battery?

stuff4mason

Read a whole bunch of posts about this. Still don't know where the VR is, but tested the battery. Cart off, it had 12.4 volts. Started the cart and ran at almost full throttle and it hit 17. something...which means its definitly overcharging.

Now, the battery was fine, until I added the tourqe spring from CPP.

Question: Can adding the Tourqe Spring do this? I'd hate to buy a new VR and fry another one and find out its that spring that did it.

justinblair1

i have had a Yamaha the past 4 yrs and my battery sounds like its bubbling but my battery is 6 yrs old and nothing has ever happened from that but if your Governor is all the way open try to turn it down a little and see if that helps

Beachrights

I am going through a similar experience- started as a no charge issue. Battery was being drained during use. Volts would start at 12.4 and go down from there.

I tested the volts from the generator and the most I could get was 11.4- it went up and down from 1.4 to 11.4. I pulled the generator and went to check the brushes and found the lead wire inside the generator was rubbing on the spinning brass and was hanging on by a few wire splices. I repaired it and now I get 17-19 volts at the battery-too much.

So back to the voltage regulator- I found by unplugging it when the cart is running my volts would drop to 12- a sign that it had failed and was letting all the volts go directly to the battery. Now my VR is not grounded by the mounting bolt so I am able to remove it and not fry it, but another member said if a VR is grounded by a bolt it has to be tight or it will fry so this test might not be the one for you.

Not saying I know what I doing but trying to help!!

sho305

The VR is on the rear fender by the fuses, it runs off the small wires on the gen those are charging it. I never measured a cart but normal charging is ~13.5-14v or it should turn on/off. It will boil the water out of the battery, long as you fill it up it should be ok but that stuff will eat the frame of the car too. If battery is ~12.5 at rest it does not need charging. You could drive around with lights on to use up some power and keep battery filled, it will be ok to use until you fix. Old outboards do this they have no VR, like the old tower of power mercurys. As rpm goes up so does the voltage to like 16v. Before you replace VR make sure wiring is good that is most common problem. I think testing the VR is posted here I've never touched mine.

Mike Mac

Voltage regulator on a G8 is mounted just above TCI (electronic ignition) its a finned aluminum thing, about inch and a half square. Pretty small.

stuff4mason

Thanks Mike. I found it. Man, they want a pretty penny for such a little thing! So, boiling the battery won't hurt it? I agree on the overflow - dumping acid down on the frame. Not good.

Justin - how do you have any frame left if your battery's been boiling for 4 years??