91 ezgo 2 stroke electrical question

[Chattybirds]

I have a question about my 91 ezgo 2 stroke. My battery keeps dying and I have to keep jumping the cart. So far I have replaced the starter generator, volt regulator, and cleaned and rechecked the wiring harness. The cart reads 13-14ish volts while running, but the battery keeps dying, but only when I use the lights..hmmm I see plenty of people using basic lights. I have the basic dual 50watt or so lights. I read on here last night I might need a relay to use lights, but I am unsure if I need one or not. I bought the cart with these lights wired the way they are now, which is without a relay and just a simple toggle switch. But what I don't understand is that I have good voltage with the cart running and the lights on. The battery is a decent size at 340 cca interstate brand that I bought new in July of 2012. So to some things up:

I have 13+ volts while running and lights on
I have a newer battery that test good by "smart charger"
I have a new starter generator and voltage regulator
I have gone over all connections
My problem seems to occur when I use the lights in which the battery will die, and yes I make longer trips to charge the battery


One last question, when I press the pedal and the electric motor cranks the gas motor over, how does the electric motor know when to turn off and charge the battery? That is another thing I am concerned with. How can I test that?

[cart around]

The starter doesn't turn off. As the gas engine comes up to speed, the starter quits using power, and starts producing it. It's called a starter/generator.

This thread might help. http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-e...r-problem.html

I kind of think your battery just isn't taking the charge.

[Chattybirds]

Originally Posted by cart around

The starter doesn't turn off. As the gas engine comes up to speed, the starter quits using power, and starts producing it. It's called a starter/generator.

This thread might help. http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-e...r-problem.html

I kind of think your battery just isn't taking the charge.

Well, I can charge the battery on a charger and it works great, I did notice that once I got the new regulator and ran the lights the 20 amp fuse blew on for the lights, I don't know why but I just feel as though these lights have to much of a draw or something, they aren't nothing different what you see at walmart or somewhere for $30 or something

[gadavis]

Check the amperage being drawn from your battery. The starter/generator is only designed to produce 15 ampere maximum current at full throttle. A generator has to turn max rpms to produce max current,unlike an alternator that can produce max at low or high speed. and if you take out more than it can replace you will have dead battery problem.

[Chattybirds]

Originally Posted by gadavis

Check the amperage being drawn from your battery. The starter/generator is only designed to produce 15 ampere maximum current at full throttle. A generator has to turn max rpms to produce max current,unlike an alternator that can produce max at low or high speed. and if you take out more than it can replace you will have dead battery problem.

Yeah. I just assumed that the old cart could run those Walmart styled lights. Well I did a little research and the manual says that 3.5 Amps is from D negative and D positive on the voltage regulator. the two up front lights are 55w a piece so 110 watt is about 9 or 10 Amps which is more than 3.5 Amps. So looks like I have a good starting point. Haha. I think I have about 44 watts to play with so I am going to go with an 18w light bar and rear 3watt led strip for a marker light.

[rib33024]

if you your battery is putting out 13 - 14 volts, I think your LAWN & GARDEN 340 battery is to small for your use, get a bigger battery and you should be good

[sbklf]

A relay wont change the current draw of the load. Your better off with a switch rated for the current (one less part). If your loads exceed your generator output your batterys gonna go dead. As for lights, if you run during the day enough the generator will recharge the battery and you will be caught up. The folks that run big radios and other accessories that draw a lot of current might have upsized generators. I agree with a bigger battery, that will give you some cushion for your loading. I run a small car battery in mine, I thought that was what they all had.

[redcloud]

One way to check on light watt is to disconnect one light and see if that also drains battery and even switch lights if it doesn't to see if you have a bad light. Another thing would be to check the battery as stated before with draw. Could have a bad cell that goes to short with draw. If you can test each cell with tester would give some info on that but you may have a battery without that ability.
Relay only makes it poss. to run lower amps to switch and should not do anything to make the lights draw more.

[Chattybirds]

Thanks for all the advice! I made the mistake of not gettin gm a user manual earlier to get the right size battery. My next question is has anyone ran dual battery's? I have an almost new 700 coca battery that is meant for a skid loader that I may hook up with the other battery I have