I know that the wrong type of batteries are in my cart and I will be replacing them at some point, so I’ve started looking at my options. I think that I like the no maintenance aspect of gel batteries, and the NAPA 8272 seem to have the best price right now.
I would still like to get the “good” out of the ones that I have.
What can I say. My lack of intelligence says the whole pack is wasted by improper charging. The differences are actually large. With my gel batteries there is only a difference of two hundredths! If you want to play guesses, try paying wasted money and replace the lowest two batteries. The Napa batteries are a good replacement for Deka gel batteries. I contacted the company that makes Deka and they said the Napa branded batteries are made by them and they are the same battery as the Deka branded batteries. But before you go that direction you must be able to change your charger over to a gel charging pattern. If you don’t do that then please write me a personal check for $1800.00 so I can enjoy new batteries in my car. Cause you will just be hating your car in a short while when your charger kills the gels! Remember the dime in the jar every day. No cheating! If you want to get the good out of the old batteries remember you will need them for a core charge. In northern California if you belong to the AAA you can get a 10% discount on the battery purchase. Maybe if you have AAA you can get the discount. Best of luck. Barry.
Leave your switch on road mode. Hold your foot on the brake and note the voltage dip after 3 to 4 seconds. Do each battery separately.
If you have a bad battery it will dive noticeably from the others (probably a couple of volts or more)
[quote=OLD HOUSEBOATER;33277]Leave your switch on road mode. Hold your foot on the brake and note the voltage dip after 3 to 4 seconds. Do each battery separately.
If you have a bad battery it will dive noticeably from the others (probably a couple of volts or more)[/quote]
This must be the Dead brake hold checking method that I couldnt find in the manual that you sent me.
I believe it’s in 2005 up manuals 2008 for sure
Using the Dead brake hold method:
BMI at 78%
- 12.40 - 11.46 = .94
- 12.55 - 11.63 = .92
- 12.54 - 11.60 = .94
- 12.49 - 11.57 = .92
- 12.40 - 11.49 = .91
- 12.50 - 11.60 = .90
Which one is the bad battery?
Welcome back to the show. Now which door do you want? #1,#2, or door #3. I pick #1 and door #5. No, wait, there is no door #5. But that is what I want. Well, you can’t have everything you want. After all this is the GEM SHOW( THE Price is never right). So, here is the point. The battery pack is not fully charged. Either the charger wouldn’t charge them because they are the wrong batteries or the chargers battery type setting is not properly set for these batteries. Or, the batteries have been charged to many times on the improper setting and are Caput, done, finished, no good see ya, etc. Etc., adnausem! Or, finally, they are all worn out and drop off to quickly over night resulting in an unusable car trying to drive with a too low of voltage charge. I want to come fly to you and hold your hand and give you a hug, because there is life after battery death after you pay your dimes. However, that ain’t gonna happen cause I don’t fly any more cause I’m to fat. They want to charge me for 2 seats!!! But then everybody on the over full plane give you a bad look for having an extra open seat next to YOU! I CAN’T TAKE IT. So get over it! Buy new batteries! OR, WAIT! You could take it to Polaris and have them fix it! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! OOPS, its not Halloween yet, or the day of (battery) dead. Look ma, I’m writing a book with spell check.
Your batteries are good. That is to say you don’t have a bad cell. Their capacity may be in the toilet and they may be evenly worn out. Borrow a set of known good and swap them out. Let us know the result.
In other words, you don’t have a clue. 
I’m out! He’s all yours o HB.
I have a 2000 GEM,with Trojans. Unfortunately one of the batteries in it is toast. I will get a replacement and try swapping with it. As I’m traveling, it will be a while till I’m back home.
Update on 2002 GEM with Odyssey batteries, Zivan NG1 charger.
Old Houseboater has provided a manual with complete diagnostic check procedures.
In order to establish some kind of base, I started with ensuring each battery is up to snuff. Good communication from the Odyssey folks on how to do this properly: Since the GEM charger, a Zivan ng1, may be the problem, I charged each battery separately with my car charger. FOUND A BAD EGG! Also found these outrageously priced jewels have essentially NO WARRANTY unless they are used in cranking applications.
Also found the date sticker so prominent on the top of the battery is the INSTALLATION DATE. Apparently Odyssey warranty is from manufacturer date and covers only DEFECTS IN MANUFACTURING! Now, guess who gets to determine THAT!!??.
In my case the batteries are actually 3 TO 4 YEARS OLD. Assume the installation date stamp was a scam as Odyssey says their dealers would not have installed 3-4 year old batteries.
