48 volt golf cart battery diagram: six 8V, four 12V, eight 6V

A 48 volt golf cart battery diagram comes down to one rule: the negative post of each battery connects to the positive post of the next, and the two posts left over at the ends of the chain take the main positive and main negative cables. Six 8V, four 12V and eight 6V are all wired that way. The tables below show every connection for each layout, then the places where Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha differ.

Of the golf cart battery guides, this is the wiring one. The 48 volt battery page explains why your cart has the layout it has and which set to buy for it, the cables page has gauge and lengths, and the battery calculator is where to go if the reason you are in here is a set that has died.

1. Photograph the pack and set the cart to Tow

Before you disconnect anything, take a photo from directly above with the seat up. It shows the orientation of every battery and the path of every cable, and it is the diagram you will actually use at the end. Then set a Club Car or EZGO RXV Tow/Run switch to Tow, and unplug the charger.

Remove the main negative cable first, then the main positive. From then on the pack cannot push current through the controller, and a dropped wrench shorts one battery instead of the cart.

2. Six 8V in series

Six 8V is the common 48V layout: Club Car DS from 1995, Precedent from mid-2008, Onward, Tempo, the EZGO TXT48 from 2010, and the Yamaha G19, G22, 2011 and later Drive and Drive2. Number the batteries 1 to 6 in the order they sit along the chain.

Cable	From	To	Voltage you should read, B1 positive to this post
Main positive	Solenoid (battery side)	Battery 1 positive	0
Jumper 1	Battery 1 negative	Battery 2 positive	about 8.4
Jumper 2	Battery 2 negative	Battery 3 positive	about 16.8
Jumper 3	Battery 3 negative	Battery 4 positive	about 25.2
Jumper 4	Battery 4 negative	Battery 5 positive	about 33.6
Jumper 5	Battery 5 negative	Battery 6 positive	about 42
Main negative	Battery 6 negative	Controller B minus (through the OBC ring on Club Car)	about 50.5

Five jumpers, two mains. Each battery has one post that goes forward and one that goes back, and at the ends of the chain one post on battery 1 and one on battery 6 take the mains.

3. Four 12V in series

Four 12V is the EZGO RXV layout, and it is what the 2004 to mid-2008 Club Car Precedent and the 2007 to 2010 Yamaha Drive left the factory with as standard. Fewer cables and a shorter chain.

Cable	From	To	Voltage, B1 positive to this post
Main positive	Solenoid	Battery 1 positive	0
Jumper 1	Battery 1 negative	Battery 2 positive	about 12.7
Jumper 2	Battery 2 negative	Battery 3 positive	about 25.4
Jumper 3	Battery 3 negative	Battery 4 positive	about 38
Main negative	Battery 4 negative	Controller B minus	about 50.8

If you are putting four 12V batteries into a six-slot tray as a budget swap, the chain is the same; two slots sit empty and the long jumper usually has to be longer than the factory one. The 12 volt battery page covers that swap.

4. Eight 6V in series

Eight 6V is the long-range option Yamaha offers on the Drive and Drive2; six 8V is Yamaha’s standard set. Seven jumpers and the longest chain.

Cable	From	To	Voltage, B1 positive to this post
Main positive	Solenoid	Battery 1 positive	0
Jumper 1	Battery 1 negative	Battery 2 positive	about 6.3
Jumper 2	Battery 2 negative	Battery 3 positive	about 12.6
Jumper 3	Battery 3 negative	Battery 4 positive	about 19
Jumper 4	Battery 4 negative	Battery 5 positive	about 25.3
Jumper 5	Battery 5 negative	Battery 6 positive	about 31.6
Jumper 6	Battery 6 negative	Battery 7 positive	about 38
Jumper 7	Battery 7 negative	Battery 8 positive	about 44.3
Main negative	Battery 8 negative	Controller B minus	about 50.6

Yamaha trays put four batteries in each of two rows, so jumper 4 is the long one that crosses between rows.

