Testing an EZGO Power Wise charger....

[shrpshtr]

thanks crash.

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

I should have avoided using an absolute statement and said Trojan golf cart batteries and their clones.

Trojan produced the first battery specifically designed for golf carts in the 50's and while the ferroresonant transformer or constant voltage transformer was invented in 1938 by Joseph Sola, Lester Electrical incorporated his theories from a different viewpoint in the chargers they built for Cushman in the 50's, which were power by the only golf cart battery on the market at the time, Trojan. Powerwise is a Lester clone.

How well a Powerwise (model 28115) charger charges other brand batteries depends on how close of a clone they are to Trojan batteries. Most are, some aren't. US Battery is one they don't do a good job of charging, but it may be possible to tweak them into doing a better job.

For the best golf cart battery charging, use a charger that uses dV/dT (Change in Voltage over Change in Time) technology to determine when battery is "Fully" charged and then float charges the battery after it is fully charged.

More info can be obtained by researching the history of Golf Carts (Golf Cars actually - a Golf Cart is a manually pushed/pulled golf bag trolly.), Golf Cart/Car batteries and Golf Cart/Car Battery Chargers.

Holy crap, he has nailed it again! This lead battery thing hasnt changed much. Only the cheapening of the cells has changed. Do you all see any pattern? The lead cell has reached its pinnacle, and passed it. Only a "cheapening" is left for it. The lead batteries only seem to get lower and lower quality. This is not new stuff.

NEXT !!!

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by shrpshtr

JohnnieB,

That is the EXACT charger I have. I plugged it in a few minutes ago (8min or so) and it hasn't gone about 4-5amps on the built-in ammeter. The battery pack hasn't been used since the last charge about 3 days ago. (note: This is the old battery pack. The new one had to be ordered.) Is that bad news?

shrp

Originally Posted by shrpshtr

UPDATE: It's been running now for about 30 minutes and it's reading 2amp. I have a feeling it should be at 15-20amps by now if it was going to get there. Am I being impatient?

Originally Posted by shrpshtr

sitting at 46.5v at the moment. ammeter showing < 3amps.

Normal response with a good PW 28115 charger and good batteries is for the Ammeter to climb to Max amps (~18A) within seconds after charger turns on.

It stays at max amps until pack voltage rises above about 42V and the amps start decreasing as the pack voltage climbs above ~42V.

The amp flow is typically below 5A by the time the pack voltage has climbed above 44V and is about 2A by the time the pack voltage reaches 50V, however the control board in the charger (which is strictly a semi-smart On/Off switch) typically shuts off the charger when the on-charge pack voltage reaches about 45V.

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Your charger not going to max amps almost instantly indicates the batteries have extremely high internal resistance, or the charger is sick.

The amps flow at 46.5V is reasonably normal, so I the batteries most likely have high internal resistance.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by cgtech

Holy crap, he has nailed it again! This lead battery thing hasnt changed much. Only the cheapening of the cells has changed. Do you all see any pattern? The lead cell has reached its pinnacle, and passed it. Only a "cheapening" is left for it. The lead batteries only seem to get lower and lower quality. This is not new stuff.

You nailed it pretty well too.

A somewhat parallel progression has happened to battery chargers also.

[shrpshtr]

Ok. So it sounds reasonable to assume that my charger may be ok. I KNOW the battery pack isn't worth the parts it consists of right now. Since I am going to be upgrading to the DPI anyway, maybe I can sell the one I have. Thanks guys!

shrp