what conditions make the "micro-processing timer" decide there's a charging problem?

808Pants

the "EZ" version:

My title is really the nub of this: what conditions make the "micro-processing timer" decide there's a charging problem, and thus indicate "charging problem," vs. "complete," at the end of a charging cycle? I'm talking about the not-well-documented "micro-processing timer" shown in the attachment.

It's also possible that the timer or something else in the charger has just plain "gone bad," I suppose, but I tend to pin my neglect of water as the more likely cause of the problem. All batteries show around 8.4V. My hydrometer readings are only relative due to...the scale having fallen off...

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the "itemized version:"

A couple of years ago, by some good or bad karma, the Club Car DS I'd refitted for use on a construction project came back to me for sale at next to nothing. I knew either all batteries, or four of the six, were toast, since they'd been marginal when I'd last worked on it, and no one had done anything to maintain the cart while it was on the project. Not sure what I was going to do with it (but unable to resist the bargain), I trucked it home and installed four new GC-8 batts, to go with the two that I'd replaced a year previous. Back in the day I'd found the OBC gone bad, and had bypassed it. But I'd gotten the charger back with it, too - which I'd previously retrofitted with one of those "micro-processing timer" controllers - and so I was happy to find that with the four new batteries, the charge-cycles were then completing automatically, with pack voltage coming up to...what was it? 53-ish volts or so, anyway. I'd also installed a BLS-48 back in the day, though I've barely looked at it since.

You can probably see this coming: While contemplating the long-term purpose of the cart, I just left it with charger connected...and went through too long of a period of not checking water-level before noticing one day that the charger had at some point not been completing cycles anymore (showing the red LED). I immediately added water to the thirsty cells, expecting to have lost the oldest, or maybe even ALL of the batteries, through my neglect. When I reconnected the charger, it spiked up to 15A or so, charged for a long time, and then...went to the "red LED" condition ("charging problem".) Not a surprise.

I checked battery voltage, thinking it would be obvious and quick to determine which were to blame, if not all. But no...all batteries were in the range of 8.1 to 8.2V.

Once I found my hydrometer I found that all readings were on the low end of the scale. (I can't say where exactly, since it had lost its cheesy sticker-calibration label, making it only useful in a sort of relative sense, since I only vaguely remember where the pointer should go ideally to indicate an acceptable SOC - new hydrometer is on the way...)

I ran the charger through several more cycles over the following week, hoping that maybe it was just "timing out," and if I kept trying, it would reach a point where it WOULD complete the charge. But after five or ten such attempts, it looked like I wasn't going to get off that easy.

My surviving auto battery-chargers are both electronic, and THEY decide that an 8.2V battery that doesn't respond fairly quickly, by coming up to say 10.5V or so, is "bAd," so I have no practical means to individually charge batteries. (a series combination of 16.4 V makes these decide not to try to charge, either)

Local Sam's Club offered to charge batteries and render a judgement, so I brought them all in, thinking Sam's might have 8V-specific charging equipment or were used to this since they sell GC-8s - but no, they've just got a standard shop-style rollaround charger with 6/12V settings. They will just put each on 12V charge for some set period and watch the charger's ammeter, it turns out. I should hear back from them in a day or two.

--Dave

Attached Images

micro-processing timer in Lester charger.jpg (143.5 KB, 0 views)

BGW

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jjance

808pants. You can dance around those batteries all you want. After all you put them through there not coming back. Of course that is only my opinion, others may vary. And get you another charger while your at it. It sounds like it may have cause your problem. A DPI charger would be your best choice.