Experience adding secondary battery to Gas Cart for electronics?

[frankthetank]

Anybody have experience with adding a secondary battery to run components, stereo, amplifiers, lighting,etc? Did you use a rechargeable battery (110V) plug it in every night? Did you buy 2 batteries in a series and wire them together/parallel? Deep cell battery(s)?

If anybody has done this I would like some references/links of what you bought where you bought etc.please.

The more I "google" the more confused I get as to what to purchase.

I would prefer that I wouldn't have to recharge it every night but would they charge off the cart itself along with the primary battery.

This place has been so great and so many people have guided/helped along the way with my projects whether directly or indirectly.

But anyway Photos of your setup and links to what to use and/or where to buy from would be great:-)

[Mike Mac]

Your generater only puts out 15 amps at higher RPM, that's not a lot of charging ability.

[LimitedEdition]

I will go along with Mike, trying to recharge one or two rundown batteries with the generator after playing the stereo for hours at the beach, isn’t practical. I guess it comes down to how you actually plan to use your sound system. Playing the stereo while riding the cart and using two batteries in parallel, the generator could probably keep up. If you want that long play time without running down the cart battery, you could use two deep cycle 6V batteries in series (12V) separate from the cart battery, just for the sound system. I am in a RV Forum and many of the owners that want to dry camp (off grid) use the two 6V deep cycle battery setup to go days before recharging. You could use an isolation switch to be able to connect the sound system batteries to the generator while driving. Good Luck.

Robert

[gray horse]

I've got a clone motor in mine so not sure how you could do it on a stock motor, but I run an alternator on my cart. No problem with charging.

[frankthetank]

Could/should I replace the starter generator with one the runs more amps? just quick google search showed a few club car ones that ranged from 18-25 amp. I don't know if that is a significant amount increase and if it would make a difference?

Or if they even make one for G29.

[kgsc]

A battery and a battery isolater should do what you want. When the cart is running both are being charged. When it off they are separate. Worse case you kill the extra but you can still drive home.

[lockman1]

I just did a quick Google search for a "High Output" S/G for Yamaha and didn't come up with anything!
I'm not so sure that your S/G could replenish a dead deep cell battery well enough as a stand-alone charger could!

BUT... if you want a good deep cell battery that may hold up with extensive use,
Optima deep cell batteries would be the only ones to consider!
They're almost triple the price of a standard deep cell, but from what I understand, are well worth the money!

.02

[cgtech]

Optima, sheet..... Odyssey will eat 2 optimas for snacks. Made from virgin lead, specs are crazy compared to all the rest.

[lockman1]

Originally Posted by cgtech

Optima, sheet..... Odyssey will eat 2 optimas for snacks. Made from virgin lead, specs are crazy compared to all the rest.

I stand corrected!

[frankthetank]

so if I went with a rechargeable deep cycle....how many amp hours should I be looking at?cca's?

theres 50,000 of these things and no clue what I am looking at.