charger never gets below 15 amps and won't shut off?

[smokey tennis shoe]

Pulling my hair out over this.
have a western elegante cart, 48 volt, with 8 six volt batteries.

I installed 8 new batteries, exactly 17 months ago. All of a sudden, the charger won't turn off.

The charger goes to 15 amps, when plugged in the cart, and will run until I unplug it, even more than 16 hours!

The charger is the original one that came with the cart, I think it is an old DPI one, it is black and has the large ezgo commercial plug on it.

I just bought a new DPI charger from ScottyB, and it does the same thing, it will not shut off!.

The charger ( either one), never gets above 54 volts. While charging all individual batteries are 6.79- 6.8.

Last nite I let the new charger run for 20 hours, and it did get down to 6 volts, but no lower.

I unplugged the new charger, removed one battery to look at the charge receptacle. That is fine, looks great.

I then put new terminal ends on both the positive and negative charge receptacle wires, still made no difference.

All the specific gravity readings are decent, none are 50 points higher than any of the others.

From what I read, the batteries are undercharged. After letting cart sit ( after charging with new charger down to 6 volts), for 15 hours, pack reads 50.0 volts.

So it is only charging to about 85%. I read an old thread that someone had a similar issue, and Johnnie was trying to help, but the ended the tread,.

I don't know what to try next? Since my new charger won't turn off, but it did get down to 6 volts???

[scottyb]

Was charger doing the same thing before new batteries were installed?

[scottyb]

Nvr mnd I see 17 months ago

[scottyb]

Batteries are not reaching shut off voltage. Water levels okay? Both chargers have the same problem so you have a battery problem....

[kogieblack]

Have you tried charging 6 8-volt batteries?

[smokey tennis shoe]

????? I have a qty of eight batteries in the cart.

Batteries check out ok, water is filled, everything is tight.

[yurtle]

Check voltage of individual batteries. You could have a bad battery.

[smokey tennis shoe]

I did check the voltages. After charging and letting sit for 15 hours, ALL EIGHT BATTERIES WERE BETWEEN 6.27 AND 6.3.

I DID A DISCHARGE TEST WITH LESTER DISCHARGE UNIT ALSO, run time was 116 minutes, . I checked each battery voltage at end of discharge, and all were about 6.07. None were more than .o2 from another.

Specific gravity runs from 1240 ( lowest cell of all) to 1265 ( highest cell in pack ). On any given individual battery, the SG doesn't very more than 20.

JUST NOW, the charger has been running for 15 hours so far, the charger needle is at 10 amps. The voltage at the batteries ( with charger still running ) is 53.0 volts. I put an amprobe on each battery wire, and get readings fro, 8.8 amp to 9.0 amps.

Each individual battery voltage ( with charger still running ) is between 6.59 to 6.7.

[scottyb]

What make and model batteries and what mode is the charger set on?

[scottyb]

Everything you're telling us about the batteries indicates a healthy pack. If that's the case, and the charger is good, then the only other reason why it would not beginning to full charge would have to be something in the delivery system.
Possibly a problem with a worn receptacle or charge leads. when you check your battery voltage at the receptacle does it differ from the reading you get at the pack?

The charger should be bringing your battery pack up to the low to mid 60 V range and shutting off. It's not shutting off because the pack is not reaching the preset shot off voltage.

I know this sounds stupid but, check again to be sure all the batteries are connected positive to negative throughout the pack.