Hello all, I’m new to the forum here and a first time owner of a Gem Car.
I just bought a Gem Car EL and replaced the batteries today. Ran it up the road and could only go 18 mph. The batteries are fully charged. It takes about 5-10 min and eventually loses all speed and will not go. Indicator shows full batteries.
Any ideas? Motor? Controller?
I’m very new to these and I’m learning as I go.
Thanks for suggestions.
Were the batteries new or reconditioned? You replaced all six correct? I would start by checking your batteries with a hydrometer and a digital meter to verify the batteries are in good shape.
[QUOTE=LuvMyTJ;12667]Were the batteries new or reconditioned? You replaced all six correct? I would start by checking your batteries with a hydrometer and a digital meter to verify the batteries are in good shape.
Yes I replaced all six and I bought new ones from a local battery shop. They tested them all right in front of me before I bought them.
By the way. They sold me the group 31 type battery.
Were you sure the old batteries are bad before replacement? Your GEM has the first year of that POS Chinese battery charger. Our 2005 only lasted about four years. Are any error codes or flashing lamps displayed on the dash. Any continuous beeping sounds? Try charging each battery one hour each with a portable charger and then plug in the on board charger. See if the battery voltage begins to rise after plugging in the on board charger.
Daniel
[QUOTE=GEMmechanic;12670]Were you sure the old batteries are bad before replacement? What year do you have? Are any error codes or flashing lamps displayed on the dash. Any continuous beeping sounds? Try charging each battery one hour each with a portable charger and then plug in the on board charger. See if the battery voltage begins to rise after plugging in the on board charger.
Daniel[/QUOTE]
Old batteries were bad.
2005 gem truck el
No error codes or beeping sounds.
When I plug in onboard charger, the charger lights up full. The indicator on the dash shows full charge as well
At the store each battery had 12.40 to 12.46 volts when tested.
Should I plug in overnight?
Always plug in whenever possible. The only way to really know the charger is working is to observe the charging voltage as power is turned on to the charger. Best time to do this is just after the GEM has been driven. Observe the first five minutes or so to be sure the charger is working. Never trust an indicator lamp.
Daniel
[QUOTE=GEMmechanic;12672]Always plug in whenever possible. The only way to really know the charger is working is to observe the charging voltage as power is turned on to the charger. Best time to do this is just after the GEM has been driven. Observe the first five minutes or so to be sure the charger is working. Never trust an indicator lamp.
Daniel[/QUOTE]
So my batteries are showing full charge. What is happening cannot be normal, right? Is this usually a battery issue?
Something is definitely wrong.
I’ll charge overnight and see what happens.
Buy a Kilowatt meter from Amazon. It will tell you how many, watts, amps, KWH your charger is drawing. Measure all the batteries with a digital voltmeter after a run where your BDI is showing 70% or less. All the batteries should be with in .2 volts of each other. If you see one about 1/2 a volt lower than the others be suspicious. I had my bad battery checked and it showed good. Yet it’s capacity was less than half of the others. One weak battery will drag the whole bank down.
[QUOTE=chuckkent;12692]Buy a Kilowatt meter from Amazon. It will tell you how many, watts, amps, KWH your charger is drawing. Measure all the batteries with a digital voltmeter after a run where your BDI is showing 70% or less. All the batteries should be with in .2 volts of each other. If you see one about 1/2 a volt lower than the others be suspicious. I had my bad battery checked and it showed good. Yet it’s capacity was less than half of the others. One weak battery will drag the whole bank down.[/QUOTE]
I bought a nice meter yesterday but I don’t know enough about it to know what I’m doing. I’ll give it a try.
The only issue I have is I can only go about 100yds before it’s down to 1-2mph. So drawing it down to 70% would take a while.
After charging your batteries turn your heater and lights on. While they are running measure across each battery. If one or several batteries measure much lower than the others they are bad. If all are the same voltage +/- .1 volt and they are around 12.7 volts then you have other issues like a loose connection, bad wire, controller, or charger… etc.
[QUOTE=chuckkent;12696]After charging your batteries turn your heater and lights on. While they are running measure across each battery. If one or several batteries measure much lower than the others they are bad. If all are the same voltage +/- .1 volt then you have other issues like a loose connection, bad wire, controller, or charger… etc.[/QUOTE]
Good idea, i’ll try that.
I charged all night last night and this morning the charger was lit up green, so I assume it’s working.
Yesterday I measured the batteries at 76volts and with charger plugged in it was around 84 volts.
