We wanted a cheap golf cart for cruising the camp ground. I was just given a 2002 gem e82. It has some broken plastic and a broken rear wind screen. The vehicle had no batteries and was told the charger didn’t work. The local golf cart place suggested Walmart marine batteries to see if the vehicle worked. To my surprise it drove down the road pretty fast. Best guess probably 2 miles on the maiden voyage. Upon getting it home the voltage across the batteries was 75.4. I have no idea what that means but I’m sure someone does. The charger doesn’t work I plugged it in and nothing. I was looking for a voltage increase where the charger connects to the high voltage points while plugged in. My question is can I get away with these batteries and a decent charger with minimal usage (less then 5 miles a day) and constant charging? Or go head first with Trojans and the high tech charger? This most likely won’t be our forever cart as we want more seats and more modern cart.
Wow I’d be tickled if I were you, what a deal 
I am not familiar with Gem e82, but can tell you that 75V is normal (12V x 6 batteries=72v) so you are ok with that. Not so sure I would replace the walmart batteries just yet. Do they take a full charge? Do they have decent capacity on a load test? How do you intend to charge? DeltaQ makes a popular 72v charger (EV drives and Ebay are sources), and there are people on the forum that can help select a model and help you with an install. I don’t think you have to charge every day if your range is 5 miles a day. Remember to check the water level in flooded batteries monthly. Flooded batteries: if you take care of them with H2O they will take care of you. Congradulations on your new project
The only charger I have currently is an auto move style Schumacher 10amp charge/ 3a maintain. I left it on all last night and got a green light. I placed the charger on another battery and the charger says it’s charging. Is this unit not able to charge multiple batteries or am I missing something? I’m not apposed to buying a larger automotive style battery charger and using that. But the onboard charger sounds pretty convenient
Not sure how to do a load test I’ll look for that in the search section.
Beware of the free car - It was given to you for a reason.
If it hasn’t been messed with too much, you should find your charger under your dash up under the windshield. Have you pulled the top of your dash off to poke around yet? What is that charger?
Identify what charger you have. Make sure everything is hooked up (input and outputs) and try to identify where the outputs are attached. There is usually a tri color status LED on your dash pod(top center). I’m guessing that is not working?
A standard 12v car charger will only do one battery at a time. Until you get the on board charger figured out/replaced you will need to just hit each one with your 12v charger until it goes to green light. Make sure you DO hit each one before taking it out again. You can drive away with one battery not charged and this would damage that battery.
Just so you know, most people see 12v on a 12v battery and think all is good. This is incorrect. 12v is ~50% SOC (state of charge) and is considered dead. Going below this actually damages the battery.
Scaling this up gives you some pack voltages to give you an idea how your batteries are working. Keep in mind this is for a balanced pack.
Since you just purchased your WM batteries I see no need to do a load test on them. They probably are not the best batteries for your car, but I guess they served their purpose(testing the car). I’m surprised your mechanic didn’t have a scrap set of batteries he could have given you to toss in there. If you continue to use these batteries expect to replace them in a year. If you take care of them, install a properly set charger you could go longer.
Now that your car is rolling, this is your chance to test out the car. How are the brakes? Steering? Does the Display/speedo work? Lights?
And figure out if this is the car for you. Since you already mentioned it is not your “forever car” you can use this to learn what you are looking for. Is this a campground cart, or do you need it street legal? Are you in a hilly area or flat?
The crafty builder can sometimes add on a Golf Cart rear seat kit to make this car more functional. Be aware that this car is 20 years old and will probably need a bit of wrenching to keep rolling. Most of this can be done by the average skilled person(is this you?) but if you need to take this to a shop it will need a decent infusion of cash.
As you noted- there is a wealth of tips and suggestions in the archives. Many of the topics are from people in the same exact position you are in today. Sometimes a bit of key word tuning will provide fantastic results.
Until you get it all dialed in expect to push it home every now and then. Keep a meter in the toolbox, a friend on speed dial, and a rope under the seat.
The bottom pic is a harness that looks like it would plug into the top of the charger. I found it coiled up in a bag.
The steering is good, the brakes are good, the display was working it looked like a Speedo and voltage. I did not notice a multi color display and I found out why it has been removed. The head lights need to be replaced. I’ll add led lights. The previous owner stapled fabric over the seats. If the charger that is in the vehicle is toast then I will definitely need an on board charger. Charging each battery separately is going to take some time. Plus after a few wobbly pops at the camp ground we should keep it simple with just one plug in and done
It is. It takes input from a temp sensor connected to battery #1 or 2 (front batteries) and also feeds a tri-color led above the BDI indicator on the pod. You don’t need either function for the charger to work,
If your batteries are too low, it won’t kick on to charge.
The tri-color LED is just a single LED indicator, not a display. Perhaps it is still there(as a little pimple above your round display? Or is there a hole?
The harness does indeed plug into your charger, the thing with components sticking out is actually your batt temp sensor. Most are running without it.
Also on that same harness is a gray cable that is cut off? That WAS going up to your multi-colored LED I was referring to earlier. Or is there a little LED in the end of that wire? (difficult to tell from your pic).
When you plug in your charger do you hear a faint click? When your car is plugged in does your car turn on and move back and forth? (depending on how you answer this Q- there still may be hope)
The led is in the still in the display but the wires are broken off flush. Is there any other indication if the charger is working? I didn’t hear any noises and the fan never turned on
The car moves when plugged in both forwards and backwards. But no audible clicks from the charger
The fan always comes on with the charger. Either the fan is shot or the charger isn’t coming on.
My assumption is the car shouldn’t move while plugged in for safety reasons.
Seeing as how it drives when you are plugged in that tells me the charger is not recognizing that it is plugged in.
Does your charger INPUT cord have a plug on it up by the charger? Or is hard wired from the connector at the seat all the way up to the charger?
Is there any point to test if you are getting 120v into the charger?
The fan always comes on with the charger. Either the fan is shot or the charger isn’t coming on.
and if the fan is shot, the charger will be soon too.
Next step would be to dismount the charger and maybe take a peek inside. There is a fuse we can check. If it is blown, there is usually a reason WHY it chose to blow. Then you have to ask, “Do you feel lucky, Punk?”
I have an a/c voltage detector I ran it up near the charger and it had power to the charger. There is a plug up under the dash about 6 inches from the charger for a/c
AC detector is one thing. Having both a hot and common(return) is another.
Do you have a meter? If not, you should get one. It will be a very handy tool to have now that you own an electric car.
Well hells bells I want an ac/dc detector.
I checked the ac line at the plug under the dash just before the charger with my meter and have 120v
Ok- good. Do you have time to pull the charger and open it up?
Check this thing. Your input fuse is hidden in there.
Be mindful where you poke your fingers. They also make good ac/dc volt detectors.
Unless jrj was referring to the audio reference-
