Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - My experience converting a cart from 6-8 to 8-6 volt batteries
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Old 05-23-2011, 04:55 PM
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Default 35 miles is a lot IMO

Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon View Post
After 25 miles still have power but can feel the strain when I hit the pedal. My repair guy says I should get 35 miles with no effort but it isn't happening...and these are new Powertron which I had him replace free because the Trojan did not get that. I want to get 35 miles without any effort. I listening to people tell me there afre getting anywhere from 45 to 90 miles with 8/6. My repair guy simply does not believe the 90 mile figure.
Not too familiar with Powertron (but I am just a DIY guy, so not too familiar with lots of stuff ). Looks like their 8 volt battery has the same specs as the Trojan T875. Not sure why a repairman would expect it to go further than the comparable Trojan. Maybe the Trojan T890 which has an AH rating of 190 would be better suited (more money). Hopefully your repair man has checked your batteries to explain why they do not go 35 miles. I also assume someone has checked the cart for brake drag, tire pressure and other stuff that can affect range.

I think the conversation about how far a set of batteries will take us has to ask more information. How far will a battery pack take us before the pack is discharged to 48.4 volts? If we wish to extend the life of our pack, we should do our best to never discharge our batteries past this point. A decent battery meter will help remind us. When someone tells you how far they can go you have to wonder if they are discharging the batteries too far. The deeper the discharge the shorter the life.

As far as 90 miles? We know Par Car can go 81 miles, we just saw it in the Miles for Moffit, but we can also guess that the batteries were discharged 90% to a voltage around under 46.5 volts. Par Car did this for the charity, they would not recommend this and we as cart owners should never do this as it hurts the batteries. I would be interested to know how far a Par Car will go before the state of charge is 48.4 volts.

The cart that will be discussed in this thread had a long ride last night. This is not how the cart is treated normally, but I wanted to get an idea of how it performs for this thread. This cart went:
  • Home in Mallory (Odell/Murphy’s Estate) to Lopez golf course, Played 18 holes, Cart rested while we had lunch, Home to Mallory
  • Cart rested as my wife and I decided what we wanted to do, we settled on Sunday night cart ride
  • Home in Mallory through Spanish Springs to Target up on 27/441, 20 minutes of shopping
  • Target, back through Spanish Springs, to Glenview to sit by duck pond.
  • Cart rested for 15 as we relaxed.
  • Glenview pond to Dad’s house in Chatham. His home is a little past the Chatham recreation center.
  • Cart rested for 15 while we let his dog out.
  • Dad’s house back to our home in Mallory
My odometer said 50.1 miles. The voltage of the pack was 48.1 volts, measured immediately after I arrived home. Normally you would measure the state of charge after the batteries recover a bit, but I was tired....

These battery pack is 8 - 6 volt Trojan T105, installed in March of 2010.