Changing issues with Summit II

[nobodeuno]

Hello,

I just installed new batteries a month or two ago and went from 12v to 8v pack. I have a 2008Club Car. I had Trojan batteries but went with USBatteries since that is what I could find locally. I was having issues with my feet making it up a steep hill in my neighborhood even on full charge. It does a bit better but still has trouble and has died on a couple of occasions when the batteries are at around 60% charge. This may be the result of a battery issue but I am going to get some alligator clips so I can run my multi meter and measure battery pack and individual voltage while under load. Am I on the right track here?

Anyways question though. I have a summit II charger and I can’t seem to get the batteries to fully charge. I didn’t realize it but it seems lately the battery charger seems to stop at around 87%. I plug it in and come back and it has shut off. So I unplug snd plug back in and it starts charging again and charges for a bit then turns off again. I checked the battery profile and when I put in the specs it selects profile 22251v3. Sometimes it does seem to charge to 100% though.

I read that US Batteries have a bit high voltage or something but not sure if that means I need to do something different in the setup of the charger. Anyone have this issue or know what could be causing it?

[Fairtax4me]

Check US Battery's charger setting recommendations on page 2 of the pdf here:

Make sure your selected charge algorithm matches those settings.
Did you select that algorithm by going through the menu in the charger connect app?

[nobodeuno]

I used the auto selector in the app and specified my battery model. It selected the 22251. I read the us battery manual but it didn’t seem to match the charging description on any of the profiles in the app.

The profile I have selected is
Auto-voltage mode: 48V or 36V flooded/wet lead-acid battery packs with a 20-hr rating of 150-204 Ah
Single-voltage mode: 36V flooded/wet lead-acid battery packs with a 20-hr rating of 150-204 Ah
Profile parameters: 13.5A bulk (48V), 18A bulk (36V), 2.39 VPC absorption, 6A finish, Progressive DV/DT termination, equalize active

———

My model is US Battery 8VGCXC2.

Thanks

Justin

[nobodeuno]

Also it charged all night snd seemed to stop charging at some point when I checked it this morning it had shut off but it was showing 88% in the app. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it started charging. Left for an hour and came back and it had shut off again. Looked in the app and this is what I see 91%

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[nobodeuno]

I was just doing some testing and I think I hill issue is the result of an overheating of my controller or my motor. After letting it sit for 5-10 mins it will go it will finally make it up the hill. Need to do more digging but maybe a fan on the controller might help. and still have an issue with charging.

[Fairtax4me]

Ok, well something to know is the state of charge percentage in the App is based on an average of several charge cycles. That will not reflect an accurate number until the charger has done about 10 to 15 cycles.

Also since those batteries are new they do not have their full capacity yet. How many total charge cycles have you done with them? New batteries generally take around 20 charge cycles to reach full capacity.
Running them to the point that the cart shuts off is detrimental to the long term health of the pack, but it sounds like you may just have a combination of things causing the cart to shut off on the hill. Number 1 reason for the cart not running up a hill is low pack voltage, so it would help if you can get an accurate voltage of the pack while the cart is in operation going up this hill.

[nobodeuno]

I figured out the issue. Hooked up to the processor and indeed had an thermal shutdown ans it was quite hot in the battery compartment. Even the cables were hot. This has never happened before but then again it has been hot lately and going up the steep hill must have made it cut off. Anyways so that is the reason for it dying uphill probably not the batteries.

I ordered a fan for the processor so hopefully that will help!

As for the batteries they have a good number of cycles on them. We use the cart almost daily for the past 2 months and so I think it has been broken in. We haven’t been below 50%. I still think something strange is going on with the charger

I will also get the voltage drop once the alligator clips come in so I can monitor it while driving.

Thanks for the help!

[Fairtax4me]

Profile parameters: 13.5A bulk (48V), 18A bulk (36V), 2.39 VPC absorption, 6A finish, Progressive DV/DT termination, equalize active

So this is very close to what US battery recommends for charge settings.
They recommend up to 10% of C20 bulk charge phase, 2.4 vpc absorption phase, 2.55vpc finish phase at 3% of C20.
C20 is the 20hr capacity rating, which I can’t remember exactly for that model battery but it should be 170ah or maybe 180. So the bulk charge rate ideally would be 17-18 amps, but is not 100% necessary for correct charging, it just takes a bit longer to charge at the 13.5A rate the charger supplies.
The finish charge rate should be 5.4 amps for a 180 Ah battery. The slightly higher finish rate is fine, and may be set that way on purpose to make up for the slower bulk charge rate.
I would think that profile is fine, except you do need to check the finish rate voltage to make sure it is getting up to around 2.55vpc.
Plug the cart in for a normal charge cycle, and keep an eye on it as it is charging. When the charge shows it is above 80% charge completion check the voltage of the pack. It should be reaching around 61.2v towards the end of the charge cycle. If it is not getting that high then the profile is not correct and needs to be changed so the pack gets the proper finish charge.

[nobodeuno]

Thanks for the advice I will give that a try! Also curious if I keep the charger plugged in if it will maintain the battery automatically. For example if I go on vacation and some use it for a few days. Will the summit II charger keep periodically charging it?

[Fairtax4me]

Yes, you can just leave it plugged in. The summit II will do a maintenance charge if the pack drops to a certain preset voltage. (Can’t remember the exact voltage off hand)
Generally that will only be about every 15-20 days, so if you only leave for a few days it more than likely won’t do anything while you’re away.