matti, advice please!

[bodetis]

well my cart quit again, i have two things going on, first does it make a difference if its not an actual golf cart battery, i put in a 12volt super star economy battery from oreillys,didnt think it make a difference, and when it dies i have a little light on till i give it gas then the light goes all the way down, and i can turn the bottom pully a few turns with my hand and it acts like it wants to start up and then dies again, could it be the generator! this thing has been driving me nuts, we have had it for a year and have maybe only drove it 5 to 6 months because of weather and electrical issues, its an 04 club car.thank you

[dougmcp]

Can't answer your gas questions but the battery choice is nearly irrelevant on a gas cart, your "12volt super star economy battery" will be fine.

[bodetis]

thanks for responding, but its not gas issue its electrical, a few monbths ago i put a new battery, brushes in generator and finially a voltage regulator which done the trick, now here it is 3 or 4 months and the cart is doing the same thing, i just put a another regulator in it afew days ago and it ran fine for couple days, but now its dead again. not sure whats going on, thats why i said i can turn that bottom pully and belt and it acts like its wants to go but then goes dead again. im thinking maybe the generator

[Michael Eddie]

thanks for responding, but its not gas issue its electrical, a few monbths ago i put a new battery, brushes in generator and finially a voltage regulator which done the trick, now here it is 3 or 4 months and the cart is doing the same thing, i just put a another regulator in it afew days ago and it ran fine for couple days, but now its dead again. not sure whats going on, thats why i said i can turn that bottom pully and belt and it acts like its wants to go but then goes dead again. im thinking maybe the generator

Hey. Before spending $300+ on a new starter/generator I would first run a loadtest on your current battery. First check the voltage of the battery when not doing anything, and then, while still checking the voltage try to start the golf cart. Then finally if the cart does start, jack up the rear end of the golf cart and run the golf cart and see if it charges up to about 13-14 volts. Let me know your readings.

[bodetis]

i already have the generator out and i have no tester, im taken it back to oreillys tomorrow to have the battery checked. does it need a deep cycle battery, i can charge this one in about ten min and it has power for a bit then goes down im thinking it either needs a true club car battery or a rebuilt generator which sailors has for 100 bucks

[Michael Eddie]

i already have the generator out and i have no tester, im taken it back to oreillys tomorrow to have the battery checked. does it need a deep cycle battery, i can charge this one in about ten min and it has power for a bit then goes down im thinking it either needs a true club car battery or a rebuilt generator which sailors has for 100 bucks

Any car battery with decent CCA will do the trick, see if they can bench test your s/g

[dougmcp]

If you take a dead battery in they can't test it, it needs to be charged before testing.
If your generator's bad, it will kill the battery and no matter what you have it will go dead.
Do you have a voltmeter?
You need to check the voltage coming from the generator to the regulator and from the regulator to the battery. You could have a bad generator or a bad regulator and if you have been running like this for the last 6 months you may also have a bad battery.
If you replace your battery, a deep cycle is not what you want, you need a starting battery of any kind that fits the cart.
I can't remember but I think the CC takes a Group 70, battery with side posts.

[bodetis]

had the battery tested and it was bad, its not even 6 months old, they replaced it but im still not sold on it not being the generator, is there a way to test it while i have it out or does it need to be hooked back up, thanks guys!

[dougmcp]

Without having the generator installed, I don't know of a way to test it's output.

[bodetis]

thanks doug for responding, i guess im gonna hook the generator back up and see what happens, when i put the new brushes in the generator over the summer they really wasnt that bad but i went ahead and did it. i took the stereo off, it had been hooked straight to the battery, so im hoping thats what it was or i just got a bad battery to start. if it happens again im just gonna gert a rebuilt generator and put it on, thats really only thing left. but thank you and matti both, you all have been a big help o if the generator is bad how long would it take to damage the battery

[dougmcp]

I don't think there's a real answer to your "how long will it last" question.
Any 12v battery that is left sitting with less than 90% charge (12.62v) will start to sulfate and reduce it's life expectancy, the less charge the faster it goes bad.

[bodetis]

but less say the generastor is bad, would it damage battery right away, or will it run for a few months before it finially runs battery down. its new and charged, so if it takes right off how much time before the generator messes it up again, if thats what it is.aasuming it is the generator of course, just going off what you wrote thanks

[dougmcp]

The generator is to recharge the battery, if it is not working or undercharging it will run the battery down, how fast is anyone's guess.
You also have a voltage regulator to consider. The regulator controls the voltage supplied by the generator. If you have a good generator and a bad regulator it will run the battery down as well.
When the cart is running say 1500 rpm, the voltage that comes from the generator through the regulator should be in the 14.5v range. If it's higher or lower than that I would adjust the regulator.
I hope you have a meter.

[bodetis]

iv got it all back together and its running fine, im gonna take it to a friends and have him test the generator, the regulator should be fine i replaced it a week ago thinking thats what the problem was again, th old battery was fairly new, it shouldnt of went bad this soon, but i did have a stereo hooked to the battery, maybe it ran it down and i didnt find out soon enough and recharge it, that might have been what messed up the battery, just not sure, once its tested i will post results, and thanks again im trying to keep from driving an hour an half to get the cart looked at sailors here in ky,

[dougmcp]

Let us know what your results are and good luck with it.