Good eye. It might be the temp sensor. My first look kinda looked like a crimp-by-visegrip but zooming in now it looks like no crimp?
I am confused as to why I can’t see through the hole but there might be some tape on the backside or something.
Well, my Fluke meter was low on battery and upon correcting all batteries read at about 12.9V plus or minus. 76.5 Volts measured at main disconnect swits terminal (in off position)
The shock came when I sat inside and push the throttle to load teat. 2 minutes later as I leaned over front batteries to test…one BLEW UP. Only hurt my thumb but headed to Interstate battery now. A phone call with them was they Interstate doesn’t warranty cracked or blown batteries!
My concern now is that maybe the thing not programmed for these batteries. I’ll research the forum or if someone has a direct link…its appreciated. In the mean time I’m having the other 5 batteries load tested. They are only 6 months new.
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wow - ok then
Or maybe you don’t have a yellow/black Quiq charger? You never said.
Your battery blew up? Or blew the cap off? Did you finish testing the rest of the batteries?
What were those numbers?
Don’t run off to the store just yet.
12.9V is fully charged for a 12v FLA.
The 2002’s didn’t have delta-q chargers, they originally shipped with Zivan NG-1 chargers, although I’ve heard that there were a few early 02’s that shipped with the Schott charger. The stock location is under the dash slightly to the right of center between the controller and the DC-DC converter and other electronics.
To check the profile on the Zivan (black charger), there is a circular plastic sticker about the size of a dime on the top of the charger. Peel that up and under it there is micro-dial switch with letters for the positions. Cross reference the letter to the sticker on the front of the charger to see what profile it’s set to. Some NG1s have lots of profiles, some have only 2. The default was the big Trojan FLA profile IIRC - there was usually a pen mark dotting which profile the charger was originally set to. If you set it to a letter that doesn’t correspond to anything, it won’t run and will just beep at you.
The Schott charger is a silver ribbed box, it only has one profile which is FLA. It’s a obsolete POS. A Zivan NG1 or a SCO-7210 will drop right in, but if are ever considering lithium batteries in the future, you will want to get a Delta-Q and go through the work to mount it somewhere other than under the dash (very tight fit and not so great airflow for cooling)
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I missed that profile check instructions, so as soon as I get the battery replaced and the other 5 load tested…I will check the profile. I only got as far as checking fully charged voltage and hadn’t checked profile yet. Didn’t realize I could and wish I had done that before hold brake and loading batteries. Thats what blew it up I suppose. Picture attached. April 2020 sticker visible in one shrapnel piece 
I’ll read more carefully on this forum before next steps…for sure.
If profile not set at 13…I’ll need to get a Quiq programmer?
BTW, 4-6 miles is about right if you have one 12V battery that is clapped out.
Yeah, that’s looks like a temp senor.
BTW, I see an R4F under there, so at least there is that going for your cart.
Okay. Assume it attaches to a battery terminal if it’s purpose is to protect battery overheating?
I’ll look on forum as to where to buy parts…this ones connection tab must be missing.
I just read where to find my charger and check profile setting…but now I’m off to get Battery #6 replace 
r4F is motor?
I’m new here lol
I have no idea if they originally had tabs. You can just duct tape it down if you want. IIRC, Zivan had it taped to the side of the battery.
All it did was tweak the final stage of the charge a bit on the old chargers. It’s not even necessary for a Zivan NG1, you can get rid of it and the charger will just run at max time/volts which shouldn’t hurt the batteries. If the sensor is farked, it’s actually going to cause you more problems, usually undercharging the batteries. I ran without it connected for about a year until my NG1 crapped out.
I don’t know if the Shott will run without it or not.
If you have a DQ charger, it’s only required for certain profiles. The manual will show which ones.
All of your problems are pointing at one battery being bad. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s the one that had the earth shattering kaboom.
yeah, R4F motor. Ride-4-Fun.com 7.5hp. The blue is rated for 5k rpm and according to Rodney, you can do 6k. I am and I haven’t blown mine up yet… It will munch your range pretty quick though at that speed. Big improvement over the stock short GE.
