Battery keeps dying

[beachcarter]

Hello all, I have a 98 EZ GO with the stock 295 engine. Here lately I have to charge my battery in order to get the engine started. Once I get it running it runs fine until it sits for awhile then I have to charge it again to get it to start. I have been told that the starter generator needs to turn a certain RPM before the spark pluhs will fire.When I first try to start it i can hear that it is weak but after I charge it for a little while it cranks over with more force and the engine starts. The battery is only 4 months old and I took it out and took it to the local napa store where I bought it and they tested it and said its fine. Any ideas what could be wrong with my cart that is causing the battery to die? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ndmac]

Voltage regulator needs replaced

[beachcarter]

Thanks for the info.

[beachcarter]

What exactly does the voltage regulator do? Is it possibvle that it could be draining the battery while the cart sits? The battery shows 12.8 volts and when I start the engine it reads 14.5 volts so to me this indicates that the battery is charging while its running. It just dies while sitting. I thought the voltage regulator had something to do with charging the battery. I further proved that the battery is good by removing it from the cart last night and checking the voltage. 12.8. Checked it again this morning and its still at 12.8 volts.

[Dave Box]

If the battery reads 12.8 volts then that is fine. If the battery reads 14.5 volts charging that is working so clearly something is drawing a load with the engine off. Is you voltmeter a multimeter? If so set it to DC amps and remove the positive lead from the battery, connect one lead to the battery post and the other to the positive lead that you removed. You should be seeing hardly any reading at all, but I suspect that you are seeing a few amps here. Now you need to isolate items from the chain so start with the regulator by just undoing the connect. As soon as you see the ammeter kick down to zero you have found your issue.

Dave

[beachcarter]

I do have a Fluke multimeter. I noticed that there is a black wire coming off of what I believe to be the starter solenoid and it is connected to a red wire with a white stripe that runs to the ignition coil. This wire was corroded and broke as soon as I touched it. I repaired the wire and reconnected the battery and tried starting it. The battery was at 12.4 volts when I started cranking and dropped to 11.7 volts very quickly. Cart still did not start. I will check the amps now.

[beachcarter]

I put an ampmeter on the battery and something is drawing 4.5 amps with the cart off. One by one I disconnected all my accessories and still seeing a 4.5 amp draw. I definately proved that the voltage regulator is working because as I said before the battery reads 14.5 volts with the running and when I disconnected the voltage reg. the voltage runs up to 19 volts with the engine running. Also disconnecting the voltage reg did nothingto the amp draw. Still drawing 4.5 amps with the engine off. Any clues or ideas where to go from here?

[1996ezrider]

Also make sure all your terminal connections are tight - that can cause that problem

[Doc's BoneCracker]

Make sure you don't have a dead cell in the battery. Your battery can show 12 volts then still have the same in the morning but when you do a load test the battery can drop. Just charge it on a slow charge and run it up to the autoparts store and have them do a load test.

[beachcarter]

I did that already. They said the battery is good. I see a 4.5 amp draw on the battery when the cart is off. I just can't find the source of it.