My experience converting a cart from 6-8 to 8-6 volt batteries

[ajbrown]

I am creating this thread to share my experience fixing up a 2002 Club Car DS. Part of that effort was converting the cart from 6 - 8 volt batteries to 8 - 6 volt batteries. As I find long posts difficult to write and read, I will post a series of posts on the effort when I get some time. I have no ulterior motive for doing this, but to share the experience, I know some folks are interested as I get PMs on the subject. At a minimum I thought sharing the cost, effort and results could be interesting.

Hopefully there will be something of interest for others, or maybe someone had a different experience to share. I am not a professional cart mechanic or a professional writer, so bear with me.

In this thread I can also share my Dad’s project as he is currently converting a 1996 CC DS to hold 8 6 volt batteries. He is making space for the extra two batteries in a different place that I did.

It is fair to say that I knew NOTHING about electric carts when my wife and I bought our home in The Villages in 2007. When we bought our home, I rushed out all excited and got a golf cart. It was going to be electric, but that is all I knew. My Dad had a 2003 Club Car which he had bought new. I found a 2000 Par Car, which I paid $2700. I cut my teeth on this cart learning all kinds of stuff. The things I learned fixing that Par Car could be a thread in itself. Hopefully it is still rolling around in TV somewhere.

The thing that struck my Dad and I was the range difference between my Par Car and his Club Car. I could easily drive from Mallory to Lopez to play golf, come home and then go out to Spanish Springs and home again (35? miles). There seemed to be plenty of juice left in my pack. From Chatham my Dad could come down and play Havana, then return home (28? miles). As his pack aged, his yellow light would come on as he drove up the Chatham hill. To be clear, at that time I had NO idea about battery packs, i.e., amp hour ratings, state of charge, amount to safely discharge pack, etc. I had no idea there were web sites that all people did was talk about golf carts, who would have thought?

What my Dad and I learned from that Par Car was that having 8 6 volt batteries gives you better range than a cart with 6 8 volt batteries. We also learned that as a DIY it is harder to get parts for a Par Car if you wish to fix one up. Columbia has pretty tight control over replacement parts. We decided that “someday” we would love to try and stuff 8 6 volt batteries into a Club Car.

More to some as I get time….

[K9-Lovers]

Oh boy, we are very interested in this thread and can't wait to hear more. Taking your time to chronicle this is very generous. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise with us.

[mrfixit]

Oh boy, we are very interested in this thread and can't wait to hear more. Taking your time to chronicle this is very generous. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise with us.

Thanks from me too, A J. I really appreciate all you do to keep us informed.. BRAVO...to...AJBROWN.

[FMF Doc]

Thanks from me too, A J. I really appreciate all you do to keep us informed.. BRAVO...to...AJBROWN.

Oh boy, we are very interested in this thread and can't wait to hear more. Taking your time to chronicle this is very generous. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise with us.

I'll make it three. Very interesting thanks Mr. AJ.

[rubicon]

ajbrown don't don't stop...god its like a cliff hanger in the movies....I have a Precedent with 6/8 and it is not getting the miles I need????? My repair guy wants $2,000 to convert it to 8/6 stating he needs to reweld the frame to fit 2 additional batteries

[ajbrown]

I have a Precedent with 6/8 and it is not getting the miles I need????? My repair guy wants $2,000 to convert it to 8/6 stating he needs to reweld the frame to fit 2 additional batteries

Count your self lucky that you do not have 4-12 volt batteries which Precedent initially had. Out of curiousity, how many miles do you get now?

[rubicon]

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.

[ajbrown]

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.

[dgammon6]

That's pretty impressive. I have heard that set-up would get 70 miles but that's totally depleteing the batteries. Looks like your charger is fine.

[ajbrown]

That's pretty impressive. I have heard that set-up would get 70 miles but that's totally depleteing the batteries. Looks like your charger is fine.

Each cart is different. These same batteries in a different cart may get different results for better or worse. One cart could be more efficient with things like brake drag, regen capabilities, etc?

