New primary 8v boiling out fast

[jonny5cam]

I maintain a fleet of 14 Carryalls and 8 passenger shuttles and have been at this golf cart "thing" for 5 years now and am a seasoned equipment mech of 25 yrs now and have come across a head scratcher. Ok, this is a 48v powerdrive. 6 8v set up with an Eagle OBC delete charger. Two weeks ago I replaced a bad #1 battery in a set that is only seven months old with a new Crown 165. This battery is drying up in four charges. The battery I replaced was dry as well. These batteries are watered weekly. Terminals are clean, tight, and the cable ends, including the charge wire show no signs of discoloring from excessive heat. Any insight would be appreciated.:help

[Sergio]

That battery in the #1 position may be the only "good" battery in a badly unbalanced pack.

The next time You charge the pack, wait until close to the end of the charging cycle and measure the voltage on each battery.

If the other 5 batteries cannot get up to voltage, that "good" battery will overcharge to make up the pack voltage the charger is trying to reach.

[jjance]

Suppose you only had 5 batteries wired in series instead of six. That would cause the batteries to overcharge. Measure the pack voltage and see what you get. Just my 2 cents.

[scottyb]

I'll put money on Sergio's horse in this race It's an old problem that confounds most techs. Good SG readings from all Cells would also tell the tale.

[smokey tennis shoe]

I just had a precedent that someone bypassed the obc, and sold them the Eagle pro series charger.

With new trojan 12 volt batteries, the guy was adding water every week.

After 14 months, the batteries will not charge any higher than 75 %.

I contacted the Eagle people, they do not sell that charger anymore. Now their chargers have the letter "i" after the number. This charger did not have that "i".

I installed new obc, new trojan batteries again, and a new DPI charger. Now all is well and good.

I won't use that eagle charger again, i think that charger is what ruined this guys batteries after 14 months.

[Volt_Ampere]

Charging batteries in series only works well if they all have roughly equal capacities. If you get one with lower capacity, it will get overcharged every time you charge and it will gas out it's water much faster than the rest.

[jjance]

It looks like at this point I'd place my money on Smokey Tennis Shoe. Get a DPI charger.

[Epb]

Welcome to bgw Jonny5cam! I hope u figure out the problem.

[jonny5cam]

Thanks, that makes sense. I was being lazy on this one as I have a stack of work orders right now and a 60 hp tractor split in two. Have a good weekend.