Auxilary battery or voltage converter?

[sunking]

Originally Posted by Gwagon

Good info! So the True Converter will drain pack evenly?

Gwagon

Both will drain the batteries evenly. Difference is one is around 95% efficient which is what you want, and the other is only 25% efficient burning 4 units of power to supply 1 unit of power They both work. One just waste a lot of power.

[Olman]

On my last cart, I had an aux battery mounted under the seat. Worked great. This cart came with a good DC/DC converter. Works great. The only thing is, I don't have to charge an aux battery separately now. It's a toss up for me but if I had to do it over, I would go with the converter.

Originally Posted by Olman

I don't have to charge an aux battery separately now.

good point but ... i run all LEDS on my security cart
thats head/tail lights, flashers, strobes and an overhead strobe cube
i run them 3~4 hours every night and only plug in my solar charger on sundays (6~8hrs)
i have measured the volts and it is only .3v per hour of use , thats with everything going

[Olman]

Originally Posted by crash test dummy

good point but ... i run all LEDS on my security cart
thats head/tail lights, flashers, strobes and an overhead strobe cube
i run them 3~4 hours every night and only plug in my solar charger on sundays (6~8hrs)
i have measured the volts and it is only .3v per hour of use , thats with everything going

That's sounds like a good setup Crash.
All I'm saying is that having had both, the converter so far has been a total no brainer.

1. Buy a GOOD converter--mount it--wire it in--forget it.
2. Buy a GOOD battery--buy some kind of charger--get a hold down of some kind--a way to check or monitor voltage--keep it charged as necessary--check water level if it's that kind of battery--replace battery when it dies.

I choose door number 1 but that's just me

[mrgolf]

My voltage converter works great for me. I have head,tail, and brake lights. An overhead fan. A aux power plug. With everything on I'm pulling right at 9 amps at 12 volts. The converter is a 12.5 amp unit. The load on my battery pack is 2.3 amps with everything on. Mine is not water proof but I dont go through deep water.

[sunking]

Originally Posted by mrgolf

The converter is a 12.5 amp unit. The load on my battery pack is 2.3 amps with everything on.

Then you have a DC to DC converter vs a Regulator.

[mrgolf]

It is a converter, regulator. Good clean voltage no noise when hooking iPod to power outlet.

[pat5000]

I like my 30amp 48volt dc to 12volt dc converter/voltage reducer. On the plus side of the converter you have a large battery bank for emergency power during power outages.
Just took up one of those small 150watt Cigarette lighter Inverters and keep your laptops and cell phones charged and maybe even a small led lamp (know your limits and never deplete your batterys below 50%)

[passthru]

But that's kind of the point. What are the limits? For many guys it might be three rounds or a weekend of rounds. For us it's a night out where the action is heavy and you hunt six hours and haul six pigs back and forth to the skinning shed. Hard to judge what your amp draw will be.

[sunking]

Originally Posted by passthru

But that's kind of the point. What are the limits? For many guys it might be three rounds or a weekend of rounds. For us it's a night out where the action is heavy and you hunt six hours and haul six pigs back and forth to the skinning shed. Hard to judge what your amp draw will be.

The answer you will not like, but the short story is 45 to 80 minutes Run Time to 50% DOD. Depends on what battery and voltage you run at.

If you look at Trojan Capacity Minutes charts (page 7) on the low side 90 minutes (T1260) up to 160 minutes (Ranger 160) to 100% DOD or completely dead. So to 50% half of that and you end up with 45 to 80 minutes run time. Be aware those tables are based on stock carts at 77 degrees. If you use larger motors, controllers, cold weather, larger tires or whatever mod will lower those numbers.