The only way to know is to understand your pack in your cart. I use use your in the general sense, but I know you do understand the state of your pack with that new meter. Not to put any pressure on you, but you should show off the meter with a picture :thumbup:

[Brewster]

ajbrown don't don't stop...god its like a cliff hanger in the movies....I have a Precedent with 6/8 and it is not getting the miles I need????? My repair guy wants $2,000 to convert it to 8/6 stating he needs to reweld the frame to fit 2 additional batteries

Time to get a new "repair guy" for sure, cant be that much.

AJ, lookinf forward to hearing more about this.

[CMANN]

Hmmm. Do you think that there is a reason why 86% of golf carts sold in The Villages are gas powered?

C

[l2ridehd]

AJ, great thread, keep the data coming. Do you have a built in voltage meter on your cart? Not the red/green gauge, but one that will take it to the 48.xx range. I can see where that might be of value. I would think that an LED or some type of low cost digital gauge should be available that could be dash mounted to provide constant voltage of your battery pack. I currently have an 02 CC with 6 8 volt batteries that when they get to the EOL I might try this conversion. I have both gas and electric carts. I would consider only electric "IF" I could get 50 plus miles to a charge, have an easy water refill system, maintain 20 + miles per hour, not drag down on hills, and prevent the corrosion on the garage floor. I believe all these can be accomplished with proper maintenance and attention. It's just already there with very little attention with gas. However there is value in not having to go to the gas station or have a gas can full and adding gas to the cart. There is advantage to the quiet of electric. I probably have a sniffer problem as the gas smell does not seem to be an issue for me. As I have always said, there are pro's and con's to each. You have done a great job of starting to eliminate a few of the electric con's.

[ajbrown]

My carts only have the analog voltage meter in dash that looks like a gas gauge. Although not digital, I know where on the meter 48 volts is. Reading another thread I believe dgammon6 just bought this meter which I hope to check out in the near future:

http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Digital_Battery_Meters.html
One thing I wish to clarify about this thread. It is not my intent to make a case for electric carts. I use electric carts for my own reasons and LOVE them. I understand why some people prefer gas and have no desire to change their minds. On the other side of that, I do not wish to scare people away from electric carts. I hope that my writing about volts and state of charge does not make it sound like taking care of an electric cart is a full time job or "rocket science", it is not. I am simply sharing details as I learn them, some could be flawed and I hope others will share differing opinions so I continue to learn. I could take a thread like this to buggies<wherever>.com, but it is more fun here in TOTV as we cart owners in The Villages use electric golf carts like no where else I know.

[l2ridehd]

That looks like exactly the type of meter I need. I will order one and see how well it works. Thanks.

Your thread does not advocate or deter from either type cart. Just well researched and informative information. I personally like both type carts. Each one has there positive points. If I could only have one cart, it would be gas. By eliminating a few of the electric con's, I might change that point of view. That is why I am following this thread and your past pictures and information so closely. Perfect discussion for this forum.

[dgammon6]

As AJ indicated I did buy a Datel Digital Volt Guage for my cart. My cart and batteries are 4 years old, T875's. I have only had the cart 8 months and am not familiar with an electric cart so I began researching the issue. As AJ has indicated it's important not to drain your pack voltage completely down or you will shorten the life of your battery pack severly. Trojan on their web page has a chart, and I believe AJ has published that on this forum, which shows how much charge you have used after you stop and let the pack rest a few minutes.

My cart only had a yellow light on the dash so it was impossible to tell where I was on pack charge till it was too late. The digital guage I installed shows exactly where you are all the time. It takes a pack voltage reading twice every second. I still have a lot to learn about what the readings mean as I'm driving but when I stop I can see the pack volts remaining immediately and as it sets, you can watch the voltage rise.

It's a simple install either directly to the batteries our through the ignition switch.

I tried to post a picture of it but haven't figured out how to do that. If you want to know where I purchased it, send me a PM.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

aj, I think it's great that you're taking the time to post all this info. It has GOT to be time consuming.

Even though we own a gas cart, I find the info and insight you've always posted to be very interesting reading. Thanks for taking the time to provide us with it all.

Bill :)

[FMF Doc]

aj, I think it's great that you're taking the time to post all this info. It has GOT to be time consuming.

I find the info and insight you've always posted to be very interesting reading. Thanks for taking the time to provide us with it all.

Bill :)

I agree.

