Highest volt reading while charging

[BigOL3]

What should be the highest voltage while being charged. Today I only ran the CC DS about 2/3 of mile. The in-dash meter had sat on 51.5 volts all afternoon before using it. After connecting charger, I figured it would only run for an hour or two, but has been running about 4.5hrs and showing 67.7 volts on meter and still charging at 3amps.

What is the MAX safe voltage for charging? Should I have any concern for the length of charge time on batteries that were probably at least 95% SoC?

[Fairtax4me]

How old are the batteries?
What charger are you using?
Before today’s drive, how long ago did the charger turn off?

[BigOL3]

Batteries 1 month US
IQ Plus
Charged last night, unplugged this morning ..... probably unplugged for 9hrs.

[scottyb]

Highest I see is 65v from my Lester Summit 1050w. This is higher than any other I've seen so I chatted with Trojan Tech about it and they said the 2.71 vpc was okay with their engineers.

[BigOL3]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Highest I see is 65v from my Lester Summit 1050w. This is higher than any other I've seen so I chatted with Trojan Tech about it and they said the 2.71 vpc was okay with their engineers.

2.71 X 24=65.04 ...... I am 2.66 HIGHER while charging on US Batteries.

[BigOL3]

Between 5-5.5hrs the charger cut off. Now reading 54.4V. IIRC in the past when pack was just slightly down, the charger only ran an hour or two. Is that a concern?

[yawood]

I don't think so

[rib33024]

(QUOTE) JohnnieB



The charger may have to take a 48V battery pack up to 67V, or above, to fully charge it.
On the other hand, 59V may fully charge a 48V battery pack.
The voltage it takes to fully charge a 48V battery pack depends on who manufactured the batteries in the pack as well as their age and condition.

By definition, a lead-acid wet cell is fully charged when the specific gravity of the electrolyte ceases to increase while a charging current is passing through it. Since open-circuit voltage increases/decreases as the electrolyte's specific gravity increases/decreases, open-circuit voltage is an indirect or secondary means of monitoring the electrolyte's specific gravity and is often used to do so.

An ideal charger would monitor pack voltage and when it ceased to rise over a predetermined period of time, it would stop the regular charging mode and go into a float charge mode, however few, if any, chargers typically used by golf cart owners are ideal. Most of them simply shut off at a predetermined voltage that is high enough to almost fully charge most battery packs without being so high that repeated use would significantly harm battery packs that are fully charged at the lower end of the typical voltage spectrum needed to fully charge a battery as determined by empirical data.

Here is Trojan's recommended charge curve for a single (2V) deep cycle wet cell. There are 24 cells in a 48V battery pack, so do the math and you get 58.80V to 66.96V. However, Trojan uses an electrolyte that is 27.7% sulfuric acid by weight (SG = 1.277) and other battery manufacturers use different concentrations, so the on-charge voltage that is typically reached when their batteries are fully charged, will be higher or lower.

[BigOL3]

Apparently with these electric carts, often there is not a simple yes/no answer. There are a LOT of details about them that are unknown to the unknowing/first time owner.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by BigOL3

Apparently with these electric carts, often there is not a simple yes/no answer. There are a LOT of details about them that are unknown to the unknowing/first time owner.

Yes while watching and monitoring a battery pack use and charge can extend it's useful life... worrying over every detail can drive you crazy. - sounds like your cart is doing okay