Wiring lights on a 3 battery 36v club car

[Madamx]

Quick question just to confirm, I have a 85 club car ds, I picked up some 12v halogen lights from harbor freight that came with a switch for on/off. I was looking up how to wire and most folks have the 6 or 8 batteries vs my 3 12s. Question is do I just hook the lights up to one of my batteries and that’s it? No reducer or doing in series or anything? Thank you very much!!

[Budule]

Halogen will be a hard drain on one battery , but yes you can pick a battery and it will work ...BUT , you should get a 36 to 12 volt reducer from Scotty B....

or add a 12 volt battery somewhere and use it just for accessories... which you would have to charge separate of course

[Madamx]

Hmm, I can take those back and get led. Would that be ok on one battery or should I still go with the reduced? Thank you very much!

[Budule]

wont be as bad but the voltage reducer is the way to go......long term anyway ,

[JBritt1997]

I made this mistake on my cart, LED lights are the way to go and the reducer will save your battery in the long run.

[Madamx]

Thank you both!

[Fairtax4me]

Kinda depends how much the lights draw, and how long you need to use them for.
If you only need a small light for 10-15 minutes to drive to the edge of the field and back, you can get by with connecting one light to one battery, and it will have minimal long term effect.

A reducer is the best way if you need lots of light, or ever need them for more than a few minutes at a time. Having a long duration draw will cause a higher demand on whichever battery the light(s) are hooked to, and eventually pull that battery out of balance with the rest of the pack. That one battery will be chronically undercharged, and lead to sulfation of the plates, where the other two will generally be overcharged during charging. Plate sulfation will drastically reduce the overall capacity of the battery, leading to an early failure. Slightly overcharging them does not cause nearly as much issue as undercharging, and is actually used to remove sulfation from the plates and bring the cells of the battery into balance with each other.

In theory, having 3 equal lights, one hooked up to each battery, should cause equal draw on all three, assuming they are all three used for the same amount of time every time.

LEDs are also IMO the best option since they tend to draw less power from the batteries than an equal sized halogen.

[Hunter450]

Originally Posted by Madamx

Hmm, I can take those back and get led. Would that be ok on one battery or should I still go with the reduced? Thank you very much!

Many LED's are rated for higher voltages. You may find you can use the whole pack voltage. They will pull way less amps than the halogens.

[yawood]

As Hunter450 said, most LEDs can handle 36V so just connect them across your whole pack. It will save the pack from getting unbalanced and your lights will be brighter.

Check the LEDs that you buy and see if they give a voltage range. If they say 12V only then they are probably fitted with a resistor which is specifically designed to limit the voltage they use.