Hello All! I just bought a 2001 4 seat Gem car and am having the car shipped from California to us in Omaha this week. The car was missing batteries and the on board charger.
I have bought a charger with the Gel charging capability and also 6 new "Gem Gel 12 Volt batteries from Polaris"
My question is, will these all work with the current controller or does that need to be upgraded as well?
Looking forward to being a part of this forum and updating all on the GEM car restoration.
Thank you
Bummer. I just got a call from the Polaris dealer I bought the 6 GEM Gel batteries from @ $238 each and they say they can’t get them.
Now I am researching AGM or Gel Trojans or Dekas. Any input would be appreciated. I found the master list of interchangeable parts from Dan before but can’t again.
Have a great day!
The Factory Gem Gell battery’s are just re branded Deka battery’s. So if you bought a Deka group 31 gell you would be getting the same battery. West Marine sells the same Deka Gell battery under the SeaVolt brand. Napa Auto also sells the same re branded Gell group 31.
I’m guessing you bought a stock replacement Zivan charger. It has the ability to charge gell. Many people here have had good results with the Quick Charge or Ride For Fun brand Charger. If it’s not to late see if you can pick one up.
What did you pay for your e4 and how much did it cost to send it out to Nebraska?
The controller doesn’t need reprogrammed based on battery technology. The charger yes; the controller no.
Welcome to the group!
[quote=Gwest;19953]The Factory Gem Gell battery’s are just re branded Deka battery’s. So if you bought a Deka group 31 gell you would be getting the same battery. West Marine sells the same Deka Gell battery under the SeaVolt brand. Napa Auto also sells the same re branded Gell group 31.
I’m guessing you bought a stock replacement Zivan charger. It has the ability to charge gell. Many people here have had good results with the Quick Charge or Ride For Fun brand Charger. If it’s not to late see if you can pick one up.
What did you pay for your e4 and how much did it cost to send it out to Nebraska?[/quote]
I bought a Zivan charger from ebay that has had the update done. It arrived last night but I haven’t gotten a look at it yet.
Paid $2000 for the Gem without batteries and an onboard charger. It did come with what appears to be an extra set of fenders and an off board charger. It is an old City Gem from what the title says with approximately 2500 miles. Cost $750 to ship to Omaha. Amazingly I agreed to the shipping on Monday around noon and the car was delivered last night! Over 1700 miles. Ill attach a pic loaded and sitting in my garage now. I plan to do some customizing in the near future.
I hope to contribute and get a lot of information from this site during this journey!
[quote=ARandall;19958]The controller doesn’t need reprogrammed based on battery technology. The charger yes; the controller no.
Welcome to the group![/quote]
Perfect!
Thank you and I hope to contribute as much as I take away! 
Ill start a new thread with my plans and progress on the build of this little car. Im going to get it clean up today and start to put a plan together!
Nebraska; depending on how much your going to “fix up your GEM” you might want to re-think the Zivan. Your going to be spending 1200+ on very nice battery’s, I would spend a few extra hundred and get the Upgraded Ride for Fun charger. I’m sure you could re-sell you Zivan for $200 and then your only a few hundred away from the Upgraded charger. BTW the local Zivan repair shop wants close to $200 to upgrade the Zigan . IMO Not worth it
I guess I am a little lost still when it comes to these chargers. Attached is the picture of the charger I bought. It has been updated and from what I can tell and was told, it also has different settings?
Is this that much of a sub par charger? I need to check and see if this has the 3.5 motor and if it does I may only elect to go with a 5hp. I have a young family so I was focusing more on cosmetic work and features as opposed to speed performance.
Please don’t hesitate to point out obvious things I may be missing 
This is my first GEM and I will not be offended!
Thanks again
Nebraska: The way I see it. The Ride for Fun or Quick charge battery charger go’s for $450-500.
The stock is Zivan charger needs to be upgraded. The stock Zivan charger reaches a full charge and then turns off. It will not turn back on or float charge the batteries until the car is unplugged and then plug it back in again. Many people have fixed this problem by simply adding a common $10 timer similar to the one people used to turn on and off their Christmas lights. They have their timer set to run the charger for a few hours each day simulating a float charge. Zivan will upgrade the charger and add this "float "feature along with updating the charging algorithms for most modern batteries.
They charge around $200 for this service. I don’t know if the $200 Zigan you bought has these upgrades I’m assuming it dosent. But let’s say it does then I guess I would just stick with what you got and enjoy the ride. I am in the process of fixing up a few gems at the moment and If I could afford it I would change out the chargers in my other gems as well
Nebraska…according to your picture, your Zivan charger has already been upgraded. I just recently had mine upgraded, also. I was not able to purchase the Deka gel batteries in my area, so I purchased the NAPA 8272, which is the NAPA equivalent. I could not be happier! The cart now runs very strong, with minimal battery drain! Just make sure to pull of the little tab on the top of the charger, and set the switch for gel batteries. You will see the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G…make sure you set the charger to “C” for your gel batteries.
Thanks dspikes, The charger does have the upgrade. Great info on that tab on the top. I was looking at it and wondering how I was supposed to switch settings! 
Our battery distributor has convinced me to get Trojan SCS225 Lead Acid batteries. I will always be close to this cart so I should be able to maintain no problem. NOW my next question is, which setting is for those batteries? They have 3 Trojan settings!
I appreciate everyone’s help and hope to begin some body work today! Im updating my other threads with this progression. Have a great weekend all!
The setting on my Zivan Charger for FLA batteries was “F”. If I were you, however, I’d call the Zivan company (916-441-4161) and ask them, just to make sure. They are very helpful, and will be able to confirm the correct setting for your exact type of battery.