Battery Sparking

sdman

Hello,

The positive lead on one of the batteries was sparking. This is the terminal that the battery charger and motor connects to. I made sure everything was tight. The sparking stopped but after driving for a minute the terminal was getting hot and started to smoke. The terminal doesn’t look as good as the others so I switched batteries hoping there would be a better connection. I drove for three minutes. The terminal wasn’t hot but the cart had no power and the batteries totally drained.

The problem is now the batteries won’t charge. I just replaced the charger and it is working. Is it possible that the battery that was sparking has a bad terminal causing a short so the batteries won’t charge?

Thanks,

Lou

BGW

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Johnmaster

resistance creates heat, if everythings at the same temp, and you drive, if that terminal is the hottest part of the whole electrical system, it's most likely due to resistance (could even be a bad connection inside a crimp connector). I have a tomberlin I am hoping the controller is junk. It drew 200 amps going 1 mph. motor, controller, and much of the heavy cable wiring would get really hot. If your cart is otherwise functioning properly, it's very common to see golf cart type batteries with the lead terminal melted entirely off from resistance/heat, that could be the problem.

Johnmaster

its more likely that taking the old battery charger lead off the terminal created a better connection when you reassembled it with the new battery charger lead.

sdman

Hello,

I found the problem. I hooked up the battery wrong, I had two positives connected. The cart runs a little slower then normal but I did not have a problem all weekend. I am considering buying a new cart but the dealer 7 miles from me
doesn’t know anything about Tomberlins. The closest dealer that has any knowledge or desire to sell a Tomberlin is 380 miles from me.

Thanks for your help.

Raystar57

Now that you are going I would load test each battery as you drive it on an uphill road or incline.
Also test the complete pack under load.
You may have one bad battery and that will reduce the whole pack capacity.

sdman

Hello,

If the battery is bad, is it ok to replace one battery or do they all have to be changed? They are 3 or 4 years old.