Battery Problem

[Cammee71]

I have a 1989 Ezgo marathon and the battery on the cart keeps on going dead on me and im having to charge it every weekend. i have a lot of accessories on it and i think that is what is killing the battery. Could i get another battery and use one battery for starting the cart and the other for the accessories? Any ideas???

[BrewCityMusic]

Let's start with the obvios, which is that your cart seems to not be charging correctly ... Get a DMM (voltmeter) and test the voltage at the battery with the cart off, it should be between 12.2 and about 12.6vdc. Now, with the DMM still hooked up to the battery, take a ride at mid-throttle and see what the reading is, it should be around 14-14.6vdc if all is well, if it stays at 12v (or drops) then you're not charging.

Do that and report your findings, and based on that, we can start giving you some better directions as to how to solve your problem(s).

(As to accessories, etc, if they're hooked up correctly, it's pretty hard to kill a battery unless they're on for an extended period of time without the cart running - I've got (2) 75w halogen headlights, a full 9ft of LED's under the cart, a pair of taillights, my GPS, etc running basically all the time at night, and have never killed the battery)

[Mike Mac]

I don't know for sure, but I imagine the generator on a golf cart is only capable of putting out about 20 amps. If your acc. are more than half of that, you are taxing your battery/charging system to early failure. As well as taking allot of power from the engine to turn the gen. Just my opinion!

[rc324]

Originally Posted by BrewCityMusic

Let's start with the obvios, which is that your cart seems to not be charging correctly ... Get a DMM (voltmeter) and test the voltage at the battery with the cart off, it should be between 12.2 and about 12.6vdc. Now, with the DMM still hooked up to the battery, take a ride at mid-throttle and see what the reading is, it should be around 14-14.6vdc if all is well, if it stays at 12v (or drops) then you're not charging.

Do that and report your findings, and based on that, we can start giving you some better directions as to how to solve your problem(s).

(As to accessories, etc, if they're hooked up correctly, it's pretty hard to kill a battery unless they're on for an extended period of time without the cart running - I've got (2) 75w halogen headlights, a full 9ft of LED's under the cart, a pair of taillights, my GPS, etc running basically all the time at night, and have never killed the battery)

I'd start there. If its 12 or under the next thing to do is clean all your connections and take your reading while motor is running again. That was the problem with my cart

[Pocono Country Boy]

Originally Posted by Mike Mac

I don't know for sure, but I imagine the generator on a golf cart is only capable of putting out about 20 amps. If your acc. are more than half of that, you are taxing your battery/charging system to early failure. As well as taking allot of power from the engine to turn the gen. Just my opinion!

55 amps is the rated output on my 88 2 stroker.

[BrewCityMusic]

Did you get a chance to test it yet, Cammee?

RC has a good point - your connections are always the first culprit. There are 2 VERY important grounds that need to be clean, one is to the frame (the first stop after the battery on the negative side) - pull the bolt and clean up the frame where it makes contact as well as the connector(s) with a wire brush or some fine-grit sandpaper, if the bolt is rusty, replace it. Next, where the negative cable attaches to the engine is also very important, pull the long bolt that holds the cable in place and make sure you do the same as above, clean up the connector, replace rusted washers (or even the bolt if it's bad) ...

If that doesn't help, then working slowly and one connector at a time (so you don't mix them up putting them back on) pull and thoroughly clean your positive cables and connections, starting with the battery (make sure you leave the battery unhooked while you do the rest of them) and move through the wires to the forward/reverse switch, generator/starter, etc.

Also, check all of your accessories to ensure they are wired correctly and are not drawing any power while the cart is off. Depending on how they are spliced into the electrical system, you may want to consider picking up a 40amp relay and trigger it off of the ignition switch, using the output as a power source for your accessories (that way you know they are positively disconnected when the ignition key is turned off). I did that on my '88, and bought a cheap ($6) terminal block at Radio Shack that I use as a power distribution source - all my accessories draw power from there, some are still switched for convenience (LED's, etc).

Let us know what you come up with, Amigo!

[Cammee71]

Thank you im going to try the triger switch