1991 EZ-GO will barely move full throttle?

[WinegarKelly]

Hey guys... we have a 1991 36v cart... I found so much info on here and was able to rebuild so much of this cart over the last couple years to keep it rolling... I really appreciate all the info and the help in the past!...

I have a new problem. The cart got 6 new battery's about 2.5yrs ago,... The cart sits all winter in a airplane hanger and we use it during the summer only to go pick up skydivers that land more than 1/2 way across the airport to save them from walking and all.

It worked find when parked this last year as I have done a lot of work on it to keep it going, truth is, I don't know much about a 36v system like this, seem simple but we really don't have a lot of funds at the start of the season like this so I turn to you guys!

I notice a couple battery's are swollen a little from what i assume as freezing over the winter. Before buying $600 in battery's again so soon, I want to make sure that is the problem. With the key on, in forward switch, lightly press the throttle and we get the solenoid switch click, I verify 6.3v is passing through when the click happens... The cart is very weak to move, can very easily hold it back my hand. Sometimes even after putting it on the charger for a little while it wont even try to move at all... Even on the charger we tried to see if it will move and we get nothing or very very little. I found the wiring diagrams on here and was wondering what I can check or do at this point? I have a multi-meter and know how to use one.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! The airport is about 45 mintues from my house and I am home now but hoping to go up tomorrow and get this figured out for sure..

Might be a dumb question but at what voltage is the cart "dead" or a full charge?

With the cart on the charger the system is at 7.5v.
Putting cart in Reverse it will not move at all.
All connections are tight and no corrosion at all.

Thanks guys,
Kelly

[WinegarKelly]

I was just thinking,... If I put a multi-meter on a single battery, with the whole system hooked up, should I be seeing 6.3v or 36v?... I'm not used to dealing with battery's running in series like this...

[Sir Nuke]

for a 36v cart.....its considered DEAD (50% SOC {State Of Charge}) at 36v....a full charge is 38.2 (6.37v per battery)


the fact that you had the cart in the hanger and not charged....your batteries are most likely TOAST. you should keep your batteries charged. either with a maintainer or a charger that goes into a float mode after it charges them.....and if your cart is susceptible to freezing temps, you should devise a means to keep at pack warm, at least above freezing.

[kgsc]

Voltage should be 38 plus on a fully charged pack. Each battery should be like 6.3. Put the volt meter leads in the charger socket holes then try to drive the cart. I’m betting you have at least one dead battery.

[WinegarKelly]

Yeah that makes sense... Will all the battery's connected I was reading 6.3v when measuring across one of the battery post while they were all connected... So I am not getting 36v, but 6.3v... I'm guessing all are toast... Crap... I took a photo from above and just double checked to make sure that the owner when messing with it didn't connect them wrong on one of them... It all looks correctly connected... They should all be replaced at the same time, right?...

Yes SirNuke, it gets crazy cold here in Michigan.... So thats where we went wrong...

[meimk]

You're saying "I was reading 6.3v when measuring across one of the battery post while they were all connected...". You are just reading that one battery. Check each of the batteries and let us know what voltage you get on each of the 6 batteries, then s readind of all 6 combined. Not adding up the individual readings, but rather reading from the - end of the pack to the + end of the pack or as kgsc mention reading from the contacts in the socket the charger would plug into.

[WinegarKelly]

Originally Posted by meimk

You're saying "I was reading 6.3v when measuring across one of the battery post while they were all connected...". You are just reading that one battery. Check each of the batteries and let us know what voltage you get on each of the 6 batteries, then s readind of all 6 combined. Not adding up the individual readings, but rather reading from the - end of the pack to the + end of the pack or as kgsc mention reading from the contacts in the socket the charger would plug into.

Oh right on!... I though if they were all connected it should read the same 36v.... So if i measure at the socket, I should be getting the 36v reading and reading a single battery that connected to all the others is still only reading the one battery and not the entire pack, right???

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by WinegarKelly

Oh right on!... I though if they were all connected it should read the same 36v.... So if i measure at the socket, I should be getting the 36v reading and reading a single battery that connected to all the others is still only reading the one battery and not the entire pack, right???

Correct you can either read all of them are 1 at a time. Follow the charger plug in cables out to the batteries and put your meter on those two batteries and take your reading. If it's still 6 volts you may have lost your pack.

[WinegarKelly]

Awesome, thanks guys... I will get that checked out in the morning sometime... Is there anything else i can check while i am there that could be the culprit? Like I said, it have either no or very little power, what is the best way to check any of the other components in the system? Any ideas on what else it might could be?

Such a long drive and all, I want to check all that I can...

Thanks guys!

[meimk]

Check water in the cells while you're at it. If the water gets low enough to expose the lead plates it's bad for the battery. If any do need water it's best to add to just above the plates, charge them, then top off to about 1/4" below the ring. Waiting till after they are charged to tip them up will keep from bubbling over and making a mess as it charges.