Holy Battery Post

[LowGear]

The Farm transportation system stopped working last week.  Actually the battery charger on the Club Car stopped humming so I took it apart.  There was voltage here and voltage there so I broke down and read the manual.  The first test started with checking the voltage at both ends of the DC connector cable.  No 36 volts at the batteries.  12.6 on battery one.  12.6 on battery two.  And "Holy Battery Post" on battery three.  See Photos.

Do I just put a new one in and hope for the best?  The batteries are about two years old.  Battery three reads about 10 volts.

Casey

[BruceM]

If you are charging them in series, you'll have to replace the entire set.  If you're charging them with separate 12V chargers, then replace the bad one if you normal service life is much longer than 2 years. 

[Thob]

You can buy a little adapter that fits on the remaining automotive style post to connect your cable to.  Hook it up and try charging them again.  You *might* not need new batteries.

[rl71459]

So...
If you must replace all batt's ??
Why not try connecting to the post that remains and give it a go?
whats the worse that could happen?

Rob

[BruceM]

Good point, Thob and Rob. It's only a few bucks for the adapter terminal and perhaps the battery can be saved.  Casey must be charging them separately?? because that connection sure wouldn't work for series charging...

[LowGear]

Actually this is a pretty standard wiring post system for golf carts.  I noticed, now that I look, that this particular post has a very tight (short) lead and may have been bullied into failure.

As the batteries are about $80 bucks apiece I'll probably go the single battery scheme first.  I'll be seeing just how good my Costco membership and "fabulous" warranty really is.  I wonder if they'll cover all three for replacement?

Casey

[LowGear]

I returned the battery to Costco.  The warranty still had $8 left on it - one month short of 36.  I'm thinking I'll just turn the other two in for their $8 as well and buy all new batteries. 

$240 for three years of fuel plus the electricity.  We're currently paying about $2.50 a gallon so that's  96 gallons of gasoline.  So amortized over three years that's 32 gallons per year or 2.6 gallons a month.  I guess I didn't really want to know.  So much for economy. 

Ahhhhh, the luxury of an electric golf car on a farm.  Really quiet and never stale gas.  Not even ten bucks a month. 

Casey

[Thob]

Don't forget to add in costs for the gas powered cart into your analysis. 

$100+ for new carb.
Oil changes - at least annually.
Cost to clean up oil spill on driveway.
New battery for electric start...

There's no free ride!

[Horsepoor]

I had one melt half way on club cart, CAREFULLY drilled and taped for bolt only going as deep as necessary. Worked fine, just take your time, go very slow if you decide to try this approach.

[mike90045]

A friend of mine with a S-10 EV (converted pickup truck) was always melting off a terminal going up hills.  Local battery shop just charges $10 to re-cast a new terminal onto the battery.  He never learned to keep the clamps clean and tight.

[LowGear]

I was hoping for a big YES!  Get that 1984 unit cleaned up and enjoy a couple of years of easy ridin.  The battery that had the melted post also read 10.someing volts so I assumed a dead or shorted cell might have been the culprit.  

I went crazy installing them.  Brass washers, copper grease, battery boxes, long enough cables as not to be the securing devices, discarded bungee cord as securing devices.  The answer is YES!  It works much better.

Thanks to all of you for your help.  

Casey