KG1000G gifted to me.

[WRXU693]

Hello and hope y'all are doing well. I was gifted a KG-1000G. Awesome gift and very much appreciative. I already have two KG-1000G+ as both Base and Mobile stations. Also, an HT for RX/TX walking around the yard. I understand that golf carts don't have alternators (least mine don't) so what the radio pulls, it will come off the battery .... with no charging while engine running, as normal. Will this be worth trying. Thanks  

James

WRXU693

GCRN Wallace650

[Northcutt114]

The bigger problem that you are going to have is coming up with an antenna solution. There's little to no metal on a golf cart so you're ground plane is going to be garbage. What I would do is get an Ed Fong J-pole and put it in some PVC and then zip tie that to the front windshield frame. Or if you were so inclined, I suppose you could elevate it some. But as to whether or not it will work, yes, you'll just need to make sure you wire the radio in series to two batteries so you get the 12v. Positive to one battery, negative to the next one in the series. Make sure you have a fuse in line. 

That KG1000G is a 50 watt radio so depending on how much you're keying up, expect your run time to decrease.

 

[WRYZ926]

The Comet FC5NMO could work as it is a ground independent antenna, it does not require a ground plane. It is 37 inches tall.

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-fc5nmo

[LeoG]

I don't think the draw of the KG1000 is going to be any concern to the drive time of the cart.  How many batteries in the cart? Six?  You could put a small solar panel on the roof to help things along.

[WRYZ926]

It's been a long time since I worked on golf carts, I know back then the 36 volt carts usually had six 6V batteries in them.

I would use a step down converter to get from 36V to 12V versus trying to tap just 2 6V batteries to power a radio. Using a step down converter will be more efficient and less stress on batteries.

Here is an example of what I am talking about.

Nilight 48V 36V to 12V Voltage Converter 360W 30A Regulator Step Down to 12VDC

[AdmiralCochrane]

It may be beyond most people's skill level, but I would tap into 12v

[LeoG]

14 minutes ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

It may be beyond most people's skill level, but I would tap into 12v

So wouldn't I.  It'll put the batteries out of balance a bit, but not much.  The transmit current is around 8 amps.  The drive current is 50-150 amps depending on the load and speed of the cart.  It won't make much of a difference.  But if you are worried you can swap which two batteries you connect to once a week or so to try to keep the unbalance split between the batteries.

[WRXU693]

I apologize to the group. I did not mention but it's a 12v system, gas burner engine.

[WRXU693]

1 hour ago, LeoG said:

I don't think the draw of the KG1000 is going to be any concern to the drive time of the cart.  How many batteries in the cart? Six?  You could put a small solar panel on the roof to help things along.

One 12v battery. I plan on (if I TX a lot) at the end of the day, placing the unit on a battery tender.  

[LeoG]

Well that's different.  That'll deplete the battery quicker seeing it's likely just a starter battery.  But a solar panel and a solar controller would top it off while you were out and about.

[WRXU693]

1 minute ago, LeoG said:

Well that's different.  That'll deplete the battery quicker seeing it's likely just a starter battery.  But a solar panel and a solar controller would top it off while you were out and about.

Thanks

 

[WRXU693]

3 hours ago, Northcutt114 said:

The bigger problem that you are going to have is coming up with an antenna solution. There's little to no metal on a golf cart so you're ground plane is going to be garbage. What I would do is get an Ed Fong J-pole and put it in some PVC and then zip tie that to the front windshield frame. Or if you were so inclined, I suppose you could elevate it some. But as to whether or not it will work, yes, you'll just need to make sure you wire the radio in series to two batteries so you get the 12v. Positive to one battery, negative to the next one in the series. Make sure you have a fuse in line. 

That KG1000G is a 50 watt radio so depending on how much you're keying up, expect your run time to decrease.

 

Thanks man. My experience with ground planes has been irrelevant. Tried them all. I've had centered NMO roof mounts for ground plane and hood mounted with an NMO bracket with no ground plane application. Both perform the same at range. UHF ground plane doesn't really matter .... LOS does matter. My humbled opinion.    