[champion6]

I'm enjoying this info, too. Thanks! :thumbup:

[collie1228]

Thanks for posting this information. It's nice to read data presented by someone with no axe to grind, and who isn't trying to justify his decision to own a certain kind of golf car. I'll be moving to TV and buying my first golf car in 2012, and I keep going back and forth (in my own mind) on the choice between electric or gas. So many opinions you read here are just that - opinions. This post has obviously tried to be objective, and I really appreciate your efforts. Looking forward to more . . . . .

[ajbrown]

Thanks for the kind posts. There is no need for that, but :mademyday:

This long post lacks the technical details of the project, but I share anyway. If for no one else, I share for my friends and family back in MA who cannot comprehend a grown man getting so much joy from fixing a then driving a golf cart :loco:.

The whole story has to start with how I found my project cart. In hindsight I think I got very lucky here, but no one ever knows where a different path would have led.

As I mentioned, my Dad and I had always talked about trying to put 8 – 6 volt batteries in a Club Car DS, but like many things time passes and nothing happens. We both had working carts (2000 Par Car for me) and a 2003 CC for him, there was no urgency. Then my wife and I decided we really wanted to get a second cart. This was the fall of 2009. My wife made a great case for a new cart instead of used, so we began to look around. There were a couple of hot topics in electric golf carts at that time that drew our focus. First was the LSV government rebate and the second was this new AC motor EZGO RXV.

I spent quite a bit of time looking at both. My Dad and I visited the EZGO dealer on 441 and the also the “Town and Country” dealer around Spanish Springs. We drove the EZGO RXV quite a bit to test. We really liked the cart, the feel of the AC motor and braking system. That cart would even put you back in your seat going up the golf cart bridge over 441. I was really considering it, but two things kept me back:

The RXV with AC drive did not yet have a track record to evaluate
We were unhappy EZGO used 4-12 volt batteries. We wanted to go from 6 batteries to 8, not the other way.
EZGO almost got us when they had a sale on the leftover 2009 models. The paper even stated that the cart could go 60 miles on a charge. I went back to the dealer on 441 north of 42 and was really close to buying. I went as far as to tell the salesperson/manager, I did not need the cart to go 60 miles, if they could stand behind the cart going 40 miles on a charge I would buy it (they would not). My Dad had drifted into the service area as I talked to the sales folks. He chatted with some mechanics about things they were working on, unlike sale folks, mechanics know the facts. It became clear they were having some issues with the batteries that they or corporate did not understand. I did not need the issue further defined, for me that was the end of story. I love the fact that my Dad thought to do that. He loves talking to folks about technical stuff. A long time mechanical engineer, in retirement he works 40+ hours a week as head engineer at a great golf course on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. His one visit to Augusta National was not to play, or see the clubhouse, or the locker room some of the greatest players visited, it was to the maintenance barn to talk to the mechanics and greens keepers.

Next I turned my focus to the Par Car LSV. I owned an old Par Car already and “we the people” were going to pay me to buy one. If I recall correctly the government was going to give me a rebate of about $5300 to buy a new Par Car LSV. I went as far as to borrow a cart from a salesman named Jim. When he went to work, he let me take his cart for the day. This cart also had great torque and power on hills compared to my 2000 Par Car and my Dad’s Club Car. If it lost speed going up hills it was negligible. This demo cart is the only cart I have ever run out of juice in. I cannot remember all the details, but the only way I could pull out of a tunnel was to go about 1 MPH, anything more and the cart did not have enough voltage and would cut out. I managed to get it home by creeping and charge it enough to return it. I told JIm about it and did not consider it a reason to not buy one. As close as I could figure I had gone 50+ miles and this incident did not deter my interest as this cart really did meet my requirements. In the end, I never felt comfortable that I understood all issues related to registration and insurance requirements and to be honest it was still a large chunk of change for us even after the rebate.

I came very close on both, but got neither. At the time, I knew nothing about Tomberlin or I would have definitely tried them out.

Next I get a call from a good friend who is asking what I learned about the Par Car LSV. I told him and unlike me he bought one. As part of the deal he traded in his original Par Car for $3000 (I forget exact price). I think it was a 2004 or 2005 and was in great shape. I have said before I am not in love with Par Cars for DIY projects because of the availability of parts, but this did sound like a good deal and did not need work. I told him I would take the cart for what the dealer would give him. He agreed. Now I had a “new” 2004’ish Par Car coming. At the time this would be perfect. It was a cart with great range, the down side was that I had no cart that needed a conversion; now what would I do with my free time? The next thing took me by surprise, my friend decided to keep his original Par Car as a second cart. At the time I felt a bit slighted as “we had a deal”, but I understood and a part of me knew it was not the perfect cart for Linda and I.

