Battery restarting without unplugging

[tracebits]

After being gone a week we drove our car into the garage and the battery charger on our ezgo electric golf cart was running. We thought someone had used the cart. Will the charger kick back in after it sits awhile? Or does it have to be unplugged from cart and replugged back in to start again? Is this a sign of a problem?
Thank you.

[Bowslayer]

Maybe it never cut off in the first place. I have a charger that will charge down to 1 amp and never cut off. I need to replace the control board but since I converted to 48 volts I don't use it anyway.

[JohnnieB]

Welcome to BGW!

Which battery charger do you have?
Some of them recycle when the battery voltage drops below a given point. (Cart batteries self-discharge about 1% per day)
Some of them initiate a new cycle if the AC power is interrupted, so they lights at your place might have flickered shortly before you got home.

[tracebits]

We have a Power Wise Ez-Go textron model 28115G0.
Thanks you

[bigstik40]

I think that's the same charger that I am using, and with mine, the only way I can re-initiate a charge cycle is to unplug the charger output cable at the cart then plug it back in. Not 100% sure if my charger is correct as it is older and I didn't have it from new, but that's how it works - RAY

[JohnnieB]

There should be one more number.
The G0 should be followed by a 1 or a 2.
If it has got some LEDs that shine through the front panel, it is a Powerwise+ (-G02), if it doesn't, it is a Powerwise (G01)
Doesn't matter much, they both work the same and restart if the battery voltage drops down enough or if the AC power is interrupted.

AC line flickers happen all the time, but only a week is mighty quick for self-discharging down enough to trigger a recharge cycle.
If the tops of you batteries are wet, their might be a conductive path across them making them discharge faster while sitting unused.

To check out the charger to see if it is working right.
When plugged into AC power, there should be a 3-5 second delay before charger comes on after charger is plugged into cart. IF not, it needs to be fixed.

If it comes on properly, the ammeter should jump to about 20A initially, stay there for a few minutes and then start tapering off to about 5-8A.

How long it stays at 8A depends on how deeply the batteries were discharged, but unit has back-up timer that shuts it off in 16 hours if cut-off voltage (44-46V for 36V battery pack) isn't reached.

BTW - That is a good charger and is almost 100% repairable if and when it fails.

[JohnnieB]

Ray is right about it not restarting after AC power interruption. Some models do, others don't. MY Powerwise II doesn't.

Try it and find out for sure.

[Bowslayer]

Yep, some do and some don't. A friend of mine has a vacation home with a cart that he does not go to often so he just put a timer on the receptacle where he plugs the charger in that breaks and re-makes connection to restart the charger about once a week. I tried it on my charger and it will only restart if you unhook the charger from the cart so it would not work for me.

[tracebits]

Thanks to all. We'll check it out. Already know that it takes a few seconds to start when plugged in. Will check the rest.