Friday nite got to the deer camp. Started charging my ezgo electric. After about 10 minutes decide to move it. Buggy went about 10 yards then stopped. Started shuddering. Last time this happened a battery was bad. Checked voltage across pack, 37 or so. Decided to get my son to push on pedal while I checked the voltage. Had been reaching across pack from opposite side to measure voltage. Before I checked it again I decided to make sure it was in forward in case it did move it would stop against a tree rather than going backwards. When I pushed the pedal the middle battery blew up. Sounded like a 270 rifle. Blew the top completely off the battery. If this would have happened as I was reaching across I would probably be in the hospital.

I guess hydrogen was released when I charged it and static set it off.

Valuable lesson, never reach across the battery pack and have someone push the pedal. Even then if the seat was up one of us could have been seriously injured.

Had a battery blow up in my jeep a few years ago just sitting there. Parked after coming back from lunch and was walking into the office. Heard it blow when I going in the door. Scary stuff and I wasn't leaning over the thing. Glad you weren't hurt.

holy cow, glad you weren't hurt, another reason I hate batteries!

Rule #1 - wear safety glasses when messing with batteries. Rule #2 - overcharged batteries put off highly explosive hydrogen gas. I charged my EZ Go once and opened up the battery compartment. I started tinkering with a connection ans kaboom. You are correct it does sound like a high powered rifle.

Wow! I've never heard of batteries blowing up!

I am looking for an electric golf cart to convert over as a hunting buggy. Any tips on what to get or not to get?

Batteries blow up all the time. There are a few things you can do to help reduce the chance and or the amount of damage they can do to you or your equipment.

1. always wear goggles, gloves and an apron when you are doing anything.
2. Never lean over the top of them when boosting, testing or charging. They almost always blow straight up since that is where the case is weakest.
3. Always properly fill them with distilled water prior to recharging. Properly is leaving a 1/8" gap between the little plastic ring that runs down into the cell and the electrolyte. That leaves room for heat related fluid expansion during recharging so they won't overflow during charging and minimizes the room for hydrogen to build up during the charging process.

Those are the safety basics. I do battery maintenance training and sell the equipment for living so I'm not just making this stuff up.

As to where to get a cart to convert, try Grapevine golf carts. He'll fix you up with a reconditioned one ready to go with a 2 yr warranty for half of a new one and not enough difference in cost for you to do the conversion yourself.