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Electric golf carts Harley Davidson, Melex, Pargo, Taylor-Dunn and other Misc. Carts. |
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06-19-2010, 09:51 PM | #1 |
Not Yet Wild
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 38
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new to site and need help with charging on hd
i recently bought a 1976 harley davidson 4wheel 36 volt golf cart. it has an old lestermatic charger. it will charge the batteries but takes forever. the charger humms really loud and will get hot at the back around the diodes. i just replaced the run capacitor. it is getting 40 volts out of the charger. if its almost completely dead the charger says it is putting out 15 amps max. after letting it charge for about 10 hours i can run up and down my block about 10 times before needing charged again. it has trojan 105 batteries. i have no idea how old they are. is there a way to tell? connections to all batteries are brand new. do i have a bad diode in the charger? each battery says it's putting out 6 volts. i am new to golf carts and could use all the help i can get. thanks.
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06-19-2010, 10:26 PM | #2 |
Happy Carting
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Southern California
Posts: 73,356
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Re: new to site and need help with charging on hd
6.0 volts is an empty battery. 6.04 is closer to full. Your charger may be fine and your batteries old, weak, and slow to recharge. There's usually a date code stamped into the negative post base G7 = July 2007
Check the whole pack voltage and reference the chart below. |
06-19-2010, 10:51 PM | #3 |
Not Yet Wild
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 38
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Re: new to site and need help with charging on hd
i just looked at the batteries. on the negative it says 17 and g 28 on positive side. how old does that make them? it has been charging now for about 2 hours and the whole charger is very warm. a few weeks ago it got really hot and i smelled burning wire. i checked the run capacitor and it tested bad so i replaced it. no burnt wires inside charger.
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06-19-2010, 10:58 PM | #4 |
Not Yet Wild
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 38
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Re: new to site and need help with charging on hd
i went out and checked voltage on batteries. they are anywhere from 6.4 to 6.7 and 38.9 volts on main positive and negative terminals.
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06-20-2010, 11:10 AM | #5 |
Happy Carting
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Southern California
Posts: 73,356
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Re: new to site and need help with charging on hd
You will get falsely high readings after charging. Let the batteries settle from 1 to 24 hours for a true reading of what they actually hold. Even then the presence of voltage does not mean a healthy battery. S/G readings can give an idea of the level of activity in a cell. And the load tester is king when it comes to determining if a battery is Good. Bad batteries will work your charger much harder than normal. An Average charge time is about 5-7 hours... A warm charger is normal, not hot. The level of humming varies from charger to charger and seems to be no indicator of the chargers output or health.
Also .... the date stamp is on the Negative post ... if they have them? |
06-20-2010, 11:35 AM | #6 |
Not Yet Wild
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 38
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Re: new to site and need help with charging on hd
it says on the negative on all the batteris 1 7. is the 1 actually an I? i let the it charge last night for about 3 hours and the charger was really hot. i just checked the voltage. main positive and negative 36 volts. two of the 6 batteries read 4.8 volts and the other 4 are 6 volts? are those two batteries bad? also when i bought the cart and checked the water in batteries it took 1 1/2 gallons of distilled water to fill them below the fill holes.
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06-21-2010, 08:16 PM | #7 |
Not Yet Wild
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 38
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Re: new to site and need help with charging on hd
i called lester electric today about my charging problem. they told me it will humm louder with age. the tech gave me everything to test. they are awesome to deal with. bottom line is my charger is working great. i cleaned the ends of the charging cable and now it draws over 20 amps at start instead of maybe 15. right now they are selling the 36 volt charger for 240 shipped. so i could deal with the noise or just buy a new one. tonight i am leaving the charger on until it stops and then check the voltage on the batteries. thanks for your help guys.
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