Another battery question - 2021 Valor - cart crawls after a few minutes

[cfurtick]

Hi all,

This forum is full of great information!

Im relatively new to carting, bought a 2021 valor 48v used from a guy, the batteries are Trojan with a date code of "I0" (september 2020).

I had the EZ GO Dealer unlock the controller, cart will do 20mph on flat roads.

The charger is Delta Q QuiQ charger Model 913-4810-e3b.

Ive had the cart for about 9 months, driven around the neighborhood and occasionally to a grocery store about 1.5 miles away.

Ive topped the batteries off with distilled water a few times.

I let the batteries charge overnight, then drive the cart for about 20 minutes , Less than 2 miles, mostly flat roads.
Then I try to go up any incline in the neighborhood and the cart slows to a crawl.

I realize its a DC cart so I expect some speed reduction on inclines but this is extreme. If I go drive the same hill as soon as I take it off the charger it climbs relatively well. This leads me to believe this is a battery issue vs a slow DC motor issue.

When I take the cart off the charger the pack has 50.4 V according to my multimeter.
Individual batteries have 9.3V - 9.6V.

Im not sure what other troubleshooting steps I should take.
The batteries are relatively new so Im assuming they are OK, but I dont have a way to load test them.

Any help you guys can provide would be appreciated!

[Volt_Ampere]

Measure your battery voltage under load - going up that hill. Your batteries are on the way out.

[cfurtick]

I was/am afraid that is the issue.

Is it rare for batteries that aren't very old to give out like this?

Just wondering what I can do in the future to avoid this type of situation.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by cfurtick

Hi all,

This forum is full of great information!

Im relatively new to carting, bought a 2021 valor 48v used from a guy, the batteries are Trojan with a date code of "I0" (september 2020).

I had the EZ GO Dealer unlock the controller, cart will do 20mph on flat roads.

The charger is Delta Q QuiQ charger Model 913-4810-e3b.

Ive had the cart for about 9 months, driven around the neighborhood and occasionally to a grocery store about 1.5 miles away.

Ive topped the batteries off with distilled water a few times.

I let the batteries charge overnight, then drive the cart for about 20 minutes , Less than 2 miles, mostly flat roads.
Then I try to go up any incline in the neighborhood and the cart slows to a crawl.

I realize its a DC cart so I expect some speed reduction on inclines but this is extreme. If I go drive the same hill as soon as I take it off the charger it climbs relatively well. This leads me to believe this is a battery issue vs a slow DC motor issue.

When I take the cart off the charger the pack has 50.4 V according to my multimeter.
Individual batteries have 9.3V - 9.6V.

Im not sure what other troubleshooting steps I should take.
The batteries are relatively new so Im assuming they are OK, but I dont have a way to load test them.

Any help you guys can provide would be appreciated!

Your pack volts vs individual battery volts don't add up right. 9.3 x 6 = 55.8 and 9.6 x 6 = 57.6, so the pack voltage ought to be in the 55.8V to 57.6V range and you state it is 50.4V. that is a huge difference.

Also, if those voltages are being measured immediately after the charge shuts off, they are too low. The finish charge voltage should be at least 60V, so the problem might be the batteries are not being fully charged.

I don't have the specific stage voltages for the charger you are using, but attached are Trojan's recommend voltage for the various stages and the SoC voltages taken 12 hours after charger turns off.

[ojo]

Maybe check If your Delta Q charge settings ( algorithm ) is set correct, should be no. 1 for Trojan 6v/8v batteries.

https://support.delta-q.com/hc/en-us...hm-suggestions

[cfurtick]

Battery charger has been on since about 9pm last night,

Total pack voltage is 53.4

Each battery ranges from 8.9 - 91 volts.

[cfurtick]

Looking at the manual for the Delta charger now; i honestly didn't realize that the charger needed to be programed for the specific battery.

Will see if I can determine the algorithm.

[cfurtick]

According to the documentation, charging profile #1 is what i need for my Trojan DC-8v batteries.
The charger has a profile of 38 programmed into it.

Im going to try and manually reprogram it, but Im having difficulty findings instructions on how to "reset" it back to factory parameters.
It looks like there is a potential for over 100 profiles, so it would take forever to cycle through each one given the process for manually programming, Im hoping to find instructions on how to reset to no profile and then move up to profile 1.

[cfurtick]

Sooooo, Im unable to change the algorithm using the instructions, some searching indicates that this charger might not have the capability to have the profile changed :

https://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=118004


So Im kind of stuck, it appears that the charger isn't charging the batteries fully but I dont have another charger to test that theory with.

Unclear on the next steps really

[ojo]

As cgtech said, it's possible but you'll need a 100$ programmer to do this Did you unhook the DC wires to check the stored algorithm, because i'm in the same boat. When i got my cart, there were Trojan T-1260 installed and now T-1275. I've noticed from the list 1260 are #5 and the 1275 #1. So i've to find out what is the actually setting on mine too...