2003 IQ DS Lithium - additional parts and guidance

[TopDog69]

Hi, new here, have a 2003 IQ Club Car DS. I've ordered two LiTime 48V 30Ah GC2 Bluetooth Golf Cart Lithium Batteries and charger. I've also bought a 12v step down converter. I believe the OBC on my cart has already been bypassed.

What additional cables of what gauges am I going to need (assuming they don't send any) to accomplish the install?

I guess I'll need a new receptacle plug to replace the stock one as well.

Thank you for any guidance.

[TopDog69]

What would this small black box be? Converter to supply 12v?

[TopDog69]

The two batteries arrived in perfect condition. Not sure where the charger is though.

I ordered two 2 foot 2 AWG battery cables with 5/16" lugs from Amazon, and the 30A 48v to 12v converter is already here.

My cart already has the OBC disconnected, so I don't have to worry about that.

[TopDog69]

Next, I cleaned out the battery compartment with a baking soda solution and hosed it down. It's looking pretty good, but there is some corrosion.

The batteries are 10 1/4" high or so and the old ones 9 5/8" so I think I can use the old hold downs - just don't crank 'em down so much. This is a very happy finding, I won't have to have a huge hunk of wood in the compartment to raise 'em up.

I think I had better create a wooden floor though for the batteries to sit on. Same for the charger and 12v converter.

[TopDog69]

Originally Posted by TopDog69

What would this small black box be? Converter to supply 12v?

I figured out it's not the converter - that's attached to the frame, driver's side.

Trying to get the image to show.

[TopDog69]

Well, I'm stuck.

I got the charger today and charged both batteries to 100%

As a test, I connected one of the batteries to the main power leads. Turned on key, tow to run, select Forward and - nothing. Select Reverse, no buzzer.

I did a second test, connecting the rest of the wires that were connected originally to the same posts the main power leads were connected to. There are three wires in all on each post - the main power lead, a small wire to a meter in the dash, and a wire to the charging port.

Repeated the tests and the meter came on and showed full. The Reverse buzzer sounds, but I didn't hear any solenoid click or anything and no movement.

Could it be that just one 30 Ah battery by itself is not enough to move the cart and I need to install them both?


There are two wires (plus the jumper) that I haven't connected yet that were originally connected to the second 8v lead acid battery so I assume they were being provided with 16v. (Green arrow.) I don't know what they are for or where to connect them or if they are needed to make the cart go.

I really don't know where to go from here, so your help would be appreciated! Thanks.

[simicrintz]

I am assuming (!) that this has always been a 48V cart?

Generally around here they do not like hooking up Lithium batteries individually (you will need to balance each one separately). Did you check the voltage after charging with a multi meter? If you have 2 batteries is there any reason that you did not hook them up together already?

Just trying to get a clearer picture of what has been done. I will be of limited help but figured I'd try and get some answers for those that are smarter than me when they see this!

[WalterM6]

My cart already has the OBC disconnected, so I don't have to worry about that.

You still need to connect the White and Blue wires together in the OBC Harness.

[jasonojordan]

Did you remove the factory charge port and go for an aftermarket onboard charger with an aftermarket charge port?

[TopDog69]

Thanks for the replies!

This has always been a 48v cart running on six lead acid batteries.

The previous owner had paid somebody to bypass the OBC along with the purchase of an Eagle Performance smart charger.

I have not changed out the charger port yet, but plan to get an aftermarket one and mount my charger on board.

I'm doing this on a budget and decided on LiTime as my supplier. The two drop-in replacements have bluetooth. The only other option with that from LiTime was a 110AH model, but it's too expensive - and much harder to wrestle around and mount.

https://www.litime.com/products/48v-...t-battery-gc2#

Both batteries were charged to 100% per LiTime's instructions and the app shows they are charged and healthy. I did not successfully get a multimeter reading.

I tried just one battery as a quick and easy way to see if the cart would work.

Next up I'll put both in wired in parallel and see if that's any different, and check the OBC wiring as mentioned above.