Soon after, my neighbors began having issues with their electric cart. They asked me to come over and take a look. At that time I still was not reading golf cart web sites. I knew some stuff, but not enough to diagnose a battery issue. I do not even remember if I had a multi-meter or hydrometer in my arsenal. As I stared at the batteries, I suspect I looked like most men do when their car does not start and they open the hood and stare blankly at the engine compartment hoping to see a wire that is disconnected :shrug:.

It was clear from the description their batteries were toast. It was also clear they had no idea how to properly maintain the batteries, water everywhere, acid on rails, etc. At this point these folks were SICK of their electric cart. Soon they bought a brand new Villages Yamaha gas cart. If I recall correctly, The Villages Cart store did not take trade ins, so they sent someone out to buy their cart. The person offered the $1000. They knew I was looking for a cart and asked me if I wanted it for $1000, they had no interest in putting in paper or trying to sell privately.

I go from looking at beautiful new golf carts that need no work to one that does not run, has battery acid corrosion everywhere and will not be ready for some time as I want to use as a project. My wife knows this is not going to be a quick journey. You have to understand my lovely wife has seen this before. When we bought our first home, we looked at many that were new, lovely, perfect. The one we bought was just plain awful. the walls had writing in crayon, the kitchen hideous. We were young, I promised I would fix it up. It took us a couple of years, but we gutted that place, added a bathroom and it did end up beautiful. We did all of the work ourselves and in the end my wife could wire a three way switch with no consulting. When we were looking at new homes in TV, we found a lovely home for a good price that really needed work, all I had to do was glance at her when the realtor was showing it to us. As I began to say, “I think we cou……”, she said no. Next thing I knew we were looking at new homes in Mallory.

In the case of the cart, she let me take it home and now I had a project. I was very close to getting three carts in this process and ended up with the junker. It is not often you catch such a lucky break!

Next we pull the cart apart and see what is there and what we want to do….

[CMANN]

My family, in MA understands our love of golf carts. Perhaps the north shore is more understanding

C

[natickdan]

I'm looking forward to your next post...it's been a great read..ajbrown

[K9-Lovers]

AJ, this is great! You could even turn this into a "how to" book. Interesting read. Now, getting us to understand the technical parts might be a challenge. (sometimes, Mrs.K9 is technically challenged).

[ajbrown]

I can tell you now there is nothing very technical coming. When I did this cart, I had no idea what I was in for. All I was comfortable with is if I took something apart I could find a way to get it back together. Like when I worked on my own homes, my feeling was there was nothing I could do that could not be fixed, even if I had to ask for help.

I hope I can tell the story from the perspective of a guy who knew very little about carts. I do not want readers to think I am a mechanic that brought a lot of experience. Anyone can do this. The question most should ask is WHY would I do this? For me it has nothing to do with any potential of money saved, to me it looked fun. When your choices are golf, cards, some other fun activity or rolling around on a garage floor, only a few choose the latter :loco:.

Alan

[ajbrown]

It has been a while since I have posted. I have not been reworking the wording as you will see :024:, but rather enjoying life takes precedence. Now that I have gotten into this thread, I am having fun retelling my story from memory. Feel free to tell me if you see things that are wrong or could be done better or diffferently, or anything you have experienced which would help me when I do this again in the future.

One of the mistakes I made with this cart is I did not take any before pictures. What kind of a meathead is so excited to take the thing apart that he does not snap a couple of pictures with his lab assistant Caly on board? It was after I got the roof and body off I realized my mistake. A part of me wanted to put the cart back together just to take a picture, but a bigger part of me could not rationally justify the effort.

At this phase in the project I had a few things on my plan.


