2012 Bad Boy MTV Charging Fault

[JosephJ]

Our 2012 Bad Boy MTV won’t charge. The built-in charger powers up as normal, then shuts down after a few seconds and begins flashing 2 red lights. Specifically, the lights labeled “30” and “60”. The lights flash repeatedly for as long as the controller is plugged in; there is no pattern suggesting a code. Immediately before this problem, we had a different problem that may or may not be related. The positive lead on the right-most battery (under the passenger side seat) vibrated loose, arced and melted the positive terminal. We replaced that battery. All seemed well at first, but then the problem with the charger developed. See 2 photos attached. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[nickdalzell1]

at 12% BDI you're likely too low for the charger to attempt a cycle.

However, your charger looks similar to a Pro Charging Systems charger similar to an Eagle Performance Series. a 30 60 flash is 'Float mode timeout' and occurs if one or more bad batteries are present/or if the initial stage of the charge didn't reach a specified voltage within a specific time, for this code, about close to an hour. the fan of the charger usually won't even turn on like it does when it's actually charging.

To restart a cycle during a float mode timeout you have to pull the plug from the wall and the car, then plug back to the wall outlet then the car again. But I bet you got failing batteries if your SoC is at 12%.

[JosephJ]

Good news! My Bad Boy MTV is now fully charged. The post from nickdalzell1 put me on the right track. Thank you! A YouTube video called “How to Charge Dead Golf Cart Batteries - Reviving Dead 6v & 8v Golf Cart Batteries FAQ” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkSu173iL_c) provided the practical solution that worked.

Step one was checking the voltage of each of my eight batteries. The seven older batteries were each 6.0 to 6.1 volts. The new battery (in the number one position under the passenger seat) was only 3.5 volts.

Step two was to charge the first two batteries. The video explained how to use a 12 volt charger to charge two 6 volt batteries connected in series. I disconnected all cables from the first and second batteries and connected them in series. (Yes, I know all eight are in series, but the cabling on the number one and two battery pair is different. Wanting to be certain I was only putting charge into that battery pair, I “borrowed” the negative-to-positive cable from the second pair of batteries under the seat.) I also topped up the water in the batteries as advised in the video.

Using my 12 volt motorcycle Battery Tender, I slow-charged the pair. It took over 24 hours to get a solid green light on the Battery Tender.

Reconnecting the cables as installed by the factory, I plugged in the Bad Boy’s built-in battery charger. This time, it performed as normal. This seemed miraculous, given that it kept cutting off before. Several hours later, my buggy was 100% charged.

There is one caveat to this story. It has been raining like crazy for the last three days. Consequently, I have not had the buggy on the road. When we have a dry day, I will amend this post with a report on how it performs.