Battery Charger Question

[skipsmith521]

I have a EZGO 36V cart.

It is a used cart and I just got it.

When I plug in charger, the meter goes to around 15 or so until it gets down to 0 on the meter and charger turns off.

When I drive it around a mile or so...I come back and plugin to charge and the meter goes up to 10 or 15 again. I don't notice any performance difference and my kids have been driving it alot more without need of charging.

Is this normal or is this an indication the batteries run down fast?

On a charger, I thought the meter indicated how much the battery needs to be charged. It would seem after a short drive, the meter would not be that high.

Thanks for any insight.

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[skipsmith521]

Let me add that when the cart is fully charged and is out on a short drive, we drive it back and the meter goes up to 10 or 15 when first plugged in and then in short amount of time it comes back down closer to 0 until charged.

Is this normal for the meter to go way up and then back down quickly?

Thx

Skip

[gornoman]

Your charger is operating correctly.

[JohnnieB]

What you are seeing is normal for most chargers.

I suspect you have one of the older type chargers (about a cubic foot, weighs about 25 pounds and hums when charging).

The number of amps being sent to the battery pack depends on the pack voltage. If it is below about 40V, the amps will be at max amp output for the charger and if it is above about 43V, it will be under about 5A. Basically, the amps will follow the voltage curve shown in attached charge profile.

The charger shuts off when the on-charge voltage reaches about 45V and the instant the charger shuts off, the pack voltage starts decreasing and it will drop to about 38.2V in about 12 hours after the charger shuts off.

Just letting the batteries sit for a few minutes will drop the voltage enough for the charger to put out near maximum amps when it first turns on, but the amps will drop off fairly rapidly and the charger will shut of in just a few minutes (maybe in 5 or 10 minutes, maybe more, maybe less - it depends on the specific charger and specific batteries). Driving around some will lengthen the time the amps stay high.