Why are GEMs so popular?
they’re cute… although the marketing has not been good in my opinion… the dealers here in the area… until a Polaris dealer took on the brand and has a couple out on the street lot… have hidden their inventory hidden or no inventory at all… they use golf carts to show their cars not a GEM car… some how the brand has survived probably Chrysler … we’ve seen other inexpensive electric cars come and fade away… people who ask me about the cost of the GEM are surprised… although it is only for neighborhoods I think they have a place in cities and hope to be one to spread the word
Bob
I think GEM will soon loose the popularity it once had when people find out that in my opinion Polaris could care less about GEMs… Barry Chico, CA.
My experience with GEM (Polaris) has been similar to Barry’s. I called them to ask about a problem with my GEM’s DC-DC converter and was given only the ‘party line’, “Call your GEM dealer”. I suspect that GEM tech support was not inherited from GEM when Polaris moved the company to Iowa. My impression is that all GEM owners who purchased the previous generation (2002 - 2004 and possibly up to 2007) are out of luck as far as parts support for anything unique to those model years. The newer GEMs are apparently still supported but Polaris has apparently decided not to offer any technical support to anyone (including their dealers).
This looks like a significant bump in the road for the GEM in my opinion. Dealers I’ve been to have no stock displayed and no parts inventory. Part numbers have changed to Polaris numbers and their availability, while fairly complete, is limited to 2011+ models.
Fortunately, we’ve got an excellent list of alternative parts sources here on the forum. We’re going to need it to keep supporting the older models such as my 2002 eL. I was lucky to find the OEM supplier of DC-DC converters still has about 200 of them in stock and ordered a replacement this week for my failed open-frame converter. If not for the on-line parts manuals and the alternative sources list I would have been out-of-luck.
First, I must admit that I’m afraid to write any thing here because Polaris might sue me for slander. That said, I have done a lot of googling and have found that Polaris is there to make a buck. They don’t care about their employees, their dealers,and especially their customers. I really love my GEM. I became frustrated when I was driving down the road and the car slowed down and the dreaded turtle lit up on the dash board. Since I love my GEM I bought it it’s own trailer. Mine you now I’m not rich. I’m a school janitor. Any way I loaded it up and took it to my local GEM dealer, Polaris. I was met by the nice owner and was introduced to the big burley service writer. I told him of the problem including that the charger was flashing 2 red lights. I was charged $37 to have the batteries checked with a volt meter (I already did that with my volt meter). They said the batteries were ok and they only saw green, no red. I figured out that they have had no training (as confirmed by the tech). They said that the factory told this was the way to check the batteries. It isn’t. They don’t have the proper tester. After talking to several morons in the customer service in the Iowa factory they said that won’t have the dealer buy the(as quoted from the Polaris/gem tool manual) "essential battery tester and that I should take my car to an unauthorized repair shop that is 100 miles from my house (thank god I have a trailer). And now they are done with me. I have decided to buy a Bat Six System to check the batteries. No, I have no love for Polaris. I’ll end now, but I could go on for ever. Barry
Go to Harbor Freight (or its local equivalent) and buy yourself a battery load-tester. It has a meter which shows the voltage under a load. That’s the only way to do a quick go/no-go test on a battery. It will immediately find the battery or batteries with bad cells or an open cell. When you test with a load, the meter shows what’s going on as the amps rise and volts decrease. A bad battery (even if showing 13+ volts with no load) will show as dead or in the red-zone on the meter under a load.
Another useful tool for flooded-cell batteries is a specific gravity meter. There are several types from the cheapo one with colored balls floating to the expensive polarimeter-type with the glass slide you wet with a drop of electrolyte. In-between are the glass tubes with the thermometer and floating glass gauge (fragile though it may be).
Get the right tools for the job and learn how to use them. As you’ve found out, you’re on your own diagnosing your GEM now that Polaris has taken over… Oh, and ask us here for help. There’s plenty of folks here who know these things in and out. I’m just learning but I’ve got a wealth of related experience.
