Battery Meter not reading correctly

[lx5spd]

Hey all, sorry if this has been discussed before. I used the search function but couldn’t find any threads directly related to my issue.

I recently bought a 96 Club Car DS 48v. It had an old analog battery meter that wasn’t reading correctly, so I assumed it was just old and the sweep on the arm was out of tune. I bought a digital meter with the bars from Amazon and installed it.

It worked fine for about a week, but now when I plug the cart in to charge, the charger comes on and stops after a few hours or so, but the battery meter doesn’t budge, still showing 30% charge. I checked the voltage on the batteries and it read 50.8v so I know they are charged.

I have reset the OBC 4-5 times and it will read 80% full and then quickly drop to around 40-50% after only having driven 4-5 miles. Plug the cart back in thinking the batteries just aren’t up to snuff and the meter again won’t budge unless I reset the OBC.

Am I chasing two separate issues? Bad OBC, old batteries (batteries are date stamped February 2021 so I don’t think they are that low on life), faulty charger?

Thanks in advance,

Nick

[Beerman24]

Buy a quality battery meter.. I can tell you that’s what everyone is going to say….

[CP241]

First, Check your voltage at the meter and compare to what you’ve got at the battery pack + and -. A bad connection can drop a couple volts which is all it takes to drop one of those meters from 100% to 30%

Second, I’d ditch the crappy bar graph or percentage meters and get a decent meter with a voltage readout so you know exactly what’s going on. Keep a SOC chart handy for reference. You won’t need it for very long before you’ve pretty much got it memorized. I’ve used the digital volt meters on Amazon several times with no issues and they’re only 8 or 9 bucks

[Walrus]

I did the same as you. Replaced an inaccurate analog needle one with a bar graph one, and it worked for a few weeks. After that it was always at 50%.

Like others said, get a digital readout voltmeter, and learn the voltages. Don't go below 48v when parked/stopped.

[lx5spd]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I’ll check the voltage at the meter today and report back.

[Bama Brad]

Get one like this:
https://www.cartsunlimited.net/led-battery-meters.html

[lx5spd]

Originally Posted by CP241

First, Check your voltage at the meter and compare to what you’ve got at the battery pack + and -. A bad connection can drop a couple volts which is all it takes to drop one of those meters from 100% to 30%

Second, I’d ditch the crappy bar graph or percentage meters and get a decent meter with a voltage readout so you know exactly what’s going on. Keep a SOC chart handy for reference. You won’t need it for very long before you’ve pretty much got it memorized. I’ve used the digital volt meters on Amazon several times with no issues and they’re only 8 or 9 bucks

I measured the voltage at the meter and it dropped from 50.8 V at the batteries to 47.4 V at the wires going into the gauge, so clearly there is an issue there. How can that be remedied?

[Bama Brad]

Originally Posted by Bama Brad

Get one like this:
https://www.cartsunlimited.net/led-battery-meters.html

I ordered this one 5 years ago and it works great today! Cart gets rained on all the time.

[CP241]

Originally Posted by lx5spd

I measured the voltage at the meter and it dropped from 50.8 V at the batteries to 47.4 V at the wires going into the gauge, so clearly there is an issue there. How can that be remedied?

Run new wires from the pack to the gauge.

I’d still recommend a digital voltage meter though. Would have saved you some guess work :)

I’ve used 2 or 3 of these and never had a problem. Still have one of them I removed from my cart when I installed my renogy meter

Waterproof Monitor DC 4.5-150V 12/24/36/48V Volt Battery Meter Voltage Tester Automative Electric Cars Gauge Golf Cart E-Bike Bicycle Motorcycle Small Digital Voltmeter 0.56"LED Blue https://a.co/d/iyaGXMw

[lx5spd]

Originally Posted by CP241

Run new wires from the pack to the gauge.

I’d still recommend a digital voltage meter though. Would have saved you some guess work :)

I’ve used 2 or 3 of these and never had a problem. Still have one of them I removed from my cart when I installed my renogy meter

Waterproof Monitor DC 4.5-150V 12/24/36/48V Volt Battery Meter Voltage Tester Automative Electric Cars Gauge Golf Cart E-Bike Bicycle Motorcycle Small Digital Voltmeter 0.56"LED Blue https://a.co/d/iyaGXMw

I ordered the gauge from Carts Unlimited also. I just want to be able to eliminate all potential issues. 👍

The wiring under the dash is a bit of a maze though. Whoever build the cart dash didn’t put much consideration into later maintenance because the runs of wire are so short I can’t even pull the dash panel 3” from the front body. I might have to take the front body off and access it that way. I used to have a Yamaha G2 gas cart (that I did a Vegas Carts big block swap in my garage), so I’m familiar with body removal on that. I haven’t looked at the mounting points yet on this Club Car.

Thanks again for everyone’s help!