analog battery meter

lanestephens

I purchased an analog battery meter, 48v, for my 03 club car. my batteries are charged...i'm getting 8 volts per battery reading from my volt meter. Am I correct that I should be able to attach a red wire to the + terminal on the 48v volt meter, and connect that to the positive on #1 batter, and then black wire to other terminal and connect that to the negative on #6 battery, to get a reading? when i do that, i see no movement in the needle. Now, I'm just holding the wires to each terminal, but I figure I should at least get some movement. Or, does the meter need to be grounded for it to work that way? using my voltage meter, i have good conductivity from end of each wire back to terminal each is attached to. When i check conductivity from one terminal to the other, needle moves to about 10 ohms, if I remember correctly. Any thoughts are appreciated.

BGW

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dougmcp

If you have between 47v and 51v across pos #1 and neg #6 your meter should work on those posts. If it doesn't work, the meter is bad.

golfcarfixer

You need to un hook the cables to get a correct reading.

lanestephens

Thanks guys. Also, am i correct that I should be able to get the reading through my handheld voltage meter? And, golfcarfixer says to unhook the cables to get a correct reading. You mean unhook the cables from positive #1? Should I then unhook cable from postive #6?

OLD MEC

What did your instructions that came with unit say about hookup? Does the back of meter have PLUS + AND MINUS - marked on back? If you have a 2 posts on back of meter ONLY and connected it in way you said #1 battery PLUS to PLUS + on meter and MINUS -TO MINUS - post on #6 battery ( battery cable that goes through CENTER OF OBC ) it should work correctly?
NOTE--connect a 5 amp inline fuse in plus side wiring close to battery connection to protect 18 guage wiring from burning in case of short. When wired in this manner meter will show readings ALL THE TIME but uses next to nothing in power so most owners just leave it wired that way. Some do add switch to turn on when wanting to see battery condition but not needed.
Could possibly be defective if when connected with good connections it still doesn't work?

lanestephens

Ok....i got this figured out now...it helps when you get the #1 and #6 batteries correctly identified

scottyb

Yep Those meters are polarity sensitive also...... the easiest way to be sure you are connecting in the correct place is to test with a voltmeter.... use the voltmeter to check against the readings on the analogue gauge ~ that way you will know exactly when to recharge.... the meter will lie a little but WAY better than nothing

lanestephens

Got it all hooked up, luckily had a 2" hole saw so I cuold cut mounting hole in the dash. Hooked in to the key, so its only on when the key is on. shows fully charged until i get up to full speed and then it calls down to a little over half a charge. Jumps back up as soon as the throttle pedal is released. However, I know is not getting full power out of the batteries. Just doesn't have the "get up and go" it used to have. Decided to try out a hill and the meter dropped to the low side of green. Think I'm gonna run to the store and get a hydrometer and test the ph in the batteries.

lanestephens

Got a hydrometer and checked batteries. Every cell I checked came in around 1.225, which indicates the cells need attention. A couple of questions I have are 1) should i re-test after the batteries are showing fully charged, and 2) should I assume i need to add electrolyte or acid the the cells? These trojan's got ran down pretty bad, and a couple of weeks ago I added distilled water with dissolved epsom salt to each cell.

OLD MEC

At 1.225 specific gravity you are about 70%-75% charged so you will have to leave on charger longer.
Specific gravity tests should only be done after waiting one hour after taking off charger to allow cells to balance out. If you add distilled water you can only get a correct gravity test after charging batterys for at least 1-3 hours and of course after waiting one hour.
You never add acid to used batterys only distilled water.
I wish you luck with your witches brew of distilled water and dissolved epsom salts, you indicated that batterys had been abused so I guess you can't do much more damage to them anyway?