Ezgo dcs stretched 4 seater w/cargo bed.

[Chopsaw]

I have a 97 ezgo dcs stretched 4 seater w/ bed, 20" tires. I use it to haul the family down to the river and back up a steep hill. I installed xct 400 controller and 2 awg cables. I feel like the pack is losing voltage too quickly. Settled voltage is good 38.4, I tested each battery while cart was stuck in mud they started at 6.2 and bottomed out at 5.5 after about 5 seconds at full throttle. I tested the pack pulling the hill with the family= 420# started at 38v got down to 28.6v then recoved to 38v parked. I wanted to hook up laptop but needs a new battery. Does this sound normal?

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Apparently spinning the tires in thick mud is less of a load than climbing that hill with the family onboard, however both situations point to the same conclusion. That being the battery pack lacks the storage capacity to provide the amps the motor is capable of drawing when heavily loaded.

The voltage of all lead-acid batteries drops when amps are drawn. The larger the number of amps drawn, the lower the voltage drops, and when the same number of amps are being drawn, the lower the battery's storage capacity (AH) the further the voltage drops.

What is the AH rating of the batteries?
How old are the batteries?
What is the overnight temperature in the area? (Cart batteries lose 10% of the storage capacity for every 10°F below 80°F)

The above is what I posted in your other thread and didn't receive the requested information.

The fact your DCS drive cart is a stretched 4 seater w/bed and oversized tires, precludes the possibility of it having much usability with a 36V battery pack, regardless of the storage capacity of the batteries, their newness, or warmness of the weather at your location.

Bottom Line: Go to 48V.

[Chopsaw]

Batteries are less than a year old 2gc-110 continetal. 225 ah low temp was around 30°f. 60°f when I took the hill reading so my guess pack temp was around 40+°f. I could go 42v by adding a battery and buying a charger. Being that the batteries are fairly new what would be the most cost effective route to up the voltage and eventually going to 48v. I didnt see that you replied to earlier thread, I am not too much of a forum whizz yet.

[Chopsaw]

I started this thread because I thought no one was replying to my original. I just figured out to go to page 2 my bad.

[JohnnieB]

Add two more 6V batteries and get to 48V in one step rather than making it a two step process.

Mixing old and new batteries is less than ideal, but you can only do what you can do to get where you want to be.

Batteries have a huge thermal mass, so the temperature of the plates and electrolyte lags the air temperature by several hours and never reach the high or low unless the air temperature stays the same for about half a day, so 40°F is likely a good guess and that would mean the 225AH rated batteries had about 167AH of storage capacity, less what they had lost from aging. Since usable battery life is about four years, one year old batteries would have lost about 25% of their usable capacity, but batteries have some storage capacity when they are no longer usable in a golf cart, so the one year decilne isn't a full 25% of their rated capacity. My guess is about 15% of the original capacity, so they were about 145AH when you were climbing the hill with the family onboard.

The good news is the groundhog didn't see its shadow and it'll be an early spring.

Can you post a picture of cart?
I visualize it being somewhat akin to a Shuttle 6 with a bed instead of a third row of seating. Top image on the attached manual cover.

[Chopsaw]

I will take a pic when I get home. I currently have a power wise 36v charger. Can the charger be modified to charge 48v?

[Chopsaw]

Another thought is the more weight the more power needed. So is having 8 6v batteries more weight than 6 8v batteries. Weight to volt/amp power.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Chopsaw

I will take a pic when I get home. I currently have a power wise 36v charger. Can the charger be modified to charge 48v?

No. Nor can it be modified to charge a 42V pack, so you'll have to get a charger designed for the pack voltage and if you go to 48V in two steps, that's two chargers instead of one.

Originally Posted by Chopsaw

Another thought is the more weight the more power needed. So is having 8 6v batteries more weight than 6 8v batteries. Weight to volt/amp power.

A 48V battery pack weighs more than a 36V battery pack even when six 8V batteries are used. Attached is a comparison of various 48V battery pack configurations using Trojan batteries. Batteries with similar AH rating weigh roughly the same, so your batteries weigh about 62 pounds each.

Adding two more 225AH batteries will be akin carrying an additional passenger (124 pounds) all the time, but that is more than offset by the 33% increase in torque and speed.

[Chopsaw]

I post a pic on separate thread couldn't figure out how to get it on this one. Where to put the 2 extra 6volts?

[JohnnieB]

Go top the advanced screen and attach the picture with the paperclip. Click on thumbnail below to enlarge.

I found the other post: http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...d-36v-dcs.html

It is what I imagined. Put added batteries in the bagwell.