48v batteries (8v)

[Clubcarken]

Hey, I recently had my cart leave me stranded. It’s a 48v 2006 club car president.
It has been great for 3 yrs no issues. I had it out, and about 3 miles into the drive my voltage meter fell to 35v, and the cart started slowing and surging.
I got it home, and charged it up. After a full charge, 4 batteries read 8.5vdc, but two of them only read 7.4vdc.
I can now only get about 3 miles before the voltage starts to drop off to 35v or so.

I’m assuming these are bad batteries. I don’t have a load tester. Opinions?

[meimk]

Are those 2 low batteries connected to 12 volt accessories (lights, stereo, etc)? Try to top off those low batteries with a regular 12 volt charger (on low amps). With 2 batteries starting out low, the rest is pointless - it can'
t help but fail quickly.
Your cart itself is the best "load tester". Top off the charge and use jumpers wires to connect a volt meter to each battery in turn. See what voltage drop you get on full throttle acceleration, preferably uphill.

[scottyb]

You have the best load tester available ... the golf cart. Simply connect a meter to each battery and accelerate hard up hill. The bad ones will drop significantly more than the good ones.
However I think you already know the state of these batteries. If you do have a 16 to 12v reducer and you use the 12v much at all it will draw the 2 batteries powering the accessories down further than the rest of the pack. This imbalance cannot be undone by regular charging and ultimately shortens the life of every battery in the pack as some get over charged and some get under charged.
Do yourself a favor and get a 48 to 12v reducer.