Separate 12v battery for accessories (radio/lights). What about charging?

[LizardLeg]

No problem - I am hitting harbor freight tomorrow and picking up the cigarette lighter female receptacle that has wires with clamps on the other end. When I hardwire my 12V charger to a male plug, I can just use this and use it as a standard 6/12V charger if need be, but still have the ease of just plugging into the dash to charge the buggie accessory battery

[NickS]

Will the radio's draw power even when turned off?

[GHBG35]

Mine did draw power, it had some sort of useless security feature and the memory. I used a switch to completely cut power to it.

[Scooter B]

I just hit the button that makes the face pop off, it breaks the connection and doesn't draw power.

[NickS]

I found a sunforce battery charger at lowes for around $50. It is the 5w charger/maintainer. They also have the 1.8w charger/maintainer for like $18. I know that the 5w would be much better, but would the 1.8w charger work, just take a little longer? I wonder how long it would take to keep a deep cycle battery charged when just running a radio off of it...

[burninvernin]

I'm thinking about the seperate battery with a solar panel. Can I have the solar panel connected to the battery and run accessories at the same time?

[97fordman]

This is what I use the plug is located right below the charger port for the car. The charger is a motorguide 12v charger. It's all wired to the 12v battery.

[1ton]

Originally Posted by LizardLeg

No problem - I am hitting harbor freight tomorrow and picking up the cigarette lighter female receptacle that has wires with clamps on the other end. When I hardwire my 12V charger to a male plug, I can just use this and use it as a standard 6/12V charger if need be, but still have the ease of just plugging into the dash to charge the buggie accessory battery

Did you get this to work? I’m confused as to how you charge the battery. They don’t sell a male cigarette adapter to a wall plug. Not that i have found. Help? Lol

[RobotObsession17]

Originally Posted by 1ton

Did you get this to work? I’m confused as to how you charge the battery. They don’t sell a male cigarette adapter to a wall plug. Not that i have found. Help? Lol

Hi 1ton, I hate to attempt to answer a question with a question LOL...but my recommendation would be to avoid a separate battery & charger. Rather use a common solution, details below. I hope I don't open a can of worms on that debate, this is just my opinion.

To contradict myself, it may make sense to have a separate battery in certain instances, I agree. But in the absence of all that information, I would suggest if your cart is like my cart (ie average, nothing too fancy) a single solution would be better, IMHO. I have LED lights, horn, stereo, backup camera, dome lights, phone charger and an LCD display in my 2008 Electric EZGO TXT.

Why a common / single solution (just my opinion)?
1. To avoid having to plug in a separate solution / charger. Much simpler, at least in my case with grandkids using the cart, etc.

2. A buck converter is worth every penny for the *safety aspects. It provides thermal protection, undercurrent, overcurrent, etc. A buck converter does have losses, no argument...but the tradeoff is worth it IMHO.

3. Sulfates. It's not a good idea IMHO to avoid charging the extra/added power-electronics battery for an extended period of time. Sulfates crystalize on the lead plates of the battery after (I don't recall, but I think) 48 hours. So after 48 hours ~ (guessing) .5% of your battery dies. That may not sound like much, but it adds up over time to premature battery death.

4. I tie everything into the key switch, so nothing is inadvertently left on. NOTE, this solution requires a pull-in-relay (explain later) so only a trivial amount of energy is traversing the keyswitch.

So with all that said, this is what I use in my specific solution. While these are Amazon links, any comparable product will do, it just need to be sized properly:

A. buck converter (converts my 36V cart pack to 12V for my accessories, provides safety aspects mentioned above): Should be ~ $19. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

B. pull-in-relay (allows the key switch to act solely as a signaling device, ie does not carry the electrical current): Should be ~ $8. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you're interested I can post a wiring diagram, pix, etc.

PS I also use this same pull-in-relay to turn on my backup camera when the cart is placed in reverse. I mention that as a way to explain how the pull-in-relay operates, hopefully.

Hope this helps and sorry for my unsolicited $0.02 worth.

[1ton]

Thanks for awesome and detailed advice. I have a 2016 RXV and have been worried about messing with the key switch as I have heard others mentioning how it has fried their system. I will private message. Thanks!