Night of the Living Dead? Cart works, then doesn't, then does, then...

if they are powertrons i'd get them , i use them all the time

[flafishergal]

Water level was fine... we had another cart for many years and used to check it manually, so we know how it's supposed to look. I was concerned because this cart has an automatic watering system and you never know exactly what's going on under there.

My question is-- would the current state of the batteries cause the cart to go from functioning to totally dead one day to the next? Strangely enough, one time we jiggled a wire thinking it was a loose connection and then pressed the pedal and the cart lurched forward. After that, dead again. Checked all the wires and connections and they seemed really good.

I'm already in cart withdrawl. :(

[teecro]

Originally Posted by flafishergal

My question is-- would the current state of the batteries cause the cart to go from functioning to totally dead one day to the next? Strangely enough, one time we jiggled a wire thinking it was a loose connection and then pressed the pedal and the cart lurched forward. After that, dead again. Checked all the wires and connections and they seemed really good.

Well you could have a rotten cable but you said you checked them right? No ~ Chances are you looked at them and maybe wiggled a couple... It is entirely possible that internally a cable has rotted away and/or for one reason or another has too much resistance. Remove the cables one at a time and with a multi-meter set to the ohms-resistance scale measure the resistance in the cables if any are found to have anything more than 0.2 to 0.5 ohms resistance replace them...

If you really want to keep buggering around the old batteries hook you meter to them and get a voltage reading now while the meter is still hooked up press on the gas pedal and read what happens to the voltage. If it bottoms out or falls rapidly gain we will again blame the batteries... You can keep trying this test on one battery at a time till you find the one or more that fall the hardest out of the group...

[teecro]

Batteries can and do some of the strangest things.... I just replaced the battery in my 2 year old lawn tractor and while it still showed 13.5 volts it was dead as door nail in that my motor would not even turn over, nothing but a click in the solenoid...

Years ago my Dad went to the store for a loaf of hot french bread to go with dinner, and when he seemed be going too long I went to go check on him only to find him walking through the backyard with the bread. Turns out the truck which had given absolutely ZERO starting issue suffered a battery failure just that quick...

[theboss20]

Couple of more comments...corrosion can look black, white or green and regardless of the look it will block electrons from flowing...so if you decide to ohm the cables be sure to wire brush them while you have them off. Automatic watering systems can fool you sometimes...if a valve sticks the battery may not be getting any water....check them by removing the auto watering system and looking in each cell...then you will know for sure. Because of the age of the batteries my original suggestion was to replace them and do the cables at the same time...plus you can decide if you want to reuse the auto watering system or not. Beware the auto watering system may not fit the new batteries...don't just assume that it will. That's experience speaking...lol.

[flafishergal]

We did ohm check all the cables making sure to touch upon a very clean area of the connector and they all checked our correctly. We had previously checked the water levels manually and again they were fine. We've rechecked each battery voltage and they read 8.05 with one reading 8.0. The charger won't give them any more and shuts off.

Before we drop the wad on new batteries, is there anything else to check?

BTW Thanks to all who took the time to post responses. Each one was very informative and helpful.

[teecro]

Originally Posted by flafishergal

We did ohm check all the cables making sure to touch upon a very clean area of the connector and they all checked our correctly. We had previously checked the water levels manually and again they were fine. We've rechecked each battery voltage and they read 8.05 with one reading 8.0. The charger won't give them any more and shuts off.

Before we drop the wad on new batteries, is there anything else to check?

BTW Thanks to all who took the time to post responses. Each one was very informative and helpful.

No that's about all you can do short or going borrow a like charger to see if it does the same or try your charger on a like cart to see if it charges properly...

From all of your input and comments it sounds a safe bet the batteries are for lack of a better term TOAST ...

[flafishergal]

We had our local golf cart repair guy come by and he did all his checks with his electronic gizmo. He was able to see the history and specs on the cart. He tested the ignition switch, checked the F/R, looked over the cables and batteries. He said there was nothing seemingly wrong with the cart.

On a hunch, he flipped the tow/run switch up and down real fast a few times. And... it worked! The cart runs perfectly.

He said that he's seen something like this before and by flipping the switch a few times it clears the computers.

AND he didn't charge us for coming out.

I'm still very grateful to all here who tried to help and share their thoughts.

[mrgolf]

You may have the same type of problem pop up at a later time. I've only been working on carts about three or four years and not many of them at that, but I ran across a tow/run switch not long ago that was oxidized inside and not make good contact. Changed the switch solved the problem. The cart did not want to run first thing in the mornings. Flip the switch back and forward a few times and it would work a few days. Hope yours holds up.

[teecro]

Ok but does that explain the batteries discharged down to 8 volts even after charging?