Add space for two new batteries to increase range. I had no idea yet HOW I was going to do this.
Add 10 inch wheels and 205-65-10 tires to gain a bit more speed (up to two MPH) on level ground.
Add a 3 inch lift kit because I love the look of a cart slightly lifted


The first stage of this project was going to be taking the cart apart. I needed to be able to get to the battery compartment to develop a plan for adding batteries. No matter what the project I love deconstruction. I could have made a living doing this; Alan, Director of Deconstruction. I have never been great at the second phase which is reconstruction, so that would have been another organization. That said, I am not a mechanic, thinking back, the last time I may have worked on a car was the 70s and it was usually as a helper. An electric golf cart is much simpler to understand than a car for me anyway. You have a set of batteries that store voltage and a mechanism to deliver the stored voltage to the motor. For my brain what makes an electric cart go is much easier to understand than a car as the cart has no starter, carburetor, alternator, fuel pump, fuel mixture and timing to think about.

:oops: Before I deconstruct, I wish to caution. This note is not meant to frighten, but just want to be sure folks are aware. Working on a 48 volt DC golf cart is not as dangerous as working on AC house wiring, but you still need to pay attention as you can generate quite a spark and some heat with any dead short. It is relatively easy to create a dead short in a cart if you get careless. Dropping a wrench across the posts of a battery can cause quite a shriek to involuntarily come out of your mouth. When working around the batteries always be careful or get protective tools. In addition, when I am going to be removing the body or working on a component like the controller I will disconnect the pack from the components and discharge the controller. The procedure to do that is the same as resetting the OBC (disconnect procedure) which can be referenced here: http://www.alltraxinc.com/files/Doc120-048-A_TN011-Rebooting-Club-Car-OBC.pdf. It is likely that professionals do not do this, but it makes me feel more comfortable.

Club Car currently has two body styles to my knowledge, the Precedent and the DS. In addition, the DS prior to 2000.5 has a different roof and frame to hold roof. The last distinction I can think of is regen (regenerative braking) versus series. A regen cart has a speed sensor on the motor which controls the top end speed of the cart (most evident going down hill), whereas a series cart rolls freely. This is relevant to this post only in that there is a different mechanism to change the cart from forward to reverse and they are attached differently. The regen cart has a rocker switch versus the series cart which has a handle. Great summary sheet here: http://www.cartszone.com/images/clubcarguide.jpg

This thread is about my cart which is a 2002 DS series cart. Before I get started, let me give a shout out to a product called PB Blaster. I have no affiliation with the product, but it really works http://blastercorporation.com/display.cfm?p=50003&pid=4. I did not have this when I first started and as a result had a couple of bolts that could not be saved using WD40. Time to rip this cart apart.


Slide enclosure out of rails and store
The roof, remove eight bolts and roof pops off
The front windshield, two bolts hold the window frame to the front cowl, lift off whole window

You now have a “hot rod”. I love driving the cart around like this. Closest thing I have ever had to a convertible, let whatever hair you have left down and just fly! This picture is the cart after all of my work is done, as I have no convertible pictures with original, but it does show off my lab assistant.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/IMG_0377.jpg

Convertible fun is over, we comb our hair, check for bugs in teeth and start to get the rear body off.

First thing is the access panel under basket, be careful with these two screws if they do not come out easy. Most of the time they come right out, but if not, force will not help, you will need to reach under and grab the blind nuts :faint:.
Now, the back of seat and basket; with the access panel off, remove the two nuts under body which holds seat frame, and then the remove four bolts holding seat back, lift seat off.

Bagwell trim next, It is held on my these little plastic fasteners called “Christmas Tree” rivets. I am not sure the “proper” way to remove these, I carefully slipped a thin screw driver under the trim and they pop right out (careful about the body paint). After the bag well trim is out remove the two screws in the bag well.
Rear bumper can remain on and still get the rear body off, but since we are in deconstruction mode, take the four bolts off and it drops off.
Remove the two screws holding the front of the rear body under the forward/reverse lever.


The body should now be loose, held on only by the wiring below.

Taillights, remove the two screws in the trim of the light and pop the whole unit out. Document how the wires are connected to lights, disconnect wires, and wrap in electrical tape.
Forward/Reverse lever. Need to remove a small screw that holds on the handle, then slide off handle. Careful here, this screw is easily breakable. Now remove the three screws holding in the F/R mechanism. Beware, there nuts in the F/R housing that may fall out.
Charger socket, remove the four screws from outside of cart body, the unit will come apart, pull unit out of hole in body and reattach front so nothing gets lost.


