Carryall 2 voltage problem

[Mike Caudill]

Hello I have an 01 club car carryall 2 key start golf cart that recently went to a very low idle and eventually died and would not start again, I connected a charger to the battery for just 15 minutes and it started right up and done fine for three days, and it happened again so I charge it again for 15 minutes and fine again for a day. Now today I have already charge it 3 time and the last time was a complete charge. I can tell when its going to happen because the idle will fluctuate high and low and the window wipers will barely move ( it's been raining here in TN today) so I hurry home not to get stranded. My question is how do I determine which is the problem between the generator, the battery, or the voltage regulator and remember my cart starts with the key and runs constantly and is powered by the fe350 engine.Thanks Mike

[mdillonaire]

Well first I would load test the battery, but i dont think thats the issue. I believe its the charging system. You can start the cart and rev it up while in nuetral and check the voltage at the battery, it should be at least 13.5 or higher. If not then you have an issue with either your starter generator or voltage regulator. To identify which one it is, disconnect the yellow wire on the SG and ground it then check the voltage at the battery. This test should max out the SG charging and you should read a pretty high voltage. If you do, then you know the voltage reg is bad. If theres no change, then your SG is bad.

[Mike Caudill]

I did the test with the yellow wire like you said and the voltage at the battery went up to 16 volts, so I know now it is indeed the voltage regulator. Thanks for all the help and knowledge I greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[Mike Caudill]

Update on voltage issue, I put an inline volt meter on dash to constantly watch the battery. During normal riding and accelerating the volts hold at 15 and when I slow to stop they drop to 12 volts and hold until accelerate then back to 15 volts again, after about an hour or two the volts stop rising to 15 and just hold at 12 and eventually they start to drop to ten and on down to eight but I can still accelerate and drive the cart, it just seems sluggish so I bring it home and hook up the charger. This has happened several times, and I did the yellow wire test and the volts went to 16 so I ordered a new voltage regulator. My question is could it possibly be something else causing the problem, thanks.