Charger/battery problem...

[LizardLeg]

Here's the scenario: Went to the hunting camp last Thursday night. Put buggie on charge. Rode for 4-5 hours Friday, including a BIG hill and lots of sand. Made it back with power to spare.

Charged overnight. For the time being I run a 48v system, with the stock 36v charger for 6 batteries and a 12V marine/deepcycle automatic charger for the other 2. Son unhooked chargers and said the 12V charger alligator clips were warm/hot. Tested pack voltage and it was fine. Went off and did another 3-4 hours of riding, made it back with power to spare. Plugged in and charged for about 2 hours and had to head back out to look for a lost item. Made it about 30-35 minutes and made it back to the camp at a crawl - I could have walked faster.

Charged overnight. When I went to take off the 12v charger Sun AM, noticed the 12v charger wasn't shut off, and it said it was still drawing 10 amps. The alligator clips were almost too hot too touch, and the neg side clip just fell off. Looked like there were only a few wires holding it in place anyway. Checked pack voltage and everything seemed fine. Buggie died in about 30 minutes of normal riding and about 5-10 minutes of sand riding.

Fixed the alligator clip and charged up for 4 hours and went for a 60-90 minute ride that night - at a very slow speed, and close to the camp just in case. No issues and seemed to have enough power to bounce the front end when we made it back.

Charged overnight - 12v charger never shut off and never dropped below 10.2 amps of draw, went for another ride of about 2 hours - no issues.

Are the batteries shot or is it my charger that is shot?

[shadowman]

how old are they? load test them and check cells for SG with those readings and a load test on each one it should give you an answer you can trust.....................