The body should now lift off. The first time I removed the rear body it took me a couple of hours at least, as everything was new to me. After doing this project and having body on and off many times, I can take my DS rear body off in about 30 minutes. Here is the cart with no rear body and no batteries.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030212-1.jpg

Looking at the picture below of the cart with the old batteries; the challenge of fitting new batteries begins to become evident. This picture is taken with me standing on the floor of the cart, facing toward the rear of the cart. . You can see the steering wheel in the lower right of the picture and my sneaker in the lower left. In the low center of the picture is the forward reverse switch and charger receptacle laying out of the way. At the top of the picture you can see the two wheel wells and a panel in the center. This panel is the mount point for the controller and solenoid (on left rear of panel and barely visible) and the OBC (beige box on right front of panel with black wire running through it). Whether it is obvious from picture or not, there is no chance of adding a new battery in front of the wheel wells. If two new batteries are going to be added without changing the look of the cart, they must be added to the center compartment. There are other ways to add two batteries that differ from mine. One example is the route my Dad took and can be told later in this thread.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030209-1.jpg

In the picture below, I have removed the panel that holds the OBC, solenoid and controller. A Trojan 8 volt T875 and 6 volt T105 are the same size. They are each 10 7/8 inches long. That means we need in excess of 22 inches to have two batteries lengthwise in the center compartment. The ruler is there to give some perspective for sizing. You can see we do not have 22 inches between where the original batteries were and the motor. There is not exactly a ton of space.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030260.jpg

In addition to all of that the picture below shows how the frame in the Club car rises as it goes to the rear. We cannot simply build rails for the rear batteries at the height of the back frame as the batteries would need to stick through the body (hint on Dad's solution).

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030261.jpg


To review, the issues in front of us are:

the batteries must be added to the center compartment
the panel holding the OBC, solenoid and controller are in the way
there is not enough room between the two existing batteries and the motor to simply add two more


If you are still with me, next step is to modify the frame….

[jebartle]

:wave:is that I have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about BUT you make it soooo interesting....Keep up the good work!

[downeaster]

You have got me hooked!!! I have no intention of adding two batteries to my cart but I can't wait for your next installment.
Thanks for a very well written, interesting and informative thread.

[champion6]

I'm lovin' this!!! :popcorn: :beer3:

[ajbrown]

My Dad has been converting a 96 CC DS to hold 8 - 6 volt batteries. In addition to the conversion, he has lifted it, redone all the accessory wiring and other things. Today was his first test run from Chatham to Mallory. It does not have the 8 new batteries yet, but he has two extras in there to test weight, fit, etc.

Here my lab assistant Caly checks the legroom. If you look to towards the rear behind the seats you will see where he installed the batteries.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1040033-1.jpg

Here is a shot from the back. Once he is done, with battery housing cover and the basket on, I suspect you will hardly notice. I told him to build a nice wood cabinet with fake doors and a lock so it looked like under basket storage, but he bought and painted a $2 plastic bucket for the first pass.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1040036-1.jpg

I will integrate some detailed pictures later in this thread. It is very impressive, but what else would I expect from my 78 year young Dad :bowdown:

[ajbrown]

Last time I posted on this thread, it was from TV. I have recently arrived back in MA; cooler weather (mostly), no golf cart, golfing with tree lined fairways and very fast greens and different happy hours. The hours are still happy, just three times the cost. My wife can see I miss the evening golf carts rides and has been gracious enough to let me mow our lawn using the ride-on. Not the same, it is loud and Caly cannot hop on. Now where was I in this thread? The cart is apart (this is incorrect as I will remember below)and I was trying to figure out how to add two batteries to the Club Car without spending a fortune.

After taking the cart apart, I came to the realization I had no real plan. I spent time on the Internet, with limited success, using google.com to search for others experiences adding batteries. I also called around some local cart shops. The folks that would do this wanted more money than I wanted to spend. Some wanted to own the whole process, from design to battery sale, etc. I was frankly shocked at the cost some of the shops wanted for the whole job, up to two times I paid for the cart :22yikes:. This was not what I wanted so I continued to search.


