[NJblue]

I have a two year old street-legal Star car with eight 6-volt batteries. While we have never been able to get the 65 mile range that the dealer promised (especially when in street-legal mode), it has at least been adequate for our use (when we had to go to Lopez, we would put the speed switch to "low" which helped to conserve battery). Recently, however, our range has become dramatically reduced - we can barely go from 466A to 466 and back. I had the dealer pick it up for its annual maintenance and to check the batteries out. He called back a day later and said that 3 of the batteries were bad and that we needed to change out all 8.

I wanted a second opinion on the batteries as well as a competitive price for replacement and had a well-known company who specializes in batteries come out to check the system out. They put a meter on the batteries and concluded that they were all good and that the reason for the low range was a lot of corrosion on the battery tops as well as some loose connections for the cables. They hosed the batteries down to clean them, sprayed some anti-corrosion stuff on the posts and tightened all of the connections and said I should be good to go. Given that they could have walked away with selling me 8 new batteries versus the $35 service call, I thanked them for their honesty and went in happy that I didn't have to shell out close to $800 for new batteries.

However, yesterday afternoon I took the fully-charged cart out golfing on an executive course a few miles away, went to a nearby CC for dinner and then came home. I would estimate the total trip to be under 10 miles. By the time I got home, my gauge said that I was close to 50% drained. Compared to what I was experiencing just prior to having the batteries cleaned and tightened, I probably got a bit better range, but certainly nowhere near what I expect.

The questions I have are:

Is the science of battery testing so inexact that the battery "experts" would test them and find them OK when they really are not?

Should I trust the dealer who claimed that he did an annual service - but this service did not include such a fundamental thing as cleaning off the corrosion and tightening the connections?

Do all 8 batteries need to be replaced or just the defective ones - assuming that the dealer is correct on that score?

Is there an underlying problem in the cart (or charger) itself that could cause relatively new batteries to fail (I have added water on a twice-monthly basis)? Who do I trust to find this: the dealer who doesn't do an adequate job in periodic maintenance and who can't explain why I am not getting anywhere near the 65 miles that he claimed - even when the batteries were only a few months old; or the battery "experts" who apparently mis-diagnosed problem batteries?

[Frank7]

Aside from all those who jump into a post designed for me to answer I will answer your question.

Batteries should only be tested for problems in a way that is precise and time consuming.

!- battery pack is to be brought to a completed charge with your charger.

2-Using a chart the testing and data recording starts now. Both voltage of the battery pack and individual batteries are tested and recorded.

3-A machine called a draw down unit is than place on the system. This machine reads the voltage and time factor of the battery pack while the amperage draw is simulating a cart driving 15-18 MPH.

4-After this machine draws the batteries down to a safe voltage discharge level (test takes 45 min to 150 min)a finel test is performed on each battery and that will isolate each battery and show any loss of voltage under a final load, the results are logged to the chart for the correct analysess of the system is known.

In summery this process is time consuming as you can see as you can see and would be almost impossible for a tech that comes to your home to perform unless you're serving lunch. That being said we always test systems in our shop and try to be as accurate as possible presenting the results in an accurate chart form and present the necessary repair correctly.

This testing system is performed by many shops in this area and has proved itself to be accurate.

Hope this helps,

[BarryRX]

Thanks for a great answer. Your expertise is appreciated!

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Frank may correct me on this, but from what I understand if one battery is gone it is best to replace all of them.

[Frank7]

Weather you replace 1 or all depends on the age of the system. Example one new battery with 5, four year old batteries is a problem waiting to happen. One new battery with a healthy two year old set should be fine.
The system should be evaluated before any decisions are made.