Only Getting about 10 Miles on a Charge

[beenaround99]

I bought a used EZ-GO from a neighbor who moved - Model K298. He had done some mods, installing an Alltrax DCX Controller, and 6 x 8 volt batteries. Controller says "calibrated for use with stock DCS motor". It runs fast-25mph, but I only get about 10 miles out of a charge. I load tested the batteries and they all show at or just barely below 8 volts. Any thoughts out there on how to get more runtime/distance?

[rib33024]

how did this cart get to be 48volts? if there showing 8v or below they are dead and need to be replaced, or do not have a full charge, how old are the batteries and what kind?, do a test, take your volt meter and tape the leads to the battery pack pos+ and neg- and drive it and note what the volts drop to, then do the same on each battery and post the volt and we can tell you more, check all water levels in the batteries and only use distilled water if they need some, only fill a 1/4 inch above the plates of the battery,you need to charge the batteries untill the charger turns off by it's self then after the batteries sit off the charger for 12 hours do your test, how long does the charger take to charge the batteries? does it turn off by it's self?

[beenaround99]

Thanks for the reply. The previous owner must have made the conversion to 48 volts. I don't quite understand your comment about the batteries - if they are 8 volt batteries, and they show 8 volts under load, how can they be dead? Water level is fine, I'll try the run test you suggest.

[beenaround99]

To answer your other questions, the batteries are about 4 years old, Trojans. The charger (48v) does shut off by itself, takes a few hours to charge.

[rib33024]

woops, I missed where you said you load tested them, How did you load test them, did you take them to a shop and they tested them on a load tester?, or did you test them your self with a 50 or 100 amp hand held tester? Look at the chart below, 8v is 45% and you say they were 8v and a little below, 8.49 is full charge, you only get about 5 years out of a set of trojans if they were well maintained

Originally Posted by beenaround99

Thanks for the reply. The previous owner must have made the conversion to 48 volts. I don't quite understand your comment about the batteries - if they are 8 volt batteries, and they show 8 volts under load, how can they be dead? Water level is fine, I'll try the run test you suggest.

Originally Posted by beenaround99

I bought a used EZ-GO from a neighbor who moved - Model K298. He had done some mods, installing an Alltrax DCX Controller, and 6 x 8 volt batteries. Controller says "calibrated for use with stock DCS motor". It runs fast-25mph, but I only get about 10 miles out of a charge. I load tested the batteries and they all show at or just barely below 8 volts. Any thoughts out there on how to get more runtime/distance?

[beenaround99]

rib33024 - Thanks for the info - the graph was very helpful, I didn't know such a small difference in reading decreased the charge level so much. I used a 100 amp hand held tester. Looks like I will be shopping for new batteries this year.

[rib33024]

that what i though, a 100amp means nothing to the cart batteries your cart is pulling 3 or 4 hundred amps, when you step on the pedal, depends on what amp controller you have, but if you test them like in my other post, you might only have 1 or 2 bad batteries you never know you might get lucky, using your cart to load test your batteries will tell you the truth about them, and if you need new batteries you can put 8 - 6v batteries in your cart and get even more run time, and your welcome