I took a few nights simply staring at the cart. As anyone doing something for the first time, I wondered what the heck I had got myself into. I am sure it made for good neighborhood chatter…. “have you seen that mess Alan has in his garage?”. The husbands seemed to understand and some even interested in the process, but the wives….. not so much giving their husbands a look that exclaimed “do not even think about it”. My wife would simply smile as only wives can. She had seen this act before many times working on our homes. Hopefully after many years, she had faith that the perplexed almost moronic look I get would pass and eventually I would make it right. I did not dare to ask.

I did come across a thread on a golf cart site about a guy who had built a tray to hold the four batteries in the center.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/batterytray1.jpg

It looked interesting so I started looking around for tray fabricators or golf cart shops that could add a battery tray. I found a guy at the Market of Marion who had modified his cart to hold two more batteries using a tray. He let me and Dad crawl around looking at the finished cart. I realized that he did not make the tray nor did he weld, which made me ask myself why I needed him. I then started looking on my own for folks local to TV that could make the tray, and others that could weld. Even as I researched this tray thing it still did not feel right. I kept coming back to the fact that it was not mine, and it was not cheap. I would need to get a tray made, I needed to get someone to weld it to the frame, and none of it was DIY. I did not keep great notes, but I think the tray and welding was around $300 - $400, plus $50 for transporting the cart to wherever it had to go. As I was doing this search I found a great guy named Bill Horne of J&B Street Rods & Welding . He does aluminum welding and runs a garage that fixes up “classic” cars. He told me he would weld the tray if I got the tray made and got the cart to him. I wrote his name down and continued my search for a tray solution.

This thread illustrates the overwhelming success I was having https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26378. It was not too surprising that the thread got zero responses when I thought about it. How many folks in TV would rather fix up an old golf cart instead of golfing|dancing|<anything else> . As hobbies go, I suspect it is a small group :laugh:.

It then dawned on me, I do not want no stinkin’ tray. My Par Car had a tray that was always collecting dirt and acid. In addition, because of the slope of the Club Car frame, you need to make some rather significant cuts to the frame to install the tray. Club Car did not use a tray, why should I? I now had a simple idea to use rails that I would execute and call DIY. I would be able to do everything except the aluminum welding and I had Bill for that. This photo is my “detailed” plan with notes added in Microsoft Paint.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/frameWithSimplerBrackets-1.jpg

This idea for design may seem simple to you as you read this, but at the time I really had no plan of HOW I would do this before I bought the cart, so it took me some time to come to this simple design. The key was finding Bill “the welder” and understanding how strong the weld would be when complete. Bill and I talked about price. He said he was not sure, but could not imagine it would be more than $100. He said the more I could do, the less it would cost. My tasks were now pretty straight forward:

Purchase some aluminum
Cut and clamp up aluminum
Figure out a way to get cart to Bill

For aluminum I needed some ¼ x 3 inch flat bar which would hold the new rails and some 1 inch angle for the rails. A great place to find aluminum is Bray’s Steel Sales in Ocala. If you need metal, give them a call. I bought extra as we had multiple projects, but I would estimate the aluminum used on this cart was $35. Another good place that I discovered later when looking for angle is White Aluminum in Leesburg.

I purchased an aluminum saw blade ($10) and was able to borrow a neighbor’s chop saw. I have never cut aluminum; I can tell you now, it is very easy to cut and work with. Be prepared to make a lot of noise. A chop saw is nice as you can literally take off a blade width of aluminum to get a good fit.

How would I get this cart to Bill? I have friends with a pickup. My Dad suggested we build a ramp, which seemed a bit extreme. It then dawned on me… it is an aluminum frame, It weighs almost nothing, I bet my wife and I can carry it. Before I clamped the new battery rails, I stripped her down. Oh come on now, of course I mean the cart :D. I love this picture. You would be amazed how easy this is to carry around. I have not shared the fun taking the front apart yet. If this thread continues, that phase MUST be told as it contains the most frustrating part of this whole project and a trick I learned from folks more experienced than me. Since the thread will be out of order, maybe it will be shared as a dream sequence.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030287-1.jpg

Using some borrowed clamps and existing machine bolts, I prepared the cart for welding. Here are a couple of picture which show the design as clamped.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030315-1-1.jpg