[WRXU693]

3 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

The Comet FC5NMO could work as it is a ground independent antenna, it does not require a ground plane. It is 37 inches tall.

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-fc5nmo

Good looking antenna and thanks for the recommendation. I wish the review(s) were better though. I'm sure DX will fix that. It says it's "coiled designed", but the picture is hard to see. Is it spring mounted?

[tcp2525]

5 hours ago, WRXU693 said:

I apologize to the group. I did not mention but it's a 12v system, gas burner engine.

Thank you for putting that out there as I didn't want to answer till I was sure of exactly what you have, as I also assumed it was electric. My Club Car golf cart is electric and it uses a DC-DC converter to run 12v accessories. Since you have a gas burner, which is great, it has a charging system. Just hook up the radio and be happy as the current draw when receiving is extremely low, which is what you'll be doing 99% of the time. And I'm sure your transmissions aren't going to be long winded most of the time, so it's not an issue..

As for the antenna, I'm assuming the gold cart has a roof? If so, fabricate a mounting bracket and mount your favorite antenna to the roof pillar and check SWR to tune accordingly. Keep in mind that needing a ground plane is extremely overrated and one shouldn't lose their mind over this mythical creature. No need to overthink this and your antenna will perform relatively well and you can use that wasted energy and time to worry about something else.

[tcp2525]

5 hours ago, WRXU693 said:

Thanks man. My experience with ground planes has been irrelevant. Tried them all. I've had centered NMO roof mounts for ground plane and hood mounted with an NMO bracket with no ground plane application. Both perform the same at range. UHF ground plane doesn't really matter .... LOS does matter. My humbled opinion.    

You nailed it! That has been my experience as well in over 50 years. Sure, we all want perfection, but one has to consider the cost as all situations won't yield perfect circumstances to achieve it.

[SteveShannon]

10 hours ago, WRXU693 said:

Hello and hope y'all are doing well. I was gifted a KG-1000G. Awesome gift and very much appreciative. I already have two KG-1000G+ as both Base and Mobile stations. Also, an HT for RX/TX walking around the yard. I understand that golf carts don't have alternators (least mine don't) so what the radio pulls, it will come off the battery .... with no charging while engine running, as normal. Will this be worth trying. Thanks  

James

WRXU693

GCRN Wallace650

Hi James,

I don’t know which model or vintage of Club Car cart you have, but at least some models do have a charging system.  You’re correct that it’s not an alternator, but the starter motor doubles as a generator in order to recharge the battery capacity that was depleted when starting and to support some  electrical devices. You might see running voltages change as the voltage regulator switches on and off.

 

[WRYZ926]

You can always check the battery voltage when the engine is off and then when it it running to see how many volts the starter-generator puts out.

I do have one question. Does the engine run all of the time or does it stop when you are not moving?

I know some carts will shut the engine off when you aren't actually moving. I don't remember if the older Club Cars are that way or not. That will have to be taken into account.

[WRUE951]

unless you plan on spending your life in that golf cart yacking away plug your radio in and talk away..   My HAM buddy in Lincoln had a HAM rig in his Golf cart.  We wold play 18 holes on the Del Web course, him yacking on the radio every time he had a chance, a put to the club for refreshments and the ride home.. No problem.  You are gong to have it on the charger every day anyway..  Don't worry about it 

[tcp2525]

1 minute ago, WRUE951 said:

unless you plan on spending your life in that golf cart yacking away plug your radio in and talk away..   My HAM buddy in Lincoln had a HAM rig in his Golf cart.  We wold play 18 holes on the Del Web course, him yacking on the radio every time he had a chance, a put to the club for refreshments and the ride home.. No problem.  You are gong to have it on the charger every day anyway..  Don't worry about it 

Ah, finally a very simplistic and not overly complicated answer to a simple problem. I am not sure why he needs to put it on a battery tender at the end of the day as the charging system in these Club Cars are more than adequate. Since he will be yakking on his new radio he would definitely benefit from using the tender to prolong battery life. 

