Golf cart batteries

[Patric]

I am looking to replace the house batteries. Costco' are a little taller than the stock ones. Costco also doesn't have the regular post. It has some funky post that starts off like a regular one but then has a stud at the top. I seem to recall there is a post you can screw on these but the Costco guy said they didn't have them.

Has anybody converted their similar year bird to use the larger 220 ah 6- volt?

Sam's has the smaller ones that will be a straight swap.

P.s. I have read the posts about AGM.

[Clueless]

Originally Posted by Patric

I am looking to replace the house batteries. Costco' are a little taller than the stock ones. Costco also doesn't have the regular post. It has some funky post that starts off like a regular one but then has a stud at the top. I seem to recall there is a post you can screw on these but the Costco guy said they didn't have them.

Has anybody converted their similar year bird to use the larger 220 ah 6- volt?

Sam's has the smaller ones that will be a straight swap.

P.s. I have read the posts about AGM.

I shopped all over for the "right posts". Sam's, Costco, Batteries Plus, all had the wing nut posts. Not sure about Interstate because no one had any to look at. Finally bought from NAPA. Have (and needed) both conventional and wing nut posts, so I didn't need new cables.

[Patric]

Originally Posted by Clueless

I shopped all over for the "right posts". Sam's, Costco, Batteries Plus, all had the wing nut posts. Not sure about Interstate because no one had any to look at. Finally bought from NAPA. Have (and needed) both conventional and wing nut posts, so I didn't need new cables.

Sam's has posts with the wing nut on top and Costco has a funny half post that you can either use with a wing nut or screw on adapter to make a traditional post.

My problem is the t105 is to big. My batteries have no ID but they are smaller. I think I am going to have to make a new battery tray. Should be easy as there is plenty of room. anybody know what batteries I might have?

FYI - I checked out Batteries Plus
http://www.batteriesplus.com/

They have 04 welding cable available by the foot with all the possible terminations and shrink wrap. They said if I bring my specs and buy supplies from them they will make all my cables for no extra charge!

Not sure if this is a Reno thing - but if you have one in your area it might be worth asking. Save buying that $200 crimper!

[Joatha]

Originally Posted by Clueless

I shopped all over for the "right posts". Sam's, Costco, Batteries Plus, all had the wing nut posts. Not sure about Interstate because no one had any to look at. Finally bought from NAPA. Have (and needed) both conventional and wing nut posts, so I didn't need new cables.

I have Interstate 6V golf cart batteries in my SOB. They are also wing nut posts. Just an FYI...

[GreenBird]

Here's a couple good old fashioned 6V industrial deep cycle batteries

[Patric]

Originally Posted by GreenBird

Here's a couple good old fashioned 6V industrial deep cycle batteries

These are the same size as Costco and Sam's. (GC-2). I think I will be better off making my battery box fit this standard size then I don't have to worry about chasing down some odd group size in the future.

[Rose Mary]

I just bought 6 volt golf cart batteries at costco a few weeks ago, $74 each, Kirkland brand and they fit perfectly.
Rose Mary
82 FC

[Patric]

Thought I would update this post with my project. The new tray is in and all the batteries are installed with new cabling and a battery disconnect. I used the Blue Sea e9003. Sorry forgot to take before photos - it was just 2 cheap 12-volt starter batteries bouncing around the old tray.

http://bluesea.com/category/1/productline/3

Cabling is 4-0 welding cable from Batteries Plus where they let me hang out in the back and use their tools to make up my own cables. I made up mock cables using copper house wiring so each bend and the length of each cable was known when I went to make the cables.

They didn't carry heat shrink though so had to do that later. I still have a couple ends to heat shrink as I ran out. There is one advantage to doing the heat shrinking after installation. All the the cables have the required bends after you install then remove to heat shrink. The heat shrink I used is pretty tough and would make it difficult to start a bend at the terminus.

The battery tray ended up 2-inches below the bumper (looks more in the picture because of the angle). If I was doing this again I would make it even with the bumper. I will have to remember to be careful with steep driveways. I may cut 2-inches off the tray and move things up in the future. It would make things tighter but it would still work.

I added a bus in case I want to pull battery power off for anything else in the future (on the downhill side of the disconnect - so everything is off when the switch is pulled).

Future projects to complete this include:

1. A jumper plug and making a set of cables.
2. Installing a starter battery under the passenger side front just behind the bumper. There is room but I will have to make a tray that drops straight down for access.
3. Isolating this pack for just house use.
4. An LED light to be able to see the switch at night?

[rselin]

Looks good!

[Rick]

Nice Job!