[OldManTime]

My one year old batteries, draw down real fast. All cells check out very good by specific gravity, voltage is right on, does any one know what I should check next.
I have a 36v Club Car

[dmorhome]

Originally Posted by OldManTime

My one year old batteries, draw down real fast. All cells check out very good by specific gravity, voltage is right on, does any one know what I should check next.
I have a 36v Club Car

all connections at battery and grounds look for green on connections.

[gecun55]

Originally Posted by dmorhome

all connections at battery and grounds look for green on connections.

check your brakes.they may be dragging

[sgiamp1]

Originally Posted by OldManTime

My one year old batteries, draw down real fast. All cells check out very good by specific gravity, voltage is right on, does any one know what I should check next.
I have a 36v Club Car

I can tell you from experience that low tire pressure will cause you to run A LOT slower and draw down your batteries. You might check the pressure, especially since we've had some colder temps and are likely low.

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by OldManTime

My one year old batteries, draw down real fast. All cells check out very good by specific gravity, voltage is right on, does any one know what I should check next.
I have a 36v Club Car

I would recommend your call Frank at Sta-Rite carts. 352.326.3100. He will probably want to check it out first, before he can determine exactly what is going wrong. He is "Frank7" on TOTV, and very knowledgeable, honest, and will treat you right. Tell him, Joe sent you.

It was recommended to me by a guy named Jerry, (also on TOTV), to buy a batteryminder device that slowly charges your battery and entends it's life. It also desulfates, the battery, so battery acid won't develop on the battery terminals. If you travel over 15 miles a day, you will use your bulk charger, but most of the time, I use the batteryminder device.

Call Jerry at 352.205.0092, as he install one, for me for $200.00. Easier to use than the bulk charger and less wear and tear on the battery

BTW - I was dead set on getting a gas cart, but the house I bought came with an electric cart. Frank at Sta-Rite took it in for evaluation and upgraded it, so I have a range of 60 miles.

I vote for electric as I am sensitive to the smell of fumes, and really don't like a gas odor, (no pun intended).

[ajbrown]

From your post, I am not sure when you measured voltage and SG.

You may have already checked this, but if it were me I would run the pack down to about %50 (36.3v) and then check the voltages. I would look for a weak battery in the pack.

If they are all down about 50%, then the plot thickens...

No matter what you find it is always a good idea to check tire pressure and brake drag as others have stated.

[JeffAVEWS]

All good answers so far, I tend to think it's a load problem, not a power problem.

[DonH57]

I have found good troubleshooting ideas from websites for golf cart owners mainly because I'm a DIY. For those who are not comfortable testing the different voltage circuits of the electrical carts I would recommend contacting Frank 7. Good luck.

[OldManTime]

When I said Voltage checked out, i mean I get 39v across all, and 6.3 + - individually. But i will run them down, and do it again.

[OldManTime]

Originally Posted by ajbrown

From your post, I am not sure when you measured voltage and SG.

You may have already checked this, but if it were me I would run the pack down to about %50 (36.3v) and then check the voltages. I would look for a weak battery in the pack.

If they are all down about 50%, then the plot thickens...

No matter what you find it is always a good idea to check tire pressure and brake drag as others have stated.

I ran the batteries all the way down, then did Specific Gravity tests on each cell, they all tested good (1250-1275), then did voltage, all were 6.11-6.14, and across all 6 batteries it read 36.96.

[villagetinker]

Oldmantime,
I am a retired electrical engineer, and I brought some of my tools with me. The holidays are real busy, but if you have not found an answer by early January, drop me a PM, and we will see if we can get together. I am located in the village of Pinellas. If you are close enough, you could come by and I could check for some type of constant load.
Also, here is a trick that might work for you. If you can string together 3 12 volt bulbs, the smaller the better, disconnect the positive terminal of the battery pack. Connect the string of lights from the battery pack positive terminal to the lead you just disconnected. The lights should be OFF. If they are ON, you have a constant load on the battery. Leave the lights connected, and start disconnecting other devices until the lights go out.
Hope this helps.

[ajbrown]

When you say draw down fast, you comparing to how they used to be or something else? I am curious the delta....

[OldManTime]

Does anyone know who has the equipment to do a discharge test?

It applies a constant 75 amp load to the batteries. The discharge equipment tracks battery voltage and runtime which can then be compared to the rated runtime of the batteries. For example, the Trojan T105s are rated to run 115 minutes at 75 amps.

[JeffAVEWS]

Originally Posted by OldManTime

Does anyone know who has the equipment to do a discharge test?

It applies a constant 75 amp load to the batteries. The discharge equipment tracks battery voltage and runtime which can then be compared to the rated runtime of the batteries. For example, the Trojan T105s are rated to run 115 minutes at 75 amps.

I'll check my parts stash, but , assuming it's a 8V battery, I'm pretty sure I don't have any .1 Ohm 600 W resistors! LOL