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Old 03-25-2011, 11:55 AM   #1
acousticallyblue
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Default Batteries over-charging? Confused.

Hi--I have a 2004.5 Club Car DS Series, with 6 8-volt batteries made by US Battery (I know, they're not Trojans, but they were new in Nov '09 and I just bought the cart last summer). PowerDrive2 charger.

Two days ago, I washed the cart, including the battery well, and plugged it in to charge and left for several hours. I'm not sure how long I was gone, but when I got back, it was still charging (5 amps) and seemed like it had been too long. I lifted the seat and heard what sounded like a tiny "meep...meep...meep" sound. I checked inside one of the batteries, and it was dry--not water in sight. Other 5 batts were the same. I haven't been as diligent about checking them over the winter, but I've had the cart for almost a year and have never had to add water (checking every couple weeks over the summer/fall). The batteries have always performed very well--21 mph on stock tires with purple PQ motor, and drive around for hours before needing to charge.

I filled the batteries with distilled water (~1/4 inch above plates) and took it for a drive to try to kill the batts. An hour and a half later, I was down only two bars on my digital battery meter. Plugged it in to charge again, and the same thing happened--a few hours later, the charger was still at 5A. I unplugged it and left it overnight.

This morning, I checked the voltages/specific gravities:

Total V: 52.6
Batt V: 8.71, 8.72, 8.72, 8.73, 8.74, 8.75

SpG:
Batt 1: 1.28, 1.28, 1.28, 1.30
Batt 2: 1.29, 1.28, 1.27, 1.29
Batt 3: 1.29, 1.27, 1.27, 1.29
Batt 4: 1.28, 1.28, 1.30, 1.29
Batt 5: 1.27, 1.27, 1.30, 1.27
Batt 6: 1.28, 1.27, 1.27, 1.28

I didn't temperature-correct because the temp was about 70 degrees, and I didn't think the difference was significant. All of the cells would have still been "green."

I checked my voltmeter on my car batt and got 12.8V.

My problems/questions:
1. After looking at the state-of-charge chart, it seems like all of my batteries are too high, but equally so. Is this a problem I should be concerned about?

2. Why won't my charger shut off? It doesn't look like I have any bad cells...could it be the OBC? or maybe the charger? something else?

3. Could my batteries have gone dry because the charger stayed on too long? I hope that was what happened and that I caught it early. It seems strange that they've always been fine and then had these problems at the same time.

Thanks in advance for the help. I know this was long, but I was trying to give you all the info I could to save everybody the trouble of asking a hundred questions.
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Old 03-25-2011, 12:49 PM   #2
scottyb
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

Leave the charger plugged in and allow it to finish! This may take as long as 12 hours. It is normal for them to .
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Old 03-25-2011, 12:54 PM   #3
GLEEMO
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

bump
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Old 03-25-2011, 12:55 PM   #4
shadowman
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

scotty is right once you get down to 5 amps i have seen them stay there forever...........now if in fact your charger is not shutting off it could be a sign of a bad OBC or a bad battery, if one was dry thats the one i would concern myself with.......even though it has voltage a pack with a bad battery will keep the charger running in a lot of cases...............................
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Old 03-25-2011, 12:56 PM   #5
acousticallyblue
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

Thanks--I just reset the OBC (just in case) and plugged it back in. I'll leave it on for now.

I've had it for a year, and I have a pretty good feel for how long it takes to charge after using it, and it definitely seems to be taking longer now (and the battery voltages seem high).
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Old 03-25-2011, 12:59 PM   #6
shadowman
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

i have seen plenty with voltage in the 9 volt range so i wouldn,t worry just yet.....................................
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Old 03-25-2011, 01:02 PM   #7
GLEEMO
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

well they were dry, may make a slight difference ?

PS the charger/OBC has a protection to shut it off in 16 hours if it does not complete !
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Old 03-25-2011, 01:05 PM   #8
acousticallyblue
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

What I'm wondering is if they were dry because the charger wouldn't shut off, or if the charging cycle was different because they had been dry.

It seems strange that in the hot Charleston summers, using it every day, I never had to add water; but in the winter, after 2 months of using it once a week or so, all the cells were dry. That made me think something else was causing the problem.
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Old 03-25-2011, 01:07 PM   #9
scottyb
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

And the pack will reach upwards of 63v before it is done! Then wait 12 hours to see where the pack settles to....
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Old 03-25-2011, 01:40 PM   #10
acousticallyblue
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Default Re: Batteries over-charging? Confused.

OK--well, you guys are convincing. I plugged it in at 1:00...that means it should be off by 7AM tomorrow, no matter what.

I'll leave it on and see what happens. Hopefully what's wrong is...well, nothing.
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