4 month old batteries won't stay charged long

[mutant]

what is the individual battery voltage after use-is one lower than the rest? you could have a defect that is pulling down the pack...

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by tonymoak1111

I am using the Power Wise Charger that came with Cart. I have 2

Powerwise makes several different models of chargers.

Do the ones you have look like the model 28115 pictured below? (Single stage - ferroresonant transformer type - preset voltage cutoff.)

If so, it is designed to charger Trojan batteries and their clones.
It shuts off when the On-Charge voltage climbs into the 44V to 46V range and US Battery batteries need to finish at a higher voltage (46V to 48V).

Also attached are the USB Technical Service Bulletin that alludes to the undercharging issue and the USB's charging recommendations.

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Only getting a range of about 2 miles is pretty dismal for relatively new 232AH batteries, so there may be other problems.

1. What is the highest voltage reached just prior to charger shutting off?

2. What is the pack voltage and individual battery voltages 12 hours afetr the charger shuts off?

3. Monitor the individual battery voltages while driving cart up the same slight incline. They ought to drop to about the same voltage. What voltages did you get?

[Greener77356]

I'm new to this whole golf cart world, but is it possible that there could be a mechanical problem? Like maybe a brake dragging or even soft/underinflated tires? Pardon me if this is a dumb question. I'm learning a lot from the experts on this forum.

[tonymoak1111]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Powerwise makes several different models of chargers.

Do the ones you have look like the model 28115 pictured below? (Single stage - ferroresonant transformer type - preset voltage cutoff.)

If so, it is designed to charger Trojan batteries and their clones.
It shuts off when the On-Charge voltage climbs into the 44V to 46V range and US Battery batteries need to finish at a higher voltage (46V to 48V).

Also attached are the USB Technical Service Bulletin that alludes to the undercharging issue and the USB's charging recommendations.

----------
Only getting a range of about 2 miles is pretty dismal for relatively new 232AH batteries, so there may be other problems.

1. What is the highest voltage reached just prior to charger shutting off?

2. What is the pack voltage and individual battery voltages 12 hours afetr the charger shuts off?

3. Monitor the individual battery voltages while driving cart up the same slight incline. They ought to drop to about the same voltage. What voltages did you get?

Yes, both chargers are the same one in picture. The 28115.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Greener77356

I'm new to this whole golf cart world, but is it possible that there could be a mechanical problem? Like maybe a brake dragging or even soft/underinflated tires? Pardon me if this is a dumb question. I'm learning a lot from the experts on this forum.

The only dumb questions are the one that aren't asked.

Yes, the problem may be a mechanical issue. However, the question asked was why relatively new batteries were not staying charged very long, so we started troubleshooting from the electrical side.

If the new batteries are connected properly, are being fully charged and none are failing under load, then we will try to determine if the amps being drawn from the battery pack is relatively normal and check out the mechanical stuff.

Of course, we could have started eliminating mechanical issues first.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by tonymoak1111

Yes, both chargers are the same one in picture. The 28115.

There may be other issues, but there is a high probability your batteries are not being fully charged and have never been fully charged.

Others have had similar symptoms (short run-time) when using a PW 28115 to charge US Battery golf cart batteries.

The PW 28115 is a good charger, it just isn't designed to charge US Battery products.

Sell them and get one of these: http://www.cartsunlimited.net/battery-chargers.html
It has a user selectable charge algorithm for US Battery.

While waiting for it to arrive, charge your battery pack with the PW 28115 until it shuts off, the initiate a new charge with it and when that ends, use a 12V battery charge to charge the 6V batteries in pairs (as shown in attached drawing) for about 8 hours each set. That ought to improve the performance (run-time) considerably.

[vagabond]

one of the people here in the park has the same type charger and the capaciter was going bad and only charging 2 amps and he thought the batteries were bad

[tonymoak1111]

I was thinking the same thing was happening but, I have 2 chargers and both do the same thing ������

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by tonymoak1111

I was thinking the same thing was happening but, I have 2 chargers and both do the same thing ������

What is the same thing that they both do?

If the ammeter on the two chargers climb up to about 18A or so a few moments after being plugged into cart the capacitor, diodes and transformer are most likely good.

If the On-charge voltage on the battery pack climbs into the 44V to 46V range before charger(s) shut off, the control board is most likely good.

[PingEye3]

At our club there heve been quite a few new sets of batteries installed over the last 6 months. I know of two US Batt 8V (out of the 6) that had to be replaced because they failed. Also two T1275 Trojans and two T875 Trojans. That is from four different sets on the Trojans. The dealer here in Orlando for both has told me they are having a lot of early failures, but don't know why.