Battery dies after 1 mile

[roxy32]

Is there a way to measure the whole pack at once or do you just add them up?

[handtools]

Just use your meter on the main positive and negative to get the total pack voltage reading.

[roxy32]

Batteries are at 8.60 and 8.58 with charger unplugged all night.

[roxy32]

What setting do I put the volt meter on to test whole pack? when I put it on 9v and put positive on the battery with the red cable going into the cart, and the negative on the neg post of the battery with the black cable going into the cart it reads 1

[Goober11]

Originally Posted by roxy32

What setting do I put the volt meter on to test whole pack? when I put it on 9v and put positive on the battery with the red cable going into the cart, and the negative on the neg post of the battery with the black cable going into the cart it reads 1

Not sure what type of meter your are using. Here is a picture of one it is set on 200 volts to read pack voltage. Not very clear picture. Hope it helps.

[handtools]

Set the meter on a DC voltage setting that is in the range of the expected reading, the 9v setting is ok for individual battery readings but the pack will be in the 40-60v range so pick the setting that is closest to but higher than the expected reading.

[roxy32]

Drove about 4 miles batteries at 8.35, how is that?

[Fairtax4me]

Heck of alot better than before!
Are all 6 batteries at the same voltage? Ideally you want them all within about 0.05v of each other.
Can you tell us how the charger is working now?
It should be running for several hours starting a 15 amps then tapering down to 5 and shutting off on its own after anywhere from two to three hours at 5 amps.
The exact times vary by how far discharged the pack is.
Hoping that we can say the OBC is working normally at this point.

You'll also have some charge time variation as that pack breaks in. I'm guessing the new batteries were put in and Never charged properly which is why they were dead.
Unfortunately that takes a toll on the batteries and will shorten their overall lifespan, but they should still be able to get you around just fine for a few years depending on how often you use the cart and how far you drive it.

Brand new batteries take about 25 cycles (or more) to fully break in, so you should over the next month or so see much better voltage during and after a drive as the pack finally reaches it's full capacity.

[roxy32]

It seems to be doing well now!
charger is working just like you say it is supposed to.
If I drive it about 4 miles it is still at about 8.30-8.34
Second 3 batteries still about .03 less than first 3 at all times.

Fairtax, I really appreciate your help, you are awesome!

[Fairtax4me]

Sounds good man, glad it's working now!
Next time you charge the cart, when the charge is done (next morning or something), unplug the charger cord wait about 5-10 seconds and then plug it right back in. The OBC will do an equalization charge that should take an hour or two. It will bring the pack voltage up a little higher and hold it there and that is designed to help even out the voltage between cells. Doing that may bring those other three batteries up to the same voltage as the rest.
If it does not, you can also try giving them a short 15-20 minute charge with a 12v charger to try to bring the voltage up some.
Or if you have an LED light that will run on 24v, you can connect it to the first three batteries and turn it on for an hour to bring their voltage down, then recharge the pack as a whole.

But speaking of lights, you should make sure there are no accessories on the cart connected to just a few batteries. Light, radio, voltage converter, etc. Anything connected to just a few batteries can bring the pack out of balance and can shorten the lifespan of the batteries it's drawing from. It's best to use a 48-12v reducer to draw energy from the whole pack for accessories.