[WRYZ926]

7 hours ago, WRXU693 said:

Good looking antenna and thanks for the recommendation. I wish the review(s) were better though. I'm sure DX will fix that. It says it's "coiled designed", but the picture is hard to see. Is it spring mounted?

I did some research and could only find very few reviews of the Comet FC5 antenna. And there was only one review on DX Engineering. I don't have any experience with that model but I do have two Comet 2x4SR antennas and they have held up just fine and work well. One is on the top of my truck cab and the other is on my SxS. I have knocked them off when hitting a big enough branch when using a magnet mount. 

[nokones]

The golf cars do have a charging system or the battery would discharge too many times and piss off the old people.

Also, Laird/T E Connectivity has non-ground plane antennae in various styles from base loadcoils to Phantoms. I use their non-ground plane antennae with great success and they tune very well.

[WRYZ926]

For the Club Car gurus.

Do the gas versions use a standard automotive type battery or  motorcycle type battery?

I would be a bit worried if it's a small motorcycle battery. I have had issues in the past with adding 12v accessories on motorcycles and UTV's in the past with such small batteries.

[tcp2525]

6 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

For the Club Car gurus.

Do the gas versions use a standard automotive type battery or  motorcycle type battery?

I would be a bit worried if it's a small motorcycle battery. I have had issues in the past with adding 12v accessories on motorcycles and UTV's in the past with such small batteries.

They generally take a smaller size automotive battery, but I have found out a good quality motorcycle battery on my Goldwings has never let me down when transmitting 50 watts. Obviously, the Goldwing has a much more powerful charging system than a golf cart.

[nokones]

21 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

For the Club Car gurus.

Do the gas versions use a standard automotive type battery or  motorcycle type battery?

I would be a bit worried if it's a small motorcycle battery. I have had issues in the past with adding 12v accessories on motorcycles and UTV's in the past with such small batteries.

Depends, they are usually special batteries for Golf Car applications.

Some are 6 volt single or 12 volt single wet cell non-sealed batteries, (type depends on the model year) that requires refilling the cells with distilled water. The newer gasoline cars are using AGM and Lithium batteries.

The Electric Golf Cars are either a 32 volt system, depending on the year model mostly older models, or a 48 volt system for the newer models. The batteries are specific Golf Car 8 volt batteries and are well cells and not sealed. You have to maintain/ service the batteries every 2-4 weeks refilling the cells with distilled water whichnis contingent on the charging cycles.

All Golf Cars have some type of an external connection port to connect either an AC cord to charge the battery (ies) using the on-board charging unit or a proprietary external/wall-mount charger.

[WRYZ926]

The 1500 and 1800 Goldwings use an external automotive alternator while other motorcycles, ATV, UTV and other small engines use a stator and rotor system. Stator and rotor systems will never charge as well as an external alternator.

[WRYZ926]

1 minute ago, nokones said:

Depends.

Some are 6 volt single or 12 volt single wet cell non-sealed batteries, (type depends on the model year) that requires refilling the cells with distilled water. The newer gasoline cars are using AGM and Lithium batteries.

The Electric Golf Cars are either a 32 volt system, depending on the year model mostly older models, or a 48 volt system for the newer models. The batteries are specific Golf Car 8 volt batteries and are well cells and not sealed. You have to maintain/ service the batteries every 2-4 weeks refilling the cells with distilled water whichnis contingent on the charging cycles.

All Golf Cars have some type of an external connection port to connect either an AC cord to charge the battery (ies) using the on-board charging unit or a proprietary external/wall-mount charger.

All of the electric golf carts I have ever worked on were either 36 volts or 48 volts. And the vast majority use 6 volt batteries. You get higher amp hour rating when using more 6 volt batteries versus fewer 12 volt batteries. 

The military does the same, they use multiple 12 volt batteries instead of fewer 24 volt batteries.