My Lithium Upgrade Experience

[jesseasi]

I have a 2012 Club Car Precedent that had the original batteries. It was setup using 6 8volt batteries. With the help from different threads here I decided I could upgrade my cart to lithium as a DIY.

Thought I would share my experience with everyone. Overall I think the project is pretty easy and just took my Dad and I a day to figure it all out.

With the help of Nick at EVBatterycenter dot com. He set me off on the right track. He came up with a 14 pack of batteries, BMS with wifi, charger, and all the cables I would need to get this up and running. I purchased my own 48 to 12 volt DC to DC converter to run my accessories.

Here is what I started with.


This is what I got via freight just a few days after placing my order.


Inside I found the 14 pack of batteries, charger, LED meter, and cables. The battery pack was bolted down to the crate. Awesome packaging for sure! We kept the crate.


We started by removing all the existing batteries. The new pack fit perfectly. We ended up going the simplest route to mount - using two 2 x 4 pieces of wood. We used the same mounting brackets used in the shipping crate and just drilled holes through the 2x4 and through the bottom of the golf cart and secured the batteries with long lag bolts.


We had 4 wires coming from the battery. Red and Black for the golf cart and Red and Black to connect to the charger. I was provided a replacement heavier gauge wire to install replace the main Red and Black wires in the cart. This was super easy to trace and replace. We did this before installing the battery pack.




I was able to wire the DC2DC converter to be switched. This way there would be no draw on the battery when the key is turned to the off position. I also added my own fuse block to run all my accessories I plan to add later.

Here is what it looks like all installed. I need to remove the battery straps to make it look a little cleaner.



Voltage Meter.


Wifi BMS



I would be happy to answer or find more pictures for anyone else interested in this. There are many threads here that discuss much of this. But count me now as another Lithium convert.

I have played a couple rounds of golf and the difference is amazing. Of course the top speed has not changed and when climbing hills you still slow down a little like before. But the acceleration and range are amazing. The 14 battery pack was over kill and if I were do it again - I would go with the smaller pack. I can probably play 4+ round of golf on a very hilly Southern California golf course without charging.

Fully charged I get 57.8 volts. After two rounds of golf and about 6 miles of driving around the neighborhood - my voltage had only dropped down to 54 volts.

I hope my experience can help someone else. Also I need to plug Nick over at EVBatterycenter. He put up with my hundreds of questions before I finally placed my order.

[jakesnake27]

Awesome, thanks so much for sharing!

I personally think that lithium is the wave of the future with regards to batteries. One day all of these things will run on lithium...

[rib33024]

Nice write up. What did it cost to do this

[Seaquell]

I would love that setup
Lithium batteries are so nice, they changed everything possible for RC flight ,planes, drones you name it. None of that was possible with electric flight till the lithium battery came along.
Maybe a NiCad powered plane but they were mediocre at best.
It's almost unreal the power you get out of such a light weight pack
I have no doubt eventually carts will switch over, I know I will

[dragos28]

very nice!

[whit71]

What kind of life span can you expect out of the Lithium? I realize everybody uses there carts differently, and that will effect life span. I am just wondering what the average life expectancy is. It is a lot of money up front, but if the lithium will last twice as long as FLA batteries, it makes it more feasible when you think about the next 20 or 30 years.

[Volt_Ampere]

Lifespan in this application is somewhat of an unknown. I expect to get more life than my FLA batteries out of mine (same setup as this in my Yamaha cart) but I don't know if they will last 10 years in the fairly warm environment here in Arizona. Lithium is not even close to break even with FLA as far as cost goes but for me it's worth it. Saves 250 pounds, gets great range, no adding water, very clean. Carts would come with Lithium if it was cost effective. I like that new BMS! I may upgrade mine.

[jesseasi]

Originally Posted by whit71

What kind of life span can you expect out of the Lithium? I realize everybody uses there carts differently, and that will effect life span. I am just wondering what the average life expectancy is. It is a lot of money up front, but if the lithium will last twice as long as FLA batteries, it makes it more feasible when you think about the next 20 or 30 years.

I figure that the Lead Acid batteries last anywhere from 4-5 years. Of course depending on how often you use them. My used 2012 golf cart sat in a garage and was only used about a dozen times in its first 4 years. When I bought the cart in 2016 it was virtually brand new. But the batteries were toast.

My Dad plays golf 4-5 times a week and maintains his lead acid batteries religiously. He gets about 4 years on his batteries before he needs to replace them.

I expect these batteries to last at minimum 16 years if not longer - or 4-5 times the lead acid types. So long as I don't over discharge them I don't see why they won't last the lifetime of my cart. I also expect my cart to last even longer. Figure I have cut at least 400lbs of weight that it won't have to lug around or the brakes needing to stop.

My setup is 120 ah. Which is way overkill. If after 10 years I only get 80% the range I get now - I could easily go 20 years before I would not be able to play a round of golf on a charge.

I have two more golf carts - when they need new batteries I will go with half the capacity and shoot for something like 53-60ah.

It is just important that I don't over discharge the batteries. I believe taking them down to or near zero can damage them. I plugin every night so that should never be a problem.

[SouthCo]

Thanks for sharing...

I guess it works fine with a stock motor and controller? And the motor and controller can still be upgraded for better performance (speed and/or torque)? I looked at their website and some cost more and are in an enclosure. Will you do the same with yours or is it ok for them to be exposed?

I need batteries now, and like the idea of cutting that much weight plus less maintenance. I also need a charger and battery cables. So I'm wondering if I put what batteries, cables and a charger would cost towards this kind of package, how much more would I have to come up with money wise. Again thanks...

[Muddog]

Good info, thanks. It looks like lithium prices are starting to drop.Once Tesla gets their battery factory online prices should really drop.
I would like to see a lithium battery thread, that way all the info could be in one place.
Right now, there's a slew of info on lithium batteries here, but it's scattered, the Yami,CC and EZGO guys posting in their threads.
Let's start a lithium thread and get all the info in one thread.