Electric Club Car Charging Problem

1cadcam

I have a Club Car, 48V golf cart that has a charging problem. I know the batteries are old (do not know the year of the cart), model 17930 Lester Electonics charger.

The charger no longer starts charging when plugged in. I checked the voltage across all 6 of the 8V batteries and got a reading of 48 V. The batteries were VERY dry and needed to be topped off.

I am pretty sure the batteries need to be replaced, but need to know if there may be something wrong with the charger. I checked the in-line fuse and it is ok. Not sure how to check the Relay, but question if it is ok.

If I can get by for now with a relay, instead of $600 worth of batteries, it would be very helpful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Thanks,
Bill Owen

BGW

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phasetim

The charger won't turn on if your batteries are completely dead.. try charging each battery up individually with a car charger, and see if you can get your charger to turn on then... only charge them long enough to get a surface charge...

1cadcam

Thanks for your response phasetim, but when I put a test meter on the batteries (all of them in series), I got a 48V reading. So they must have a charge.

I can actually drive the cart, somewhat. I cannot get all the way up my drive (on a small incline, 150 feet) then the cart has no power to go further.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

scottyb

Test your batteries individually, one of them may have a dead cell. Post your individual readings here. Better yet would be readings from a simple hydrometer?

rusty

Welcome to the forum 1cadcam.............

1cadcam

Phasetim and ScottyB,

I double checked the batteries and have only about 42 volts across all 6 (8V) batteries. Individually, they checked pretty bad: (in series: 7, 8, 8, 5.25, 7.75, 7V).

I have Trojans, which appear to be the original batteries, so it looks like the batteries are the root cause to me. Please advise.

Other questions:

1. My serial number starts with: AC0105 which I found is a 2001 model manufactured in the 5th month, right?. I read that the "A" denotes an electric model....what does the "C" mean?

2. Any other advise on where to get reasonably priced batteries would also be appreciated.

I can tell I am hanging with the guys who know the answers to my questions, so thanks to all for your help !!!

Bill

AugustaResident

Bill, This info doesn't matter if your batteries are shot but if you want to know the age of them, look on one of the terminal posts. You will see a letter followed by a number. A9 is January 2009, C6 is March 2006.

Thought I would pass this along.

-Craig

1cadcam

Thanks Craig,

I checked the posts, and saw an "E5". I guess the batteries are newer than I thought, but still probably the problem. All information helps, since I am a newbie.

Thanks for your help!
Bill

dereckbc

4 of 6 of your batteries are completely shot.. There is really no point going any further until you replace all of them.

1cadcam

Thanks Dereckbc. Will do, and will check back in if I have further problems.

Does anyone have suggestions on where to get the best pricing?
And what does the "C" mean in my serial number (AC0105-xxxxxx)?

Thanks again to all!
Bill