EZGO suddenly stopped

[Jholbrook]

Hey guys. My 36 volt '06 EZGO suddenly stopped working when I ran over a small bump where my driveway meets the road. The solenoid sometimes clicks once then nothing when I press the accelerator again. I put a voltmeter on the batteries and one of the 6 reads around 4 amps, the others are all just above 6. I bypassed the solenoid and still nothing, but I'm not sure if I did this correctly. Also, when I plug in my charger now it only hums and the needle doesn't move, it stays on 0. Thanks for any help. This is the first time I've posted on here, so I'm not sure if I've given enough detail or not.

[scottyb]

Since the cart wont run and then charger won't run I suspect you lost connection at One of the main terminals?

[golfcarfixer]

It went on tilt like a pinball machine.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Jholbrook

Hey guys. My 36 volt '06 EZGO suddenly stopped working when I ran over a small bump where my driveway meets the road. The solenoid sometimes clicks once then nothing when I press the accelerator again. I put a voltmeter on the batteries and one of the 6 reads around 4 amps, the others are all just above 6. I bypassed the solenoid and still nothing, but I'm not sure if I did this correctly. Also, when I plug in my charger now it only hums and the needle doesn't move, it stays on 0. Thanks for any help. This is the first time I've posted on here, so I'm not sure if I've given enough detail or not.

If you mean 4 Volts rather than "4 Amps", I suspect that battery lost one of its three 2V cells.

What is the pack voltage at the cart's charging receptacle when the charger isn't plugged into cart?

[Jholbrook]

Thanks for the replies. Johnnie, yea I meant 4 volts. I'm testing the receptacle with the meter on the same setting as I test the batteries (battery load test 9v). The other option for battery test is 1.5v. When I tested it the meter just displayed a 1>

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Jholbrook

Thanks for the replies. Johnnie, yea I meant 4 volts. I'm testing the receptacle with the meter on the same setting as I test the batteries (battery load test 9v). The other option for battery test is 1.5v. When I tested it the meter just displayed a 1>

Unless I'm mistaken, the 9V and 1.5V battery load tests are for small, dry cell type batteries (Carbon-Zinc or Alkaline) and the load they put on the battery under test is infinitesimal (a few Milli-amps) compared to 100 amps or so needed to load test a deep cycle lead-acid wet-cell golf cart.

Again, I may be wrong, but I suspect you have an analog multimeter, similar to the one shown.
If so, you'll need a Digital multimeter to troubleshoot a golf cart.
An inexpensive one in a blister-PAC from an auto parts or discount store will suffice.
Individual battery voltages should be defined to 1/100V and pack voltage to 1/10V.
IE: a fully charged 6V golf cart battery is 6.37V and fully charged 36V battery pack is 38.2V.

--------------
Like I said, you have probably got a bad battery.
You might also have a charger problem, but need to check into that further.

What are the individual battery voltages?
They'll be less than the fully charged 6.37V, but they should all be withing 0.1V of each other.

----------
If possible, try your charger on a cart with a known good battery pack.
If it works on a different cart, it is good.
What make and model charger do you have?

[Jholbrook]

Thanks a lot Johnnie, I'll go get a meter after work and let you know. Really appreciate the help though.

[scottyb]

I completely missed the bad battery in the original post I guess I was reading too fast. A bump can be the final straw that creates a short in one of the cells. The result is a loss of that cell ( don't blame the bump, a healthy battery would have survived). The loss of that cell is enough for the cart not to run. As Johnnie said it is likely this is the problem.

[Jholbrook]

I got the suspected bad battery tested and it is bad. Repalced it, the cart runs and the charger works. But now the cart will only go about 5 to 7 miles per hour or so. Very slow, like I have a bad battery. I checked all the batteries and they all read above 6.2. Any ideas? I charged the cart when I got the new battery installed, it only charged for about 20 minutes before it was fully charged.

[scottyb]

Connect the meter to the battery pack or get one of these > Scottyb's Battery Meter

Note the pack voltage. Then start out driving, preferably full throttle uphill. Note the voltage low reading and post those 2 numbers here. Could be more than one bad battery (easily detected under load)