Texas Hunting Forum

Electric Golf Cart Questions

Posted By: twindad

Electric Golf Cart Questions - 01/18/15 03:51 PM

We have an electric golf cart and the battery terminals are constantly corroding, even though it is kept in our shop out of the weather. We put new batteries in it a couple of months ago and are already having to replace one because one of the terminals corroded off. Anyone have any idea why this is happening?

Also, can someone tell me what this is? It's wired to something but I can figure out where it leads. It was covered in plastic. I have no clue! Thanks

Posted By: Shotgun Willie

Re: Electric Golf Cart Questions - 01/19/15 06:32 AM

How are the cables? Did the terminal corrode off, or melt off under stress? My dad's cart lost a couple terminals due to bad cables making a bad connection, caused a "clog" in the line, and boom. If your batteries are new, I'd spend the coin and do new cables. You can buy a kit, or get 4 gauge wire from the welding shop that's pretty easy to work with, and do it yourself. I rebuilt all the cables for Pop's cart in a day, and that included stripping the cart down to the frame to make it easier to work on.

If that's not in the budget right now, get a can of battery terminal cleaner from AutoZone, and a wire brush. Take the cables off one by one, spray them with the cleaner and brush them clean real real well. If the cable ends are pockmarked at all, take a little sandpaper and make them smooth. Any deviations in surface can cause shorts. Then rinse and dry. I've used THIS STUFF for years and years, a little bit goes a long way. Get a good thin layer over EVERYTHING, cable ends, battery terminals, terminal nut, all of it, and put it back together. It'll keep corrosion at bay far longer than any of the other stuff I've tried.

Pop's cart had everything from old factory cables to short battery ground cables like you would get for your car. The holes in the short ground cable terminals were too large, and the resulting gap caused one of the shorts that melted a terminal. They warrantied the first one, we paid for the second one, and I got the stuff to remake the cables. Proper terminal lugs, soldered connections, crimped over solder, no ox on the terminal, which was then tubed with heat shrink tubing. Then copious amounts of the no-ox over everything electrical, and haven't had an issue since.

Brought the torque and power level way up as well.
Posted By: ChrisB

Re: Electric Golf Cart Questions - 01/21/15 04:48 PM

My uncle who is a retired boat mechanic taught me a long time ago to put regular grease on battery terminals and I never have had any problems since.
© 2024 Texas Hunting Forum