Lights wired without a voltage reducer?

[jakesnake27]

Originally Posted by mike_dmt

12v.. 3w total for both lights.

Not going to be bright I know. I'm thinking another LED light bar later.

Wattage divided by Voltage equals Amperage, so in your case 3/12=1/4
Your two lights only pull a quarter of an amp. I say wire it to two batteries, you will be fine. A lot of people wire two halogens (more amps) to two batteries and are fine.

[mike_dmt]

Will do. Thanks!

[scooterman]

Thought I'd post my findings here as to why one should use the reducer. I purchased this cart November 2014. The Cart is a 2012 straight from the golf course, original batteries, lights were wired off two of the 6 8V batteries. I installed first thing a true volt meter and after testing each cell with a hydrometer and topping off with water & charging several cycles the run time was very obviously down compared to new batteries. This past week I converted the cart from excel to IQ. While doing this I decided to rotate out the batteries, In doing this I learned two Very important things. One these batteries are heavy, I need to get a lifting tool and most of all get a voltage reducer. I went through two long charge cycles during testing now after a full charge the run time has extended my drive time by 10/15 more minutes running continuously. I wouldn't of thought those old run down batteries would ever do any better did indeed.

Lesson, get a reducer.

[UncleJerm76]

Originally Posted by scooterman

Thought I'd post my findings here as to why one should use the reducer. I purchased this cart November 2014. The Cart is a 2012 straight from the golf course, original batteries, lights were wired off two of the 6 8V batteries. I installed first thing a true volt meter and after testing each cell with a hydrometer and topping off with water & charging several cycles the run time was very obviously down compared to new batteries. This past week I converted the cart from excel to IQ. While doing this I decided to rotate out the batteries, In doing this I learned two Very important things. One these batteries are heavy, I need to get a lifting tool and most of all get a voltage reducer. I went through two long charge cycles during testing now after a full charge the run time has extended my drive time by 10/15 more minutes running continuously. I wouldn't of thought those old run down batteries would ever do any better did indeed.

Lesson, get a reducer.

Never wire off of two batteries is the lesson here. The suggestions above that utilize the whole pack WITHOUT a reducer or utilize a separate 12v battery are acceptable and proven methods that will work without the drawbacks you mentioned.

[MDLNB]

I will defer to the more experienced folks on here, but I will just say that I recently removed my 16 volt to 12volt reducer, connected to two 8 volt batteries and replaced it with a 48 volt to 12 volt, 30 amp reducer. I had a couple of different reasons for it. The new reducer was inexpensive, about $60 from Amazon with free shipping. I didn't like the idea that my old reducer was commanding more drain on just two of my batteries, making it unequal wear. And I plan to possibly add accessories to the cart at a later date, needing more amps. I had assumed that my lights were rated at 10 amps and that's the max on my old reducer. I already have two additional led lights I want to add for night driving. We use our carts daily and sometimes don't return home until after dark. That's just my two and half cents.