Charging Issue, possible OBC issue

[mdowney]

Hello, 2000.5 DS, series, upgraded all cables to 4g. Finally able to run the 4g through the OBC (thanks David, the compression lug worked great). Added a bit of water to the batteries and played 9 holes. Cart voltage when done was ~48v. Plugged it in and all was usual; the delay and then the charger came on and showed ~10A's. Checked it 20 hours later and the charger was ~6-8A's and the cart volt meter showed ~59V's. I swear I could hear the batts boiling. Usually after charging, the next day the charger drops down to 4A and then down to 0. I unplugged the chargers and show 51.9V on the cart. There's no bulging of the batts and or spillage. The batts are ~4-5 years old.
Is this fairly normal?
Could this have anything to do with running the 4g through the OBC? Possibly adding the water (distilled and added prior to running it, not before charging)

Thank you for your time. Mike

[NoleFan4Ever]

The cable replacements would not cause it, but the age of the batteries will increase the time to charge. I assume you have a PD1 (Powerdrive) but the charger will get upwards of ~60/62vdc at the end of the cycle.

My batteries are now 8 years old and just recently made their "sharp" turn to failure. 12 hours after a I am getting 49.8vdc and the charge is now taking 12 to 14 hours where it use to take 6-7 for the same amount of usage.

One thing I would do is reset the OBC and let it relearn the current usage and recharge needs. After a charge or two is should be normal and you can use your hand held volt meter to monitor the pack voltage towards the end of the charge.

The start delay after plugging is a good sign, another is the cart is disabled while plugged in, and as the voltage goes up, the amps fall off.

[mdowney]

Thanks NoleFan. My charger is a Thunderbolt. I'll look up how to reset the OBC, run it and cycle through a couple charges to see what happens. Makes perfect sense. After adding water, would it take longer to charge? I read where the batts can "gurgle" but the boiling sound I heard was disconcerting, not to worry?
Mike

[NoleFan4Ever]

The gurgling (gassing) is perfectly normal for lead FLA batteries as that is hydrogen bubbles (and some hydrogen sulfide) and the older they get, the more they do it. Mine sound like a percolator coffee pot (literally!) But hey, I got just about 8 full years out of these US batteries and I am not going to complain....

Reset the OBC by removing the Main Pack Neg and placing it in Rev for a few minutes to drain of the voltage. If you leave them unhooked for 20-30 minutes it should deplete it just the same.

If you were below the plates on level before, and now have them covered again, you could be getting a more complete charge. If the plates were not exposed, it should not have made a difference.

[mdowney]

Just to close this thread out: reset the OBC, made sure the batts were correctly filled, ran it and charged and all is good! Have the normal delay to charge, comes on ~9-10A’s for about 2 hours then drops to ~4 A’s and the charger is off the next morning. Didn’t have the loud percolating sound either. Voltage of the pack post charge is 51.2 and 50 when done with 9 holes and never drops below 48v when driving. I think these batts will last a bit longer, thank you for your help. Mike

[NoleFan4Ever]

Get every unit of usable energy you can out of them... They are expensive!