Battery died after CD player install..help

[Southern_Comfort]

I recently installed a 60 watt stereo in my 95 ez-go. I know somewhat about wiring but i am by no means a pro, this is my first stereo install in a golf cart. After about 30 minutes of driving around the street testing out the sound I decided to hit the links for some golf and tunes, and sure enough after about an hour of golfing the cart died on me..I grounded the stereo to the frame (mistake number one). I should have checked the forum more before the install because apparantly that isn't what you do in carts.

My question is what do i need to ground the stereo to if you aren't supposed to ground to frame? It's an older cart but the battery itself is less than a year old..Should i get another battery completly or can the single battery handle a normal amount of riding/radio listening?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[sccowboy]

You could always ground it back to the battery. If you were playing golf and listening to the stereo at the same time, then you were draining the battery while playing each hole and may not have given the cart enough time to recharge the batery between holes. Just a thought.

[ruredy]

could be to much use and not enough recharge time, I would check and see what the volts are at the battery while running. your stereo is probably about the same as leaving the lights on, it's going to put a drain on the system. If everything appears ok then you may need to step up to a bigger slow discharge marine type battery.
I see no reason you can't ground to the frame on an gas ezgo, the battery would be a better choice cause all the rubber iso mounts on the engine frame. you must be thinking of a yamaha cart or an electric one, they have lots of issues, grounding being one of them

[Southern_Comfort]

thanks for the help guys, ill check everything out one more time but i think i'll probably end up getting a marine battery to run my add-on's..i cant keep dying and being stuck in the middle of the fairway haha

[mikesmotortoys]

Originally Posted by Southern_Comfort

I recently installed a 60 watt stereo in my 95 ez-go. I know somewhat about wiring but i am by no means a pro, this is my first stereo install in a golf cart. After about 30 minutes of driving around the street testing out the sound I decided to hit the links for some golf and tunes, and sure enough after about an hour of golfing the cart died on me..I grounded the stereo to the frame (mistake number one). I should have checked the forum more before the install because apparantly that isn't what you do in carts.

My question is what do i need to ground the stereo to if you aren't supposed to ground to frame? It's an older cart but the battery itself is less than a year old..Should i get another battery completly or can the single battery handle a normal amount of riding/radio listening?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

1) Are you sure you have a good 12 volt battery to start with?

2) Is your voltage regulator working properly? To test this, put your cart in neutral with a tester reading battery voltage BEFORE you hit the pedal. Once the motor cranks, you should read 13.5 to 14.5 at the battery with the motor running.

3) How did you wire the main power AND the stereo ignition power wires? You CANNOT twist these together - there needs to be 2 power sources to the stereo (yes, they can originate from the same wire). You MUST run power to a toggle switch and then toggle power to the Ignition wire stub on the stereo (use this to turn on and off the stereo). Without this you will have a constant battery draw - NO MATTER you turn off the stereo and / or remove the face plate.