Advice on electric golf carts

SPYDERLK · Jan 12, 2007

Tommy, the paddle wheel rigged to the alternator on the barge actually slows the barge a little. You are indirectly using some of the vessels engine power to run the alternator. You dont get something for nothing. The only power on the cart is the motor/battery. It drives the cart. If you use some of the power for something else there is less available to drive the cart. It either slows down or uses more power to maintain the same speed.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 12, 2007

SPYDERLK said:
Tommy, the paddle wheel rigged to the alternator on the barge actually slows the barge a little. You are indirectly using some of the vessels engine power to run the alternator. You dont get something for nothing. The only power on the cart is the motor/battery. It drives the cart. If you use some of the power for something else there is less available to drive the cart. It either slows down or uses more power to maintain the same speed.

i understand what your sayin . as for the barge it was a shrimping pontoon barge that was anchored without a motor or generator so yes we were getting something for nuthing.lol we was using the power of the water flowing under the barge to turn the paddle wheel that would infact turn the alternator and charge the marine battery that was running our power inverter for our lights. i was just thinking that if your going to be riding around already why hook up a radio to your battery that is supplying juice to your cart when you could put a smaller battery in the back and get a small alternaterand run it off the wheels and it could run the lights and radio without draining the main battery. thats what i was getting at .it wouldn't put anymore drag on the cart to turn a small alternator than it would to haul 4 full size adults around. your not useing power from the cart to drive the alternator it has very little drag what so ever now a big alternator maybe so but the ones i'm talkin about are the size of a soft ball and they put out maybe 40 to 50 amps.it would be worth trying people said i would have trouble with a alternator on my hpx but i have a toyota alternator mounted on it right now and it's been on there for a while now and it down went under water and is still workin fine with no drag to the motor.to me if the cart has a solid rear axle i would give it a try. if not i would go with the solar panels on the roof but thats more exspensive.

andrewj · Jan 12, 2007

tommy, paul, spyderlk, shrimpin, pontoons and barges? How in the world did you guys get off down in the weeds here? Eddie is a good guy and asked a specific question (remember?), and you guys are off talking about unrelated stuff for pages and pages! I doubt eddie would really mind all that much, but come on. Go to buggiesunlimited.com for some discussion on all the intricate details of golf carts and such. or start a new thread here, or just PM each other for goodness sake! i feel like a wannabe thread police, but we've wandered so off topic I doubt Eddie is still here... still there Eddie? let's have some respect for the guy....

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 12, 2007

sorry

darkday · Jan 12, 2007

The topic was started in augest of 2005... I doubt eddie cares to much anymore being almost 2 years later.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 12, 2007

i was reading the thread and it seemed to have gottin on the subject of chargeing accessories so i figured i would try and help out. oh well.

darkday · Jan 13, 2007

No I meant I doubt he cares we are off topic.

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Jan 13, 2007

i hear ya i know some threads take a twist gear and there .i think we better put t clamp on it til eddie gets back. i still wouldn't mind trying the alternator thing out . lol. oh well enough is enough. so how long can you ride them carts e in between charges . we used to ue them in the fab yards to get around being it was like a mile from place to place man we would load them things down too.4 guys with all their weldding and fitting gear and sometimes a piece of iron too. and at the end of a 12 hour day it still had juice .i tell you they earned my respect when i worked over there.

Joe1 · Feb 1, 2007

spyderlk:

Connecting a voltage meter without an on/off switch will put a constant drain on the batteries. I assume it will not amount to much on a 36 Volt cart unless it sits for months, then the batteries would lose power anyway. Am I wrong on this assumption?

It seems to me that if accessories are hooked up to a pair of batteries, then the easy way to charge them separately would be a solar panel mounted on the roof of the cart. This may or may not keep ahead of the drain but it would keep that pair closer in power to the others. An expensive way to charge just the two.

A battery operated portable radio would provide the music without draining any pair of batteries.

Are the lights on carts connected to just two batteries or to all six thru some stepdown transformer

TOMMYHPX4X4 · Feb 1, 2007

walmart has some nice 12volt outlet volt meters that you just plug in when you need them and they have a digital read out of the volts and they also have three lights that blink red/yellow/green for the three stages of battery life just incase your not watching the numbers the blinking light will catch your attention. they sell for 14.00