In the next picture, the cart is ready to be carried into the truck. Of course it was cold and rainy. If you were in TV for the 2009-2010 winter, you know we had quite a bit of that. The long timers told me it was the worst winter they had seen, but I digress. One thing to note in this design, is that the back batteries are almost ½ inch higher. By doing this I did not have to cut as much of the cross member in the Club Car frame. If you look at the tray solution picture earlier in post, you can see they had to remove much of that. This picture also shows that I replace the side battery rails with new angle. The previous owners may have missed the memo about how to fill your batteries and the existing rails were toast. If anyone should own a gas cart it is them.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030307.jpg

So off we go to the welder. My Dad came over, our friend Joe who has a pickup wanted to join us. Bill (welder) and I reviewed which pieces were there just for clamping and where the welds should be. Things went off without a hitch, Bill did great job while we chatted with folks about the classic cars they were rebuilding. If memory serves it took Bill about an hour. He asked how much he told me, I said you were not sure but it would not exceed $100. He said give me $50. I guess I did a good job prepping. Bill gets 5 stars from me. Here is the finished design back in the garage.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af146/ajbrown2007/totv/P1030317.jpg


In summary the costs:
$35 – parts
$10 – saw blade
$50 – welding

I had my modified frame for $95 and except for the welding this is pure DIY.

I now need a home for the controller, solenoid and OBC........

[Halle]

AJ,

I know nothing about Golf Cars except that I love driving mine and legally it cannot exceed 19.8 miles per hours, I must always plug it in and check the level of water in the batteries.

I just wanted to let you know that I love reading about you working on your golf cart and your many adventures with Caly :doggie:

I think your wife is to be complimented for her patience and acceptance of your hobby. I dream of a garage with nothing in it but my car and golf cart. My husband also has many hobbies and the garage has a/c aircraft suspended from wirers hanging from the ceiling and fishing gear everywhere! I do insist that we be able to park both our cars in the garage but it is a tight fit. :eek:

Just wanted to say thanks for making me smile.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Very interesting stuff, aj! Keep posting!

Bill :)

[Jim Straz]

This seems easier and only $8500. http://www.starev.com/images/pdfs/brochures/ss%20brochure%202010_small.pdf

[Golf-Tinker]

AJ

The hours in Mass. May be happy, but they didn't discount when we lived there and still don't. But I'm still envious about your golf playing on tree-lined fairways, etc.

Massachusetts "Happy Hour" law means no more alcohol in Groupon deals
Groupon announced Friday that its restaurant deals in Massachusetts will no longer be applicable toward alcohol, reports the Boston Herald. This is due to the state's 25 year old "Happy Hour" law which prohibits the discount selling of alcoholic drinks. Groupon will be refunding all customers who are dissatisfied with the new rules and participating restaurants will not loose any money. There are concerns this action could hurt the appeal of Groupon and other such deals in the state.

Jim

[Pturner]

:wave:is that I have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about BUT you make it soooo interesting....Keep up the good work!

That's so true. :BigApplause:

Plus, I've come to love Caly like she were my own.

AJ, thanks for sharing your knowledge, your hobby and Caly with us!!

[ajbrown]

Jim Straz: Nice looking cart, but do my posts imply I am a guy that has $8500 for a golf cart :)?

Others, I am glad you are enjoying it and appreciate your nice words. At the moment, Caly is asleep under my desk, I may not share your compliments with her as her head is large enough. A few'ish weeks ago, my wife, Caly and I were out exploring Sanibel in the golf cart and met a very nice couple. They stopped by and as a way of introduction said, "That is Caly right?". She is the closet thing to a celebrity we have in the family. :a20:

Based on PMs and posts two things I would never have predicted have occurred with this thread:


that people have read it and in general enjoy it
that I enjoy doing it when I get time

Thanks all,
Alan

[sailorman524]

Just found this thread and I'm right in the middle of trying to get more range and this looks to be the trick. I have a 98 DS and have been looking at EZGO rxv (battery issues). Local guy brought a fleet of 08's down from Colorado and is selling them at about $5000, refurbished with added extra's.
Doing your mod should do the trick for me. Here in SCW I have access to a metal shop so welding will be a cinch.
Have you worked on this project and more. Don't see how all 8-6 volts fit ?

Keep us informed !

Thank you for the great effort!