Low voltage to frame?

[Cartmaster]

Originally Posted by scottyb

I find this ghost voltage in almost every cart. It has no amperage so there is really no problem when there is no current.

But it can still light up an LED which can confuse people

[Volt_Ampere]

That's because an LED draws only a couple mA to light up.

[mtollin]

Well, you guys are pretty smart! Checked voltage to battery plastic case, nothing. Zero volts. Checked all battery caps, Had a can of battery cleaner, sprayed batteries, cases, hold downs,as much as frame I could reach from top and bottom. Then washed all down gentle spray. Dried top of batteries then put back in run mode. LED BATTERY GAUGE STARTED WORKING! No longer stays on, and key switch working. If any voltage leaks are there they aren't registering. Thanks again to all, but got to say, pretty weird.... I guess that's why the newer carts use more plastic rather than metal trim.

[Cartmaster]

We have been around too long. I think if you added scotty,s volts and my ages together we could probably beat Noah. It's surprising what you can pick up over that many years!

Now I sit waiting for the flack from the other two 😆

[Fairtax4me]

That ghost voltage is part of why electric carts cant have any frame grounds. Eventually there will be enough current moving through the frame to cause an issue and it also causes galvanic corrosion.
Good that you found it. Keep those batteries clean!

[CP241]

Originally Posted by Cartmaster

We have been around too long. I think if you added scotty,s volts and my ages together we could probably beat Noah. It's surprising what you can pick up over that many years!

Now I sit waiting for the flack from the other two 😆

No comments from this nincompoop peanut gallery


It’s worth noting a little voltage may be normal, but it’s always worth looking into. I’ve had bad controllers and motors cause 48v to go into the frame before. Loss of isolation between the HV system and the vehicle frame is bad. In a golf cart it will likely just give you a nice “tingle” but in higher voltage applications like cars it can be very dangerous.