Good one--SPARKY!

With our “vintage” 3-wheel Harley golf cart in the shop it’s been a tough go maneuvering around the farm… and Dutch is a little crabby he doesn’t have his ride. So we decided to search for a spare. Two weeks of Craigslist shopping and VOILA we discovered a fantastic little gem Friday morning. We packed up “big red” (the truck) and took a road trip to Owosso to check it out. The ad stated it had “newer” batteries, but upon arrival, the owners informed us it would need NEW batteries, SIX 6v or THREE 12v. We haggled a little over the price and finally made the purchase. Farmer Dave & Dutch loaded it on the trailer and we headed back to the farm. Next step WALMART! Two hours later we had batteries and were on a mad dash to reach the farm before dark. We arrived just after 8pm and busted out the toolbox.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you ask me about how electricity works I will tell you it is MAGIC! I’m a pretty smart gal but even after many attempts to explain the logistics of electricity from my husband, brothers & dad I still can’t quite get my noggin around it.

So, back to the story, we attempted to hook up our 1960 something cart to three 2013 batteries… hmmm… the connectors weren’t a match but no worries we were going to make it work! I hunted through the car and alas I found some big office clips and Farmer Dave had a plan! Ready… one, two, three… ZZZZ!!! And the sparks were flying! Oops, apparently Farmer Dave’s plan to utilize my plastic/metal office clips and an unclamped cable to attach the final terminal was not such a good idea. Yikes, we even melted it a little. First rule of electricity — don’t use a seemingly unused clamp cable unless you carefully check the other end first ’cause it might just complete the circuit on a round of car batteries.

We gave up for the night and after a quick trip to the hardware store on Saturday (to get the appropriate clamps) and about 45 minutes of replacing & taping wires we were in business. The “potato wagon” runs like a champ! Whoo Hoo! Now it just needs an awning, paint, and a little clean up!