99 Club Car Charger won't go below 10 amps

Heatingmd

I'm guessing I have failing batteries. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

BGW

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dougmcp

After how many hours?
Get an individual voltage reading on each battery with a digital meter and post the results.

Heatingmd

Worked great for 3 weekends (cycled from 15 to 0 in a few hours), then charged for 12 hours. never dropped below 10 amps. Tried a friends charger..same result.

8.4 on one, the rest where 8.2

scottyb

I just takes one bad cell to keep a charger on. Can you load test or use a modern hydrometer with temperature compensation?

Heatingmd

I did a 50 amp load test. Voltage dropped to 7.2 on the 8.2s and 7.4 on the 8.4. Then went back to approx 8 on all of them. The hydrometer results were about 50/50 - 100% and 75% charged

Heatingmd

I was scanning through some other threads and found one that said you can charge an 8 volt battery for 15-20 min with a 12 volt charger??? Is that true, and worth a try for this issue?

Thanks again.

dougmcp

My guess is your batteries have reached the end of their lifespan. 8v batteries that show 8v are only 40%-50% charged. 8.2v which is the majority is 60%-70% charged and the charger is going to keep on chugging until it gets to the 8.6v goal. After loading and getting numbers like 7.2 the battery is considered dead.
I reckon you can't do much harm giving the 8v batteries a 20 minute hit with 12v because they appear to be done anyways.

Heatingmd

Thanks for the info....lucky for me I got the sell price down on the cart for the batteries being so old...I'll give the 12 volt a try...maybe I can breathe a little more life out of them.

Heatingmd

Found it

One battery was only @ 6 volts after sitting for a week.

The rest where weak and 10 years old, so changed them all

Expensive, but if you want to play , you have to pay..

Thanks for the help everybody.

dougmcp

Glad you got it fixed and can now enjoy your new cart. It will take about 6-10 charging cycles before the batteries come up to their potential. Check the water once a month, use only distilled water and you should be good for the next 5 years.