Only reverse until charged

[GolfMechanic]

I'm the new golf cart mechanic at Hilton and we have a Yamaha 48V (I believe it's a G22E) with a serial number of JU2-204186. The cart will die while driving forward, typically up a hill, but then we will be able to drive it back in reverse to where we park the carts for charging. After charging the cart, it will go back to normal.

Right now, after the cart has been on the charger, the batteries are reading 50.9V (or 100%), however the individual batteries are reading varying voltages. This has happened before (the dying and then only going in reverse thing) and when I checked the batteries, the pack voltage was low (~48.00V). When charged, it runs strong. I've been told it only runs for about an hour before dying. Cables definitely need servicing as well as the batteries. I'm thinking batteries/battery cables are the culprit, but I can't figure out why the cart would work better in reverse than forwards when batteries are low. I just want to make sure that the batteries aren't the only thing wrong with the cart.

Note: As of posting I haven't been able to do a hydrometer test on batteries but will do it shortly.

[CartPros]

GolfMechanic,

Where are you located and how old are the batteries? If a cart is dying when going up a hill, then that typically means your load voltage is dropping out. The vehicle will probably still run in reverse since it is drawing less power and typically drives at a slower speed. If you were to hook up your volt meter to the batteries while driving it up the hill, then I'd bet the voltage on the pack drops below 46 volts indicating you had a bad battery somewhere in your pack. A load tester can sometimes reveal a bad battery, however in the biz, we would recommend replacing all the batteries.

Hope this helps.

[GolfMechanic]

Originally Posted by CartPros

GolfMechanic,

Where are you located and how old are the batteries? If a cart is dying when going up a hill, then that typically means your load voltage is dropping out. The vehicle will probably still run in reverse since it is drawing less power and typically drives at a slower speed. If you were to hook up your volt meter to the batteries while driving it up the hill, then I'd bet the voltage on the pack drops below 46 volts indicating you had a bad battery somewhere in your pack. A load tester can sometimes reveal a bad battery, however in the biz, we would recommend replacing all the batteries.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the quick reply. We're located in Tucson, AZ. As far as the age of the batteries, there's now way to tell. My predecessor left no records and the batteries have no stickers or dates written on them. Unfortunately we don't have a load tester for 8 volt batteries.

[Frizbgolf]

If you have access to a digital multimeter with alligator clips you can load test the batteries using the cart as the load, hook the alligator clips on the Pos and Neg posts across the whole pack and set the DMM on the seat beside you, watch the voltage drop while driving and climbing a hill. You can test each battery individually doing the same thing. If you have a battery or batteries that need replacing this will let you know.