The Fire Down Below

One thing I am NOT proficient in is mechanical repairs.

Two weeks ago, we bought a dorm refrigerator for my college-bound youngest daughter. Unfortunately, it leaked in our garage, shorting out the electrical system on our golf cart and the charger it was hooked up to.

I was looking at over $600 in repairs. I made the decision that, mechanically incompetent or not, I'd try and rewire the golf cart myself. How hard could it be?

Not too hard, as it turned out. I spent Sunday rewiring the harness and using a 12 volt auto charger to "jump start" the 6 volt golf cart batteries two at a time. Tested my handiwork out with a quick spin around the neighborhood and went to bed happy and smug.

I decided to take the cart to Lake Peachtree at the crack of dawn this morning to run around the lake. I was three miles away from my house when I smelled the unmistakeable odor of ozone and burning wiring.

Uh Oh.

The instrument panel flickered twice on the cart and I lost all power going up a somewhat steep hill.....and began rolling backwards.

Double Uh Oh.

Did I mention that the brakes on our cart weren't the greatest in the world?

Triple Uh Oh.

I am literally STANDING on the brake pedal and finally coast to a stop at the bottom of the hill....and I realize my rear end is uncomfortably warm...

I yanked off the padded seat to see that the wiring harness had become disconnected from the battery array and was gapping and smoking and putting on an awesome display of 36 volts of direct current "lightning" to the battery post.

I tried to pull the wiring harness away from the battery, and got quite a jolt of current through my body for my troubles. Burned the heck out of two fingers. Was not happy.

Decided to let the cart cool down for a few minutes, then went back to assess the damage.

I was shocked to see that the post on the battery (where the wires connect to) had MELTED, there was nothing left but a puddle of solder!!

It was a long walk home.