We put it on blocks so we could measure voltage on everything while it was running. I understand there is no load on the system when doing this, but it did show that the batteries stayed at 76 volts from the time I hit the throttle up to 15 mph then it slowly died off to 2mph after about 30 seconds. The batteries stayed at 76 volts.
One gem car guy I talked to is convince my batteries are garbage because I didn’t buy the expensive Trojans. He said the group 31’s that I got are generic and can’t handle the gem car.
I’m thinking that maybe I won’t get quite the distance out of these as I would with the good ones, but right now I’m only getting 100 yards at the most, so i’m not sure what the problem is here.
Maybe the controler or a gas pedal problem, ???
Griz231… the change back to the Deka 8G31 batteries has made me a believer that this is the battery for the '05 GEM… Sunday I made a 16 mile trip with the hills in Denver being no problem… picked up a friend and made a side trip of about 4 miles and at the end had lots of power… yesterday I picked him up again and we put 12 miles on the car with the extra weight of us and could spin the tires at the last stop sign before putting the car back on the charger…
Bob
[QUOTE=eS GEM Colo;12703]Griz231… the change back to the Deka 8G31 batteries has made me a believer that this is the battery for the '05 GEM… Sunday I made a 16 mile trip with the hills in Denver being no problem… picked up a friend and made a side trip of about 4 miles and at the end had lots of power… yesterday I picked him up again and we put 12 miles on the car with the extra weight of us and could spin the tires at the last stop sign before putting the car back on the charger…
Bob[/QUOTE]
What is the cost on those? Do you buy online or thru a local shop?
[QUOTE=chuckkent;12696]After charging your batteries turn your heater and lights on. While they are running measure across each battery. If one or several batteries measure much lower than the others they are bad. If all are the same voltage +/- .1 volt and they are around 12.7 volts then you have other issues like a loose connection, bad wire, controller, or charger… etc.[/QUOTE]
Ok here’s what the batts measured.
13.01, 12.93, 12.99, 12.91, 12.94, 13.03
Big difference. Are these all crap?
What brand/model are your batts?
Those battery voltages look good. I wonder if someone has tried to reprogram your controller or it just maybe it’s bad. I don’t know if Marlon could talk you through a diagnostic check with one of his GE handsets or not? Anyway you could send it off and have it checked. It’s inside the dash and is easy to take off. It could be that the motor has an intermittent field or armature connection that is heat sensitive. The way that motor is built that would be my last thing to check. You could pull it off and see if the windings have been over heated and check the internal connection to the brushes and field windings. I don’t have much experience so Daniel, Marlon, or Bob might have some ideas. I would say you’ve pretty well eliminated the battery so the controller and motor are what’s left. The controller has many settings and there are some that could cause your problem.
I’m using Marine batteries so while longevity and capacity may be lower any good 12 Volt vehicle battery would get you farther than what you are experiencing.
[QUOTE=LuvMyTJ;12706]What brand/model are your batts?[/QUOTE]
Batts are cheap excide group31 deep cycle
[QUOTE=chuckkent;12708]Those battery voltages look good. I wonder if someone has tried to reprogram your controller or it just maybe it’s bad. I don’t know if Marlon could talk you through a diagnostic check with one of his GE handsets or not? Anyway you could send it off and have it checked. It’s inside the dash and is easy to take off. It could be that the motor has an intermittent field or armature connection that is heat sensitive. The way that motor is built that would be my last thing to check. You could pull it off and see if the windings have been over heated and check the internal connection to the brushes and field windings. I don’t have much experience so Daniel, Marlon, or Bob might have some ideas. I would say you’ve pretty well eliminated the battery so the controller and motor are what’s left. The controller has many settings and there are some that could cause your problem.[/QUOTE]
I’m starting to think controller or accelerator. Local gem car guy here said he would diagnose for $120 no matter how long it took. Might be worth it since I’ve pretty much done all I can
Griz231… I actually found mine at a place who has a flashing sign saying: Batteries $29… I have steered clear of the place for a couple of years… it’s a closed gas station and tons of batteries on pallets… as I kept having battery problems my mechanic said that he’d seen a Deka Distributor sign on the front of the building… I drove straight there… they told me they could get new batteries for $190 each with a 2 year warranty or recycled for under $w100 with a one year warranty… the owner stepped up and gave me a deal on the swap for my AGMs…
where are you? I’m sure there are shops like this all over… dealers want $285 and up
Bob