Battery Usage / Break In

erict

I was thinking about this today and wonder what others think. I installed my new batteries in May and have only charged them three times since as I don't get alot of seat time, at least this summer. When I have used the cart it has never gone below a percentage of charge of 85/90%. Seeing I only have a shallow discharge and then charge the batteries, is this good? I just went out and checked my batteries and the pack still reads 52.2v after four weeks as I haven't used it since my last charge.

BGW

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scottyb

That's fine, I like to see a pack a little more active than that. 50.9 is fully charged and settled, so you are giving a high reading ... is it on a float charge?

erict

Not on a float charge at all. How about in the winter when the cart is stored as it won't see any activity...

scottyb

Battery self discharge rate is greatly reduced in cold weather. Once a month run it and charge it if you can?

erict

I wish I could run it in the winter but that white stuff always gets in the way... So do you think 52.2v is a big concern? I will check it again with a different meter next time just to make sure.

erict

Does this make sense Scotty. My batteries read 12.8, 12.8, 12.8 and 12.9. That adds up to 51.3v. How can my meter show a pack voltage of 52.2v?

tratt

Just a guess but it could be the auto ranging of your meter has rounding errors. My meter Re-ranges at 18 volts. At twelve volts it has two decimal points. Higher than that it has one. Try two banks of batteries together and add those together. Like I said just a guess

scottyb

Put a fresh battery in the meter and retry.... lots of meters give whacky readings on a low battery.

erict

Good idea Scotty. Didn't even think of that. On a side note, if a pack showed 52.2v, would that be a big concern?

erict

You were spot on Scotty. My meter had a low battery. The pack reads 49.5v and on the charger they went... I thought it was odd they were holding a high voltage...