Bad batteries? Other problems?

Glenn54

I have 48v Club Car. I let the 8 volt batteries get dry or pretty close. Grand kids then ran the batteries down so low that it had to be pushed in the garage. Problem may have started before this because wife said the charger wasn't working. Volt meter shows about 6.7 volts on each battery. I saw a thread that showed how to bypass the computer so I tried it but battery charger still not coming on. When I put the negative cable back on the 1st battery I get a pretty good spark (with and without the bypass wire). Should I be getting this spark? Fuse tests good with ohm meter. Batteries are over 4 years old. I have not taken the batteries to have them tested yet. Any help appreciated.

BGW

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Volt_Ampere

You should charge them with an auto charger to get them up high enough to charge with your normal charger. A few minutes on each should do it. Don't walk away though. Just get them up to about 8V.

Glenn54

Thanks. These are 8 volt batteries. Can I charge them with a 6 or 12 volt charger? I did put a 12 volt charger at 2 amps on one of them and the charger and cables got pretty hot after a few minutes.

teecro

You can PERK an 8 volt battery with a 12 volt charger and it will get the cables hot or at least expect them to get fairly warm to the touch. Usally you boost a weak 8 volt battery back over 7 volts in 10 to 15 minutes. You should never leave them unattended when you are doing this.

Once you get pack voltage up over 42 volts the stock charger may start working if nothing else is wrong. But at 6.7 volts those batteries are flat line DEAD off the bottom of the SOC chart DEAD....

Volt_Ampere

Yes you can use a 12V charger on the 8 Volt battery but don't leave it on very long. Just enough to get the battery charged enough to work with your main charger. It takes only a few minutes to do this. It might tax your charger a bit since it's designed to put out too much voltage for an 8V battery.

Glenn54

Thanks all. Is it normal to get a spark when you connect the negative cable back up?

tag50

I believe the spark would be due to the capacitor charging back up in the controller. Not a problem.


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