2003 PDS Short Run time, wont go up hill after 10 min

[WalterM6]

Getting back to your original batteries. What is the date stamp on the neg terminal of each battery?

[Hi3cho]

I dont see a date stamp on the negative terminal, I am not home right now and only looking at a picture. I see a 5 digit stamped on the top the battery in the corner near the positive terminal. They don't seem to match up so either the batteries are really mismatched or I am just missing the code. The batteries were pretty dirty, I cleaned them up but they are still not clean by an means. Is there any reason not to enclose the bottom of the cart under the battery bank. Seems like it shouldn't be exposed to the elements like it is.

[cgtech]

You want to be able to wash all the crud off the batteries, and have somewhere for it to go. The batteries themselves make a mess and must be washed. The correct solution is to modify your habits on how frequently you rinse off the batteries. Also, some airflow in there is the cooling medium for all your electronics.

[Hi3cho]

So I figured out the problem. I was able to figure out the negative terminal dates, the reason I didn't see them before is because there was a layer of dirt and grease on them. In fact I couldnt see all of them even after scraping them. The batteries were actually 2012 not 2015 like the previous owner led me to believe. SInce I just bought the cart and want to get a little me information and see how I use it before I jump into a motor, controller, and possibly lithium setup. I chose to just buy a set of interstates FLA's from my local Costco. I was able to get a full set of 6 G8's (July 2018 ), so I was happy about that. I would have loved to go Trojan but the retailers around here are really high on them, I could have gotten them 3 hours away for a decent price but it wasnt worth it to me. They are Interstates and should last me 4-5 years at which time I will have plenty of time to figure out what I want to do.

I installed the batteries and the new 2 gauges cables. I sprayed some battery terminal protector on it. The cart ran great and did 22 MPH. I am following the break in schedule of 50% to 100% for the first 12 charges. I did have another issue with the charger but I will start a new thread for that. Thanks for all the help and advice.

[Hi3cho]

Just a follow up on this thread. After I put the new batteries in, hooking everything back up as it was before, the charger would not engage. I thought it was a bad board, I changed that out and still nothing, although come to find out the relay on the board was bypassed so the board was bad anyway. I finally figured out that the previous owner had hooked the charging cable to negative on battery 1 instead of battery 6. This would explain why the charger was not sensing enough volts to charge. It also would make sense why I was getting 6.2V out of my old 2012's Battery 1 and only 5.8 out of batteries 2-6. I still think the batteries were bad because they would not charge on my 12v charger either. So long story short, I was sold a cart with 2012 batteries and a charger with a shot board when previous owner advertised as 2015 batteries and a brand new board he acquired for free from work. Not the end of the world because I got a good deal but money I did not expect to spend right away. The only positive, is I have learned a ton in short period of time that I would most likely not have learned if everything worked as planned right away. Thank you for all who have chimed in to help.