[Rickg]

AJBrown, that's a lot of good information. I was Planning on bringing a volt meter with me when I return this fall. I have the same analog meter, so if I run the battery's down to 48.4 I'll still have a good amount of life left? What would be the ideal voltage to recharge? If I run the batteries down to 47 volts is that bad for them?

[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by Rickg

AJBrown, that's a lot of good information. I was Planning on bringing a volt meter with me when I return this fall. I have the same analog meter, so if I run the battery's down to 48.4 I'll still have a good amount of life left? What would be the ideal voltage to recharge? If I run the batteries down to 47 volts is that bad for them?

Glad to help, I am not a professional, just love electric carts and I enjoy sharing my experiences and hearing others from TV. There are a lot of good sites, but I always find myself back at Trojan Battery Company (Maintenance page) for a reference. Once you get on that page, read through the related links. There are two that are pertinent to our current discussion.

This one talks about how deeply to discharge related to your 47 volt question.
Trojan Battery Company (discharging the pack)

On the following link pay special attention to the chart at the bottom.
Trojan Battery Company (SOC table)

As far as what do you have left when you at 48.4 volts? Your mileage will vary. I did a test last year on my pack and took the time to graph my results. Here is a long winded description of the test run Test run description

and here is the results which may answer your range question.
Test run results graphed

[Blackie]

Originally Posted by ajbrown

Get a volt meter installed in your golf cart. It is a pretty simple DIY project and I suspect a relatively inexpensive install if you hire.

I think this is an excellent suggestion.

Please will you provide a link for a suitable meter.

Has anyone had a meter installed by a cart service and what is the approximate cost?

[philnpat]

Originally Posted by Solar Golf Carts

We have a great digital unit for $69 installed, used on solar & all other carts,
dead accurate State OF (SOC)

Does the unit show individual battery voltage as well as cumulative voltage?

[l2ridehd]

I have a 2002 Club Car DS with oodles of miles, 6 8 volt batteries and a 2008 Yamaha with 8 6 volt batteries with many miles. Both run fine. But doing some work on them myself, the Club Car is so easy to do anything on. And it just goes and goes forever with no issues. Also parts are always available. I added a 3 inch lift kit to the Club Car so I could use the 10 inch 265 tires, thinking about adding front brakes, and have replaced brakes, suspension grommets, motor, and a few other things, but it still runs great. Based on the carts history and usage, number of sets of batteries, I would guesstimate it has well over 70K miles and still going strong.

[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by philnpat

Does the unit show individual battery voltage as well as cumulative voltage?

You likely never need this unless you are troubleshooting an issue.

There was a company that made this, but they seemed to go out of business. Google 'paktrakr'. It was on my Xmas list, but I must have been a naughty boy as I did not get it.

I was going to make one. I had gone as far as looking up the part numbers for a double pole selector switch, but never got motivated enough.

My Dad made one we will use for troubleshooting (he is a very kool Dad) . No selector switch, it is eight little voltmeters on a piece of one inch angle. Each voltmeter has two wires with an alligator clip at each end which is a PITA, but it does what we need in the odd event we need it.

PS. I2ridehd, sounds like fun....