Chager Won't charge

[andystmichael]

I have a big problem and don't have any answers. I had my 48 volt Club Car charged in over the winter in my garage. I checked on it from time to time and everything seemed to be OK. A couple of weeks ago I went to take it out and the gauge was showing the batteries were a little low. I just left it plugged in and when I went back a couple of days ago, the batteries were reading very low (20 volts). When I checked things out I found out the charger was not working. There is a breaker on the charger that I couldn't seem to flip so I thought that was the problem so I took the wires off the breaker and connected them together. Still no go. I have no idea what to check now.

CAN anyone shed some light on what could be going on?

[theboss20]

Did you un-plug the charger from the 110v power source? In order to reset the charger you need to unplug it and re plug into the wall socket. Plus if the voltage is too low on the battery pack the charger may not pickup and charge. If that happens you may have to charge the batteries individually to bring them up to the threshold voltage. If it is a 48v cart you will have an onboard computer that controls the charge and that may need to be reset...take the main negative cable off the battery pack for ten minutes to reset the OBC (on board computer).Make sure you are not low on water and the cables are CLEAN and tight...then report back.

[andystmichael]

Thanks for your information. I did unplug the charger and plug it back in a couple of times. The batteries are really low now but they are 8 volt batteries and my car charger is 6 and 12 volt. Can I use the 6 volt or 12 volt to bump up each battery? I will disconnect the battery as you suggest to reset the computer and try it again. I will let you know what happens.
Please let me know if I can use my car charger on these batteries before I do anything
Thanks
Andy

[teecro]

Yes after you switch to tow disconnect your battery from the cart and charge each 8 volt battery with 12 volts for 30 to 45 minutes to bring their voltage back up enough (8.0v) to allow the cart charger to take off.... Be sure to watch that your battery are not getting too hot or bubbling over from the 12 volt charger....

[andystmichael]

I disconnected all the batteries, cleaned the posts, filed the water up and put my car battery charger on 12 volt and turned it on. The charger needle went crazy so I dropped it to 6 volt. It worked better. I charged each battery to 6 volts then turned the charger to 12 volt. I charged each battery to 7 and 8 volts. I reconnected all the cables to the batteries and connected the golf cart charger. What a relief,,,, IT STARTED CHARGING>>>>>....
I watched it for about 10 minutes now and the volt meter is slowly coming up. THANKS A MILLION.

I hope I didn't screw my batteries because they went dead.

I still don't know why they went dead. It must be because the charger stopped working and was plugged in and the charge was being drawn back into the charger.
I can't thank you enough for all your help. I thought that I was going to pay big for a new charger or new batteries.
Andy

[Hecky50]

Originally Posted by andystmichael

I disconnected all the batteries, cleaned the posts, filed the water up and put my car battery charger on 12 volt and turned it on. The charger needle went crazy so I dropped it to 6 volt. It worked better. I charged each battery to 6 volts then turned the charger to 12 volt. I charged each battery to 7 and 8 volts. I reconnected all the cables to the batteries and connected the golf cart charger. What a relief,,,, IT STARTED CHARGING>>>>>....
I watched it for about 10 minutes now and the volt meter is slowly coming up. THANKS A MILLION.

I hope I didn't screw my batteries because they went dead.

I still don't know why they went dead. It must be because the charger stopped working and was plugged in and the charge was being drawn back into the charger.
I can't thank you enough for all your help. I thought that I was going to pay big for a new charger or new batteries.
Andy

Suggestion>>Get yourself a battery maintainer(Sav-A-battery/Battery Minder) They will keep you pack fully charged for months on end. I have a Sav-a-battery 48v unit. I leave this thing plugged in all the time for weeks at a time. Best thing it is not affected by power outages. If power goes out it will start up when power returns. Your charger needs to be unplugged from the cart and replugged to restart. Search this site people swear by them. Worth a set of batteries. 75/90 dollars. http://www.saveabattery.com/products.html

[andystmichael]

I checked out the battery savers and I don't know how you would hook it up so it will charge 6x 8volt batteries. I can see that the battery saver comes with a set of clamps to connect to one battery.

[theboss20]

If you get the 48v model then it connects to the total battery pack...the main POS. on the passengers side and the main NEG. on the driver side. You can use the clamps or cut them off and put two 3/8" ring terminals in their place and make it a permanent installation. Be sure the maintainer is unplugged when using the big charger.

[andystmichael]

Thinks are looking good now. The charger is working now but the volt meter on the cart is showing 42.4 volts. I checked each battery with my multi meter and every battery was showing about 8.6 volts, which is 51.6 volts. So I guess Everything is good now.
I called about the battery minder and they are $100.00 plus $35.00 shipping Plus tax. That is getting to close to $200.00. I can't afford that at this time, but I will get one in the fall before I put it away for the winter.
Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.
Andy

[DIRTPIT HC]

I believe from what i've read that doing several back to back charging cycles will "help" to minimize the damage done to batteries from severe discharge. Check the voltage on the back of the on cart voltage meter to see if it is showing the voltage that is actually there and check the actual pack voltage with the multi meter. One other thing is check the water in the batteries again. When batteries are not fully charged you should only add distilled water to cover the plates, Then give batteries a full charge and then check batteries and fill to correct level.