A flooded GC2 set is six or eight 6-volt batteries that will need water for as long as you own them.
The answer for a new flooded GC2 set
Charge first, then add distilled water to just cover the plates. Do this monthly in hot, humid weather, and any time the cart comes out of storage.
Do not equalize them unless the charger manual gives you that mode for this voltage, and never equalize on day one to ‘wake them up’ beyond what the manual says.
The $18 core on each GC2 is refunded when the old batteries come back. Keep the caps on those old batteries.
If nobody in the house will do the water, stop and buy the AGM GC2 instead of promising yourself a maintenance habit.
Hold that answer while you read the shop notes under it. The notes are the same rules we use on every cart. The answer above is the part that is specific to a new flooded GC2 set.
A lift kit does not change voltage
Bigger tires and a lift pull more amps. They make a marginal pack feel worse on hills and at speed. They do not turn a 48-volt cart into a 72-volt cart, and they do not turn a 36-volt cart into a 48-volt cart. If you want more torque, you are in controller and voltage territory that has to be designed, not guessed in a battery article.
Buy the pack voltage the cart has now, in an amp-hour size that can feed the extra work, and keep the cables tight. Tell us about the lift and the tire size when you ask for a fit, because it explains a complaint. It does not change the bracket.
Series and parallel are different words
The batteries already in a 36-volt or 48-volt lead cart are in series. Voltage adds. Amp-hours do not. Allied Drop-in-Ready 48-volt modules are the exception we sell on purpose: they are designed to be paralleled, voltage stays 48, and capacity adds, and they require Allied’s 500-amp disconnect. Do not parallel random 48-volt lithium batteries from two brands because a forum said capacity adds.
Do not series two 48-volt lithium packs to ‘make 96 volts’ for a cart. That is a different vehicle than the one you have, and it is a good way to destroy a controller. Stay with the voltage the cart was built for unless a named kit and a controller plan say otherwise.
Lights, stereos, and other 12-volt loads
Headlights, a stereo, a fan, a USB port, and a windshield wiper are 12-volt loads. On a lead pack they were often taken from two batteries in the string, which is hard on those two batteries. On a lithium pack they come from the converter. A converter that is missing or undersized shows up as dim lights or a cart that runs with no accessories.
Those loads also spend amp-hours. A cart used at night for neighborhood errands is a different energy job than nine holes at noon. We still will not invent a mile claim. We will say: size the pack for the day you actually drive, and put the converter on the order if the kit does not list one.
AGM and flooded are both lead-acid
AGM costs more up front and does not get watered. Flooded costs less and lasts when someone actually waters it. Both are lead-acid. Both want a full charge after you drive. Both take a lead-acid charger, not a lithium charger. Both carry the $18 core on every battery.
An AGM battery that you decide to ‘maintain’ with a watering jug is ruined. A flooded battery that never gets water is also ruined. Pick the one the household will actually live with. Neither choice is a lithium conversion, and neither one removes the need to match voltage and terminal style.
Allied packages and Drop-in-Ready modules
Allied commercial packages are a conversion in one box: battery, waterproof lithium charger, charging harness, 4-gauge cables, hardware, and brackets on most batteries. The RS line adds Allied’s remote power button. Allied Lithium packages ship free to the lower 48, like every lithium golf cart kit we sell.
Drop-in-Ready batteries are single 48-volt modules you can parallel, so you can start with one and add range later. Allied requires its 500-amp disconnect on those installs and includes the switch with orders of two or more DIR batteries. Installing DIR batteries without that disconnect voids the warranty. Five or eight years, depending on the line, is the warranty language on the listings we have seen. The product page is the current term.
Warranties are not all 10 years
Read the warranty that belongs to the brand in the cart. Bedrock kits are 10 years transferable. BOLT is 12 years transferable. ECO listings we carry state a limited lifetime warranty. Allied listings we have seen state 5 or 8 years depending on the line. EPOCH golf listings we carry state 11 years. Dakota deep-cycle listings are mostly 11 years, with shorter terms on chargers. Vatrer listings we carry state 10 years. Lithium Rhino kits are 8 years. BigBattery lists 12 years on the Husky 2. Trojan Lithium lists 10 years. Interstate’s LIGC48V100 is 60 months of a 10-year limited warranty. Antigravity starting batteries we carry state 3 years.
A longer warranty is not a fitment. The bracket still has to match the tray. Register the warranty the way that brand asks. We will not stretch one brand’s term onto another brand in an email.
Charging lithium in the cold
Lithium iron phosphate batteries should not be charged below freezing unless the pack is a heated model and the heater has the pack above freezing. Bedrock offers heated versions. Ask about lead time. Do not assume the kit on the page is the heated one.
A lead-acid battery can be charged in colder weather, and a discharged lead-acid battery can freeze and crack. Store a lead pack fully charged if the cart will sit in a freeze. Store a lithium pack at a partial state of charge if the manufacturer says so, and bring it inside the heated space before you charge it. A garage that is below freezing overnight is a real condition in the mountains and on the Cumberland plateau. It is not a reason to pour hot water on a battery.
Solenoids, clicks, and Curtis Albright
A click when you press the pedal means something tried to close the main contactor. It does not, by itself, mean the pack is done. If pack voltage holds under that load and the cart does not move, look at the solenoid, the key switch, the direction switch, and the safety switches. A solenoid that is welded shut can make the cart creep with the key on. A solenoid that clicks and drops out will not carry motor current.
Curtis Albright heavy-duty contactors are the upgrade when a high-amp controller and a lithium pack pull more current than the original solenoid was built for. A solenoid is a part. It does not add amp-hours. Do not buy one to cure a battery that sags from 50 volts to the 30s under load. That cart needs a pack, or a cable, not a bigger relay.
Parts and pages that match this
- Fitment guide
- Shop
- Lead-acid vs lithium
- Shipping
- Returns
- Warranty
- Contact
- Chargers
- Parts
- 48V/72V converter
- Flooded batteries
- 6V batteries
- Battery sets
- Interstate Batteries
The price for a new flooded GC2 set is the price on the product page, not a number in this article. Lithium golf cart kits from every brand we sell ship free to the lower 48 by curbside truck freight. Parts, chargers and small batteries ship free on orders of $150 or more, or $14.95 below that. Interstate lead-acid batteries ship on a freight quote: we call you with the price before we charge shipping. We ship a new flooded GC2 set. We do not list a storefront address. Local delivery is only the area named on the shipping page. A city page on this site is not a statement that a driver covers that city.