Barry when I bought my GEM there were two dealers one about 25 miles north the other 90 miles south… I started with a mobile golf cart guy then went to a garage that had worked on my '51 that I sold to buy the GEM… although they aren’t GEM mechanics they have worked thru all my issues… complete brake job… changing lines and master cylinder… charger… and a bunch of other toys I added to the car… you might ask around in your area
Bob
First, I must admit that I’m afraid to write any thing here because Polaris might sue me for slander. That said, I have done a lot of googling and have found that Polaris is there to make a buck. They don’t care about their employees, their dealers,and especially their customers. I really love my GEM. I became frustrated when I was driving down the road and the car slowed down and the dreaded turtle lit up on the dash board. Since I love my GEM I bought it it’s own trailer. Mine you now I’m not rich. I’m a school janitor. Any way I loaded it up and took it to my local GEM dealer, Polaris. I was met by the nice owner and was introduced to the big burley service writer. I told him of the problem including that the charger was flashing 2 red lights. I was charged $37 to have the batteries checked with a volt meter (I already did that with my volt meter). They said the batteries were ok and they only saw green, no red. I figured out that they have had no training (as confirmed by the tech). They said that the factory told this was the way to check the batteries. It isn’t. They don’t have the proper tester. After talking to several morons in the customer service in the Iowa factory they said that won’t have the dealer buy the(as quoted from the Polaris/gem tool manual) "essential battery tester and that I should take my car to an unauthorized repair shop that is 100 miles from my house (thank god I have a trailer). And now they are done with me. I have decided to buy a Bat Six System to check the batteries. No, I have no love for Polaris. I’ll end now, but I could go on for ever. Barry
Bob and Bob. Thanks! I have Deka gel batteries. When they were tested with a regular load tester they just smoked because they need to be load tested with a 72 volt tester. No one in my town has this tester. The dealer is supposed to have one. They cost close to $1000.00. The cheap dealer doesn’t realize that they could charge $80 for each test. In California it is not legal for golf cart repair shops to work on licensed cars. So I don’t have that option. I used to have a guy come to my house in a van that had any part you would need to repair any GEM. It cost me $80 dollars for his travel time and $80 dollars for an hour worth of any work. He was factory trained (Fargo) and had the proper battery tester. Polaris got rid of all of those vans. Some dealers have their own vans. The closest van would cost me $255 dollars for travel only. I long for the good old Fargo days… I can’t even drive to my dealer even though it is close by because they are located on a 40mph road. In CA I can only drive on roads up to 35mph. Thank god for my trailer. Barry
Barry I understand… don’t have any ideas… as you can tell from some of my posts I really don’t understand my car… I am happy with its performance so far… there are days it name changes and I do kick it but it and it costs me money but over all I’m happy that I chose a GEM car over all the other cars in its price range
Bob
[QUOTE=Barry;14836]Bob and Bob. Thanks! I have Deka gel batteries. When they were tested with a regular load tester they just smoked because they need to be load tested with a 72 volt tester.[/quote]No they don’t. You test each individual battery, not the whole pack at once.
[QUOTE=Barry;14836]No one in my town has this tester. The dealer is supposed to have one. They cost close to $1000.00.[/quote]But they don’t NEED a $1000 load-tester to test each of the six 12-volt Deka batteries by themselves. They only need to use their regular 12 volt tester 6 times (once for each battery) to find the bad one. It does have to be capable of testing a group-31 deep-cycle battery though. AGM batteries can easily produce 400 Amps for several minutes. You use a load-tester in short bursts - not continuously. Sounds like the “mechanic” doesn’t know how to use a load-tester.
Barry, it sounds like you need to find yourself a good mechanic. There’s nothing mysterious about a 72 volt electric ‘golf cart’ that a decent mechanic can’t figure out. Batteries are batteries. Haven’t changed much in over a hundred years. Your Deka AGM batteries are just the same as any other Absorbed Glass Mat battery - just a little bigger.
There’s 3 things in the GEM that the mechanic might not have seen before: Speed controller, Charger and DC-DC converter. That’s it. Everything else is the same as any car he’s ever worked on. If you can’t find a local mechanic who will take the time to learn how to fix your GEM, you should probably learn yourself or find someone else who will help you.
If you’re worried about a golf-cart place not working on it, take your plates off and trailer it to them. Don’t tell them it’s registered and they’re OK to work on it.
Does the fact that my batteries are gel and not agm make a difference? I have been told this by the local Trojan dealer (Battery Systems).
What year is your GEM? The Delta Q likes the gel more than the agm
My GEM is a 2007 E2 red with a heater 2 fans, back up light, power outlet, windshield washer, stake back, Chrome hub caps and round black tires. Lol. I still want a permanent radio. Barry
Think you’ll have less trouble battery wise with the Dekas
[QUOTE=Barry;14840]Does the fact that my batteries are gel and not agm make a difference? I have been told this by the local Trojan dealer (Battery Systems).[/QUOTE]No difference. Just find a mechanic who’s not a total ■■■■■ and can use a freakin’ load-tester without blowing it or the car up. You might try an auto-electric place or a battery distributor to see if the batteries are indeed OK or not. When was the last time you replaced your batteries? If you bought the 2007 GEM new it’s now 5+ years old. That’s about as long a life as you can expect on a set of batteries.
Might be a charging problem - might be a bad battery (or the whole set) - might be a bad controller. You won’t know till some tests are done to rule out 2 of those 3 items.
Here’s a tip: Put a “signature” in your profile (under the User CP button) so we’ll know what car you have and avoid all the questions about which brand, model and year you’re talking about.
The batteries are from 10/2010
Best feature of GEM electric car that i like, it does not requires any specialized equipment for charging the battery.
Well - yes and no. The GEM battery chargers (at least 3 different brands) are pretty advanced. They’re 3 or 4-stage chargers with pre-programmed charging profiles to match the batteries in your GEM. A frequent cause of grief is that the charger doesn’t completely charge the pack or doesn’t trickle-charge it when the car is seldom used.
Ride-4-Fun sells an optimized charger for the GEM and if you’re lucky enough to have a Zivan NG-1 charger you can send it to their US distributor for reprogramming/updating to the latest charge profiles and re-cycle timer. IMHO, the Zivan is the charger to have.