Precedent 48v with 12v batteries

[Great white north]

You are much better off using a separate 12 volt battery in bag-well to run your accessories ... Over time you could have issues with your battery pack .. Just my 2cents opinion

[travis_slim]

To the people who have gone the route of adding an aux battery, has anybody gone with a lithium battery? Any reason not to go with lithium? I put a lithium battery in my 4 wheeler and it is really impressive battery but it also was crazy expensive.

[theboss20]

Any battery will do but the most important thing is the charger...with an aux. battery you will have to have a charger to keep that battery charged...now you have the cost of the battery, the cost of the charger and the issue of keeping it charged...personally I don't see the point...a 48v to 12v converter is easy, reliable and hassle free. I have a good used 10amp that I took off my cart because I upgraded to a larger 25amp unit that you can have for $15+ shipping...send me a PM if you are interested.

[jjance]

And I've found that with the 48-12 converter everything turns off with the key. No more forgetting to turn your lights off. :)

[travis_slim]

Once again thanks for the replies, I appreciate them.

So its obvious there is a group of guys who believe that running an aux 12v battery is the way to go and there is a group of guys who believe running an voltage convertor is the way to go. I guess I just have to make a decision on which one I want to go with. I do like the idea of just turning the key on and not having to charge another battery. I have read a few posts that guys say go with at least a 20amp convertor if you are going to run lights and a radio. I might also run a 12volt charging port for a GPS or cell phone. The convertor I have in my original post is a 30amp convertor, I assume that would be a larger enough convertor?

[eaglesdad1]

Here are some pictures for you, The battery is out of the way over the rear and the charger is cheap and so was the plug. I put 2 lighted switches on the dash to turn lights and head unit on and off. Hope this helps

[scooterman]

Nice eaglesdad1, that is an easy way to solve that problem!

[eaglesdad1]

Originally Posted by scooterman

Nice eaglesdad1, that is an easy way to solve that problem!

Thanks scooterman, It was easy to do and there is more room under there for some other goodies I have in mind

[stang99x]

Originally Posted by travis_slim

First off thank you for all of the quick replies so far. I will try to respond to each one of them.

eaglesdad1:
For some reason I am just not crazy about adding an aux battery to my cart. To be honest I don't know why, but that's not to say I won't do it if solves my issues. A couple of questions for you. How did you mount your battery under your cart? Any pictures? And how are you cutting power to your accessories if your not using your key on/off? I have seen one of the site sponsors dash kit with stereo and speakers and I'm not sure If I like everything about it but I will look and see if there are more.

theboss20:
I will search for hidden antenna's, never thought of that description I guess. Thanks!

jjance:
I was sort of assuming that the voltage reducer in the video was reducing 16volts to 12 for a carts with 8volt batteries. Yes the two wires are loose nothing is connected to them. My biggest struggle is they look factory to me because they are attached to the main battery cables. That is not to say that the cables couldn't have been switched out at one point. I just wonder did some of these 48 volt carts with 12 volt batteries some how output 12 volts through a factory convertor? It is so confusing because it is for surely coming across two different batteries, maybe it coming from all four but I don't know. So I have had my cart for 3 months and it was not stock when I bought it. When I bought it had a 6" All Sports Lift Kit and something has been done to the motor I believe because it does not regen when you lift off the gas it just coasts. Also I put on 23" tires and rims on it because they were smaller and looked kind of funny and now it does 20 mph according to my GPS. With all of my research I believe that is faster than a stock cart would go with 23" tires should go. So who knows maybe somebody added a voltage reducer/convertor to the cart but the weird thing is it I am measuring at the pigtails on the battery cables.

stang99x:
Do you have any recommendation on the lights I buy if you have installed many light kits? I don't want to install junk. I am looking for full LED front and rear.

Thanks everyone.

