Battery woes. reality check.

KACinPA

So my issues started back in late April when I went to take my Club Car Precedent (S/N PQ0733797639) - 48V, 4 12V batteries, out of the storage shed at my campsite. Based on my understanding at the time, before putting it away for the winter I had assured the water level in the batteries was correct, cleaned all the terminal connections and plugged in the Powerdrive II charger.

When I went to take the cart out in late April it was stone dead and would not move. The Mrs. and I pushed it out of the shed and I took a gander and found 2 terminals corroded away and the connections broken. I repaired the terminals with new ones, put it back together and put the charger on. The charger did not start working.

At that point I called the dealer where I bought the cart and they suggested that I charge each battery individually with a 12V charger for around 4 hours as the Powerdrive II charger likely did not detect enough voltage to turn on. Prior to hooking up the 12 V charger I read individual and pack voltage and found each battery to be between 10V and 10.5V and the pack at 42V. After charging individually and plugging in the Powerdrive II it did turn on and I let it charge overnight. After charging overnight the batteries were at 12.2 to 13V individually with the pack at 49.5V. The charger was off and the cart would only go around 20 yards before dying.

Obvious to me that the batteries were toast so I called the dealer, who came and got the cart and confirmed the batteries were toast. So he is putting in new batteries. (There was delay in his ability to get to the cart and as we were away on a cruise and with family stuff we were in no rush.)

OK, sorry for the long story, here is the statement from the dealer, the source of my potential misunderstanding and my question.

The dealer told me that over winter I need to have each battery on a 12V battery maintainer. That the Powerdrive II charger only charges ONCE when plugged in and then stayed off. I thought I read here that the chargers will charge once, allow the voltage to drop, then charge again if needed and would act as a maintainer. So, what is the case with the Powerdrive II charger? Do I need to get 4 12V maintainers for next winter? Can I get a different 48V charger to replace the Powerdrive II? Or is there something wrong with my current Powerdrive II.

I turn to you, Oh sages of Club Car Carts to help my befuddled mind!

BGW

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NoleFan4Ever

People like that scare me if they are CC mechanical people. All OBC/Powerdrives have a maintenance cycle. Every ~15 days it will command the charger to turn on and perform a charge. I have PD1's, 2's and 3's all over with OBC's and they work perfectly fine in storage unless an issue like yours or a failed OBC which we cannot control with any electronic device.

Upon arriving at a site, we first go unplug the charge cord form the cart, wait 30 seconds and plug it back in. This way it tops the pack off incase we were on day 14 of the 15 to recharge.

They also make 48v battery maintainers, but I have had great luck with the factory chargers.

If you prefer, you can purchase a smart charger (~$360 Summit II) and do away with your OBC and Powerdrive.

PS- That may be a PQ in your serial number or you have a converted cart. PR0733797639 is for "Gas" carts....

KACinPA

Typo, it is a Q for sure. No idea why I typed an R! I fixed it.

I was pretty sure that is what I read here regarding the charger. My assumption was the death of the batteries was due to the broken connections from the corrosion. I am still scratching my head how the corrosion to that level came about.

NoleFan4Ever

KACinPA

The whole thing ticks me off as the $ I am spending for new batteries should have gone to upgrades! Oh well, next year!

NoleFan4Ever

And remember ALL Powerdrive chargers are just transformers.... They have no automated or manual controls for self-operation. The OBC controls all aspects of the start, algorithm, stop, maintenance cycle, lockout, etc.

Sergio

The "cleaned all the terminal connections" and the resulting " 2 terminals corroded away and the connections broken" do go together and were the problem, not the OBC and Powerdrive charger.

I agree with Nole, it is sad how much incompetence is in the golf cart industry in general.

If the corroded cables were battery cables You need to replace them as the issue is inside the cable and cannot be cleaned.

Also, You need to disconnect the pack negative for more than 10 minutes to allow the OBC to reset.

Once You connected the pack negative, plug the charger back and let it finish the charging cycle.

It will take longer than normal as the OBC will perform another baseline analysis of the pack health.

The OBC will also only run the maintenance cycle for 6 months, after that it will completely shutdown.

This is a good safety design since after that many months of unattended charging there is a possibility the batteries are low in electrolyte and need to be checked.

Once someone checks the water level all they have to do is to unplug the charger from the cart and plug it back for the OBC to go back into maintenance mode for another 6 months (starting every 15 days or sooner if needed based on voltage loss).

I don't like maintainers, if you don't have anyone that can check your cart one every few months You are better off just disconnecting the batteries as they will be fine for more than 6 months in storage, specially if the temperature remains below 50F.

NoleFan4Ever

Please upgrade those cables. A new 2g set can be made yourself or purchased and they will last you a lifetime and support any upgrade you do down the road....

KACinPA

The corrosion and broken connection were the battery cable TERMINALS. The rings were still on the batteries but the metal between the ring part and the part that crimps on the wires was corroded away, on 2 connections. The wire its self was fine. I cut back about an inch of cable and put on new terminals. All the other connections looked as good as when I put the cart to sleep.

It was just a week past 6 months when we started to de-winter the camp, but next winter we will head up and check on it a few times for sure!

KACinPA

I will do this. The cable and connectors don't end up costing much and I can sell it as a preventative measure. But the Mrs will not approve of a controller, motor upgrade, lift kit and bigger tires after having to get new batteries!