Holy Crap! The only thing I could think that might cause this would be the load test caused a bit of battery gas to vent and when you touched a meter it caused a tiny spark? I doubt it so something else set it off.
Otherwise- this battery may have had something internally wrong!
Hose down everything and sprinkle down with baking soda. Do it several times until you stop getting a reaction from the soda. Plan on having a few holes in your clothes you are wearing.
They are sealed batteries and i wasn’t with using the battery tester when it exploded.
My cell phone fell from above the battery with its light on. When I reached for it, the explosion (loud pop more like) happened. I thought maybe it touched both plus and minus terminals but it’s too short. Even if gases had leaked somehow that a phone light could cause it.
I had gloves and goggles but my down coat is speckled now. Good idea on the baking soda test.
Uodate; 6 new batteries are in the GEM now. Interstate warranted them for me as none of the remaining 5 in-tact batteries passed the load meter test.
Everyone out there, wear goggles and gloves and proceed carefully! 72V is deadly AND acid batteries sometimes explode. Glad I wasn’t hurt.
That’s cool of them. Too bad they couldn’t swap you out with deep cycle batteries. The 31-ECL appears to be a starting battery. Starting batteries don’t usually last long in GEMs. Which could also be part of why you had such abysmal range.
On the bright side, 6 new batteries that will last you long enough to decide if you love GEMs or not and if you do, find a lithium ion solution.
And, as a bonus, you are the proud new owner of a really warm work jacket.
Yeah- It was a stretch blaming the meter but it was the only thing I could think of. A normal engine load test is not really any different than just driving it around the block, so I wouldn’t blame that either. I agree with jrj as it had something breaking down inside for it to do that. If the vent was blocked you might have noted some severe swelling but for it to blow out the side like that is amazing.
The baking soda thing is not just a test, but it neutralizes the acid laying around. Otherwise, that stuff will keep eating at everything! Being a wet cell battery, I’m guessing it is everywhere. Maybe I am paranoid, but where did all the acid go? straight down into your motor? It might be a good idea to give it a real good flush with a hose and follow up with compressed air to start.
Good on you for gloving and goggling up. I never do that!
But Don’t stop there! What was the outcome of which charger you have in the car and your charger profile setting? Don’t kill your new batteries!!!
So after installing my warrantied 6 batteries, ready to charge. Following instruction from your post, I can’t seem to find settings on Zivan charger. I’m concerned the wrong setting ruined my last batteries…
Its tagged at bottom but can’t seem to find a place to change selection (or if change is
needed).
Photo of charger and Battery attached. Thx!
The plastic tape dot is in front of the DIN connector. Under the red wire.
If your batteries dont charge all the way up, the sensor could be bad. Unplug the DIN connector and then charge. It could take a few cycles in either case to notice.
You will lose the led on the console when you unplug the connector. Figure 8 hours give or take for a full charge
Oh, and you might want to consider flushing your brake fluid. That stuff looks very dirty (ie old). Pre 2005’s had very shitty drum brakes on the front. They need all the help they can get when it comes to stopping.
2005 they went to disc fronts
Ok good. I have had no hands on the Zivian charger. Forget all the stuff I was posting about the programming. That was for a totally different unit.
It looks like you have the good “micro upgrade” in there according to the sticker.
Need one more picture. On the top of the unit there is a hole that was formerly covered by a sticker. This is what @JarJarJava was talking about a couple posts above^^^. Inside that hole should be a dial selector with a screwdriver slot to select profile. Get a clear pic of looking down that hole.
Your other pic shows a label offering 2 profiles available. Without knowing the full specs on your batts, I’d say the F - trojan is the better of two. Black sharpie dot indicated factory setting (anybody else think different?)
At least verify that the selector is on F and monitor your new batteries closely. Check with your meter to make sure they aren’t going too high, check them all to make sure they keep balanced, make sure they arent getting too warm and gassing out.
The previous set died too soon(8 mos?). They may have been neglected, sat around discharged for long periods, one failed and killed the others, or just flat out the wrong battery for the application.
At any rate, you got a totally fresh pack at the cost of one. This will get your car rolling, discover other issues, and at least give you time to see if this car fits your needs.