Also was told by Odyssey that I cannot or should not just replace the bad battery with a new one as new and old batteries don’t play well together. ANY OPINIONS?? I’m certainly not going to dump $1500 worth of perfectly performing batteries just because one is bad. Opinions??
Can I run proper diagnostics with a replacement battery that matches those of the other Odyssey batteries??
Old Houseboater has recommended a replace “pack” for around $625 or so. I’ll have to look back through the thread or emails to see which battery he recommended and who sells them. Hate to spend that kind of money just to find out the charger, controller, motor, etc. are crap also. Frustrated.
Anyone wanna buy a 4 passenger GEM???
Odyssey claims you should not replace just one battery as new battery will not play well with old ones. I’m skeptical until I hear from someone not with Odyssey. FYI.
Also, from what I gather, your diagnostics should start with the individual batter, move to the group, then to the charger, then the controller. The manual provided by Old Houseboater seems to be a rather complete guide.
The age of the battery pack is relivent, but the amount of recharges in the 3 or 4 years is more. The whole pack “could” be worn out, or not. It is cheaper to replace just one. Some say the old batteries will drag down the new battery. Maybe it’s true but not in my experience and not in fleet service. If you do the numbers for a single battery replacement assuming the rest are still serviceable I think you come out on top. But, what worries me the most is the PROPER type of battery designed for the car. When you get into the money game you will loose if you have the wrong type and replace them with the wrong type. Yours don’t sound proper to me. The charger also must be set for the type of batteries you have. The date sticker on all other batteries indicate the month and year manufactured. The purpose for the date sticker, as far as warranty use, is to provide the warranty person a base to go to if they are going to decide if they are going to warrenty the battery for people without a proof of purchase. Some batteries have a place the installer can indicate when they were installed. But it isn’t the date sticker. Always buy a set of batteries with the same manufacture date. Odyssey says the end of life for their batteries is a slow loss of power with no catastrophic failure. Seems to me you had a catastrophic failure of one battery. But, they also say their range of life is 3-10 years. Yours are all over 3 years making them possibly unwarrantable, up to them. Also Odyssey has no listing for golf carts or Gem cars.
Cheap batteries? Wrong batteries? I have $300+ Odyssey batteries. One is bad, the others fine. Odyssey tells me I have to replace ALL six batteries as old and new don’t play well together. If I were selling batteries, I’d have same opinion. Also, Odyssey advises their batteries have no warranty IF NOT USED FOR CRANKING. This should be exposed on this site. How many others have the same issue??
Cheap batteries? Wrong batteries? I have $300+ Odyssey batteries. One is bad, the others fine. Odyssey tells me I have to replace ALL six batteries as old and new don’t play well together. If I were selling batteries, I’d have same opinion. Also, Odyssey advises their batteries have no warranty IF NOT USED FOR CRANKING. This should be exposed on this site. How many others have the same issue??
Okay. Exactly what BRAND and MODEL # (and any other pertinent information such as Ah, etc.) are the correct ones for a 2002 GEM 4 seater with a Zivan ng1 charger?
The Zivan charger in my GEM has setting for flooded, gel, and AGM, plus other options… a-f selection on a rotary dial.
As for date stamps, my Odyssey batteries have a YELLOW, round, heavy duty plastic sticker that Odyssey says is the INSTALLATION DATE. The production date is on a white rectangular sticker with a mmyy numerical designation. For example, Oct. 2015 would be 1015. The YELLOW sticker has a mm/yy numerical designation that shows Oct. 2015 as 10/15.
In my case it appears some jerk put a mixed batch of old Odyssey batteries in my car and put an “official” Odyssey installation sticker showing 4/16 on each one. I made the assumption that such a prominent sticker had any relevancy.
Hopefully, this information will prevent the same from happening to others. Seems the issues I have faced are common with GEM and proper diagnosis is confusing as is the battery/charger issues.
Trojan T-1275 = flooded
Deka 31-G =gel
NAPA 8272 = Gel
[quote=Barry;33465]Trojan T-125 = flooded
Deka 31-G =gel
NAPA 8272 = Gel[/quote]
Thanks! I’m going to charge the bad battery and run the diagnostics. The bad battery will hold 12.5+ for several hours, with no load. Wonder if the bad egg will spoil the diagnostics or if they will identify the bad egg?
Again, thanks for the battery recommendations.
I think it will show the bad battery or maybe more than one. I hope it does help. These small but expensive problems make you wonder sometimes, but then they are over and it’s fun time again.:clap2: