Cart won't run more than 3 miles on a charge

[gowiththeflow61]

2009 48V electric Club Car Precedent. Won't go longer than about 3 miles on a full charge. Starts jerking on the uphills. Recharge and its good, but for the same distance.

3 year old Trojans. All batteries with the exception of number one - the battery that connects to the positive side of the OBC and is showing issues. All batteries hydro good with the excpetion of 2 cells on battery number 1 show only fair. Good batteries surface voltage is at 8.1 to 8.3 number 1 is at 7.9 - Batteries load test all at 7.9 to 8.1, number one drops between 7.5 and 7.7.

Charger checks good...

Can just one battery make that big of difference in overall performance? Or should I be looking elsewhere. Thanks in advance!

[Fairtax4me]

One battery will certainly make that kind of difference, but from your readings of the other batteries they are all in deteriorating condition. Ideally those should sit at rest at about 8.49v. Reading taken approx. 12 hours after charging.
What charger do you have?

Are there any accessories wiring hooked to the first battery?

Something seems amiss, or the batteries have not had proper charging/maintenance during their lifetime. Trojan batteries should typically last much longer than 3 years.

[gowiththeflow61]

Interesting...Because we have two carts both the same, batteries are the same and we keep up on the maintenance exactly the same. But the second cart is cruising around just fine. We use the factory club car charger the powerdrive3.
The other cart batteries are the same - all read 8.3 volts at surface on full charge and 8 to 8.1 under load. I just have that one that is apparently more "less optimal" than the others. No additional wiring connected to the battery on this cart. The other good running one has a light kit on it... We keep up on those batteries to manufacturers recommendations. Too pricey not too for sure. One thing I have noticed. The good running cart seems to charge a lot longer than the bad running one. If we take the carts out for a ride, both running about the same time, hook them up to the chargers, the good running one chargers longer. Maybe its in the OBC? It thinks maybe its fully charged and stops? Will try a reset...Thanks!

[PingEye3]

One bad battery can cause that issue and that bad battery was caused by the lights being connected to that battery. You need to install a 48-12 converter for the lights and take light power for accessories off all the batteries at once. Best that you now replace all four batteries. If you only replace the one, it will get overcharged and cooked trying to charge the remaining three 3 year old batteries, thus shortening its life again but for a different reason.