2000.5 Club Car 48 Volt melted F/R switch???

[Copperhead]

Shadowman, thanks for all your responses. I do keep distilled water around and check about once a month. I only had one cell out of 24 that was low. I've filled and it's on charge now. And my daughter knows not to unplug if it's charging, we got that straight along time ago. But I appreciate your thinking. These batteries are approximately 2-3 yrs. I got them free from an apartment complex that had a cart where the rear end blew out and they were due for a new cart anyway. They sat on a shelf(wood) for about 6 months. I personally know the guy that gave them to me and trust his judgement on their age. Could them sitting for that long have killed them? I've been running them for about a year now. Would bad batteries have caused my melting of the F&R switch and hot spot on the A2 motor terminal?

[shadowman]

its possible sitting that long has hurt them depending on age......theres a better chance it was cables that caused the other issues but you changed them right?.......its also possible its only one battery causing the problem or two or maybe the whole set.....at 8 volts the battery is just about dead so 7 volts its really dead.......even new batteries go bad you just never know but this i know for sure.............your pack dropping to 40 volts is your problem.......these are 8 volt batteries right? 4 water fill holes each? ............so however you go about it wether its just one bad one and the others are just low or the whole set needs replaced thats what is going to cure it.......i know this isn,t on you but the shop you took it to i wouldn,t take my cart back there you should have been made aware of the battery situation from them.......i just can,t beleive they didn,t check them........................

[Copperhead]

Yes I have changed all wires. A complete 4 gauge set. Yes they are 8 volt batteries, 4 caps per. And yes I'm shocked that the local shop didn't load test either. I've found out through this process that a good, honest, and knowledgable golf cart repair shop is very hard to find. Ill let y'all know after it's fully charged and redo the load test then let it sit and recheck tomorrow night. Thanks for all the info. Really appreciate it.

[scottyb]

FYI and anybody else who reads this:

A wet cell battery looses 1% of it's charge per day. So at a month of sitting they are ready to be recharged. At 2 months damage is being done. At 3 months they will in a state of extreme discharge = 90% discharged. At 4 months and beyond irreversible damage is done to the batteries. The electrolyte becomes stratified from the water, the lead plates begin to permanently sulfate, a hard coating that prohibits the exchange of electrons during future charge and discharge cycles ... got some sitting around? .... Go charge them up

[shadowman]

scotty thanks for that info........i,ll be real surprised if the cart dosn,t need batteries...................................

[Copperhead]

Scottyb, thanks for the battery info. Ok after charging all night the readings are 52 volts for whole pack. Now that I'm home after sitting for 11hrs. It's at 50 volts. Key on- forward-pedal to floor for 3-5 seconds cart shakes and tries to reverse and meter drops to 41 volts. Why is the cart trying to back up when the lever is in forward???

[shadowman]

since its a 1/2 speed reverse and the voltage is dropping that low it might just be because of the voltage drop but i,m not sure about that...............at this point i beleive a set of batteries will cure your ills and get that cart running..........................

[Copperhead]

Food for thought..... I also have an old junker apartment cart with a cargo box and abused it's whole life probably, a 1999 CC 48 volt that I just load tested. Fully charged- after my daughter rode the neighborhood this afternoon- 47 volts. Put up nose to a tree mashed the pedal, spinning tires it drops to 41 volts. But this old jalopy just keeps going. But my cart with similar readings and a new motor, controller, solenoid, and all new 4 GA wire set won't move a lick!!! ???????????

[shadowman]

try charging the batteries on the jalopy and than putting them in your cart to see if it will run if so we know for sure its batteries and if not you didn,t buy a set......yet..........................

[shadowman]

Originally Posted by shadowman

try charging the batteries on the jalopy and than putting them in your cart to see if it will run if so we know for sure its batteries and if not you didn,t buy a set......yet......i shoiuld have added your cart you can jack the rear up and see if wheels spin with no pressure on them if so thats another indication of batteries.....now this is all assuming that all the work that was done was all done right....................