48v club car, controller?

[VMAX]

My 48v cart runs half the speed it use to and on occasion it will get its old power back and run well. Has the symptoms of a short. I disconnected and cleaned every battery terminal and tried to move the controller cables and all seemed clean and tight. with load tester it is 12v at every battery and 10.75 volts on one battery. I don't think the 10.75 would make that big of a difference but I could be wrong. Any further troubleshooting suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[VMAX]

Oops meant to put this in electric section.

[2manytoyz]

The batteries are in series, and are only as good as the weakest link. One dead (and it is) battery in the loop, it drags down the entire system.

Replace the dead one, check the specific gravity of the rest with a hydrometer after they've been recharged, and if they are okay, should be good to go. If the others are shot too, going to be an expensive day.

I bought my hydrometer at Ace Hardware for under $10.

[VMAX]

Ok but why sudden hit of power then dragging ***? You wold think it would be dragging *** all the time?

Where do you guys suggest getting one battery for these carts?

[2manytoyz]

As a battery gets old, the sludge can accumulate in the bottom of the battery high enough to short out a cell or two. With the cart moving around, it might be making/breaking contact. Just a guess. Without putting a meter on the cart...

If it were my cart, I'd clean up all the batteries, disconnect the cables, and charge each battery separately on a 12V charger. Then check the SG afterwards. You'll then know for certain the status of each battery. This also eliminates any potential cable or charger issues with your present setup.

I've been buying 6V GC batteries at Sam's Club. They sell 12V ones too, just not priced those. I'm using these for a battery bank for my solar power setup at my house. Some of these are almost 6 years old, and still measure about 90% SOC despite their age.

[VMAX]

Thanks on the sg gauge what am I looking for in measurement? Thanks for the help.

[2manytoyz]

Trojan Battery has a detailed guide here: http://www.trojanbattery.com/Tech-Su...nglish_003.pdf



So a good cell should be 1.27 on the hydrometer.

Here's some testing of my home battery bank done recently.

A close up of the float inside the hydrometer:



The green section starts at 1.25 and goes to 1.3. Each cell should be about halfway into the green on the float.

This is one of the newer batteries:



A battery a few years old:



Here's a battery that's pushing 6 years:



Just a tad over the 1.25 mark, so it's about 90%.

Hope that helps.

[simple man]

10.75V for a 12V battery is definitely bad, and yes, it will make a huge difference in the running of the cart! Actually, I'm surprised that it will move at all! Your best bet is to check out cart dealers near you and try to pick up a good used battery that matches the amp hour rating and age. Your other recourse is to get all new batteries! This would be totally your call!

[VMAX]

Thanks for all the help! I am charging all of the individually now and will take readings tomorrow. Messed up thing is batteries are like 1.5 years old.

[VMAX]

Hmmmmmm all batteries charged up to 100% according to my charger. Did the hydro meter test and all batteries ended up in the green area. Rode the cart around the block still half speed but my analog battery gauge stayed on green while driving it. Seems like it is taking a charge just slower than molasses.