Travis
There are as many opinions on the internet as there are websites. You could spend you life reading and never make a dent. I've said this before, and I will say it again. I am not a vendor here. I don't come here to sell my products, though from time to time I do help members out with things I sell if they ask me to. My advice comes without any hitch. My advice comes from my perspective as a cart technician who does this every single day. I have intentionally avoided the use of reducers as they are little more than yet another device to fail in an enormous electrical system. I have run hundreds, if not thousands of of systems and I have only 3 times used a reducer. Twice I used one for installs with radio amplifiers, and once because the customer requested it. I have never had a set of batteries, or even a single battery that failed due to running lights without the reducer. On a daily basis, in most cases on a 6x8 system, I install; a light kit, a dual USB charger port, a 12v charger plug and a LED voltmeter. I set them up to run on 16V as that is the amount that can be achieved using 2 8V batteries in series. It has never caused an issue or been the root of a problem. I have however, had a multitude of service calls where I had to replace or remove failed reducers. A reducer is expensive. In most cases, you'll pay near $100 for the reducer itself. Then it has to be installed and that's labor if you aren't mechanically inclined. Probably in the vicinity of $150 in the end installed, or we can use $100 on your own. Now, lets do some basic math. If you have a 4x12 system as you have, you're pack probably cost you somewhere around $700. They generally last 3-5 years, and we'll say 4 on average. If we assume the batteries are good for 48 months with no add ons, and we then assume that the addition of an unreduced 12v draw reduces your battery life by say, 10%. (This is all for arguments sake and these numbers are just random off the top of my head) You would then assume you lost 4.8 months. 48 months for $700 is about $14.50 a month. 14.50 x the 5 months you lost is $72. You still haven't paid for the reducer, much less the reducer installed. And the 10% is a HUGE number and not even remotely likely. So, in the end you can believe the internet experts, the salesmen, or the guy who is just giving you free advice because it's what he does for a living and isn't making a *** dime for his time typing this explanation. It makes no difference to me whatsoever. I come on here to help those I can, and find solutions to problems that may be better than those I've found and use daily. Occasionally I find some pretty slick fixes on here, and there are a few users who are extremely helpful and their knowledge of electrical is amazing. The choice is yours, and I assure you that it will make no difference to me if you told me to STFU and move on after this post.

All that being said, I have used a few light kits over the years. I settled on the MadJax kits as MadJax backs up their products and will fix any issues you might have. I had one just today where they included the wrong wiring harness. I called, they are sending me the replacement next day. I've rarely had an issue with them, but when I have they've made it right. You can't get service like that just anywhere. I've also visited their facility in Cairo Georgia and it is MASSIVE. They have an R&D department on site. I don't think you could go wrong with them. I also know the user on here called TahoeDawg is the owner of Revolution Golf Carts. He has a solid line up and a good reputation. I have been by his location though I did not stop in while there as I was attending a Club Car class at their headquarters in Augusta GA......yes I have attended classes from the manufacturer on proper repair techniques for the product if you are wondering. I don't usually use the Full LED package. I like the LED taillights/turnsignal/brakelights but use the halogen headlamp kits. It's a matter of cost mainly. The kit is expensive, but it is well built and I never have any problems from it. If you want to see it, look here: http://www.mymadjax.com/Shop-by-Cate...ts/02-021.html I am a MadJax authorized dealer, but I don't typically retail the products. I'm not really in the business of selling parts, I just build and repair. The only thing I retail sale is battery cables and that eats up more time than I have to give anyway so I stay away from selling off the shelf other than a few times I have helped out some forum members needing parts who couldn't afford the huge retail tab.....but I don't do it much as I'm not trying to become a wholesaler or retailer and definitely not trying to steer anyone away from site vendors. I will tell you that on the install instructions in the MadJax kit, it shows you how to install withOUT a reducer.

[eaglesdad1]

stang99x, So in your trained professional opinion your saying that it's better to use the pack batteries then it is to do it the way I did ? If that's the case I am sorry but I disagree ! For $110.00 and 1 hours worth of my time I now have a set up that (1) works very well (2) Does NOT draw anything from my pack batteries And (3) Gives me peace of mind knowing that I don't have to worry about anything ! It's not rocket science, But hey that's just my own opinion..... And to the OP, If you want to know more or see more pictures , I would be glad to help you out just like many here have done for me.