5. Connect the jumpers, then check with the meter

Set the batteries in the tray in the orientation from your photo. In a factory layout the posts alternate so that each jumper is short and runs straight; if a jumper has to stretch or cross another cable, a battery is probably turned around.

Fit the jumpers in order, 1 through the last, with the lug flat on the post and the nut torqued to about 95 to 105 inch-pounds, which is Trojan’s spec and about 8 foot-pounds. Then, before the mains go on, put the meter’s black probe on battery 1 positive and walk the red probe down the chain. The reading should climb by one battery’s voltage at each step and finish near 50 volts at the last negative post. A step that does not climb is a jumper on the wrong post; a step that drops is a battery in backwards.

Connect the main positive to battery 1, then the main negative to the last battery. Expect a small click from the controller. Coat every terminal, switch to Run, and charge fully before the first drive. The charging page has what to expect from the charger.

6. The 12V accessory tap problem

Lights, a horn, a stereo and a USB port all want 12V, and the oldest way to get it was to clip them across one or two batteries in the string. Across one 12V battery you get 12V; across two 6V you get 12V; across two 8V you get 16V, which shortens bulb life and is too much for most stereos. So the tap only even works on two of the three layouts.

Where it works, it still ruins the set. The tapped batteries supply the accessories on top of their share of the motor, so they run down further than the rest. The charger sees one 48V string and charges it as one, so the tapped batteries never quite reach full and the others are overcharged every night to get the pack voltage up. The tapped batteries fail first, usually inside two seasons, and the set goes with them.

The answer is a voltage reducer, a DC-DC converter that takes 48V from the main positive and main negative and puts out a regulated 12V. The whole string shares the accessory load evenly and the charger stays honest. Size it at 20 to 30 amps for a light kit, horn and stereo; a 30A import unit is about $30 to $70 and is in the picks, and a Reliance from a golf cart parts shop is about $85 to $115. The price follows the brand and the seller more than the amp rating. Fuse its input close to the pack. The light kit guide covers the accessory side of that wiring.

7. Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha differences

The series rule is the same on every cart. What differs is where the batteries sit, where the mains go, and one Club Car detail that stops the charger if you get it wrong.

Club Car DS (1995 and later) and the mid-2008 and later Precedent carry six 8V in two rows of three; the 2004 to mid-2008 Precedent carries four 12V with the electronics between the batteries. The main positive runs to the solenoid; the main negative runs to the controller. On carts with the on-board computer, which is every 48V DS and Precedents until the ERIC charging system arrived around 2014, the main negative passes through a ring on the OBC that senses charge current. Route the cable through the ring. If it bypasses the ring, the charger will not start. Later Precedents, Onward and Tempo dropped the OBC and the ring. Set the Tow/Run switch to Tow before disconnecting anything.

EZGO TXT48 carries six 8V in two rows of three with the long jumper crossing at one end. The main positive goes to the solenoid and the main negative to the controller’s B minus. There is no OBC and no ring. The RXV carries four 12V in a two-by-two block, has a Tow/Run switch of its own under the seat, and must be in Tow to roll with the power off because the motor brake locks otherwise.

Yamaha G19, G22, Drive and Drive2 carry six 8V as standard. Drives and Drive2s built with the long-range option carry eight 6V in two rows of four, and most 2007 to 2010 Drives carry four 12V. Yamaha’s main cables run to the solenoid and controller in the same way; the Drive has a Tow/Run switch under the seat on the passenger side. The long jumper between the rows is the one owners most often get wrong when a cable set is bought for the wrong year, so order by model year.

The fitment pages for Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha have the serial plate locations if the year is in doubt.

When to stop and call a shop

If a cable gets hot or a terminal sparks after the mains are on, disconnect the main negative at once and re-check every jumper against the table; the usual cause is a battery turned around or a jumper that landed positive to positive, which puts two batteries in parallel and shorts them through each other. If the set is wired right, reads about 50 volts, and the cart still will not move or charge, the fault is in the solenoid, controller, OBC or receptacle and a shop will find it faster than you will. A lithium pack has its own wiring and its own instructions; follow the maker’s and not this page.