Club Car DS Charging Issues

gcartfun

I have a 2002 Club Car DS. The batteries went completely dead and would not drive. I noticed that the lead connector on one of the (under 1 year old) batteries heated and melted through the battery. I replaced the battery and connector. I plugged the charger in last night and it shot up to over 15 amps. I woke up this morning and it was still charging...so it was charging for 9 hours. The amps had dropped down to 12 amps. I took it for a spin and its speed/power is really sluggish. Maybe at 30-40%. Do completely dead batteries need to charge for 9+ hours? Should I hook the charger back up to it until it stops charging? Any other thoughts on a diagnosis is much appreciated.

BGW

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teecro

Charger will be timed out at 16 hours by the OBC... You may still have battery issues. Check the voltage on each one then plug back into charger.... Also check ALL other connections make sure clean, bright, shiny and snug..

gcartfun

Thanks teecro! I will check the voltage and the connections today. If all looks good, should I plug it back in to the charger and let it charge for up to 16 hours?

theboss20

Be sure to check the water!

gcartfun

I've added a little bit of water to two of the batteries (thx theboss20), cleaned up all the connectors, checked the battery voltage (all were over 8v while new one was at 10v), and charged the battery for a full cycle. It drives, but still at 30%-40% power. It is very weak. Does anyone have suggestions on next steps?

teecro

Tell us more about your batteries as in aprox age if known, brand and model number on the batteries and voltage readings from each one...

Another thing is the melted connection is a sign of excessive resistance, it would be my recommendation to go through all connections as this will hamper charging as well as operation...

gcartfun

Thanks teecro! Batteries are exactly 1 year old. They are Energizer EGC8 / 128 MIN. I replaced the melted battery with the exact same model battery. This battery is 1 week old. I've removed all connections and scrubbed them clean.

Voltage Readings:

8.39
8.44
10.04 (This is the 1 week old Battery)
8.26
8.37
8.25

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scottyb

The picture links above not working. We need some pics of this pack because something is not right and I can't tell what it is from what's written so far.

gcartfun

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gcartfun

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