86 Club Car - AccuPower Auto Charger

[cdressel]

Well, all was going too good, I guess.

1986 CC DS, 36 V, AccuPower 536R Automatic Charger

Last night I plugged the charger in and went to bed. The pack wasn't down very much but I wanted to top it off.

This morning, I noticed the charger had not shut off and the batteries were nice and warm and the electrolyte was boiling. Just a good boil, nothing too alarming.

I forgot to look at the charger ammeter before I unplugged it, so I don't know what the meter read.

After 10 hours, the battery pack voltage is still 39.0.
The individual battery voltages are 6.47 to 6.50.
Hydrometer readings: Five batteries are at 1.275 in each cell. One battery is 1.250 in the three cells.

Question: Is that one battery with the lower SG reading the cause of the charger not shutting off, or should I be looking to buy a new electronic timer kit for the 536R charger?

Any other ideas?

Thanks much.

Chuck

[shadowman]

if the charger shuts off auto than it has 16 hours before it times out......could be a sign of batteries starting to go or they might have been lower than you think? gassing batteries isn,t bad as long as they arn,t throwing water all over them.......i would plug it in leave it alone see just how long before it shuts off.............................................

[cdressel]

That's just it. The charger hadn't shut off after eleven hours, and it's never done that before.

The cart had only been operated about 15 minutes. I live in a (very flat) RV park. It usually charges - and shuts off - within two or three hours.

This time, the charger was still going after eleven hours. It's never run that long before. I don't think it's too good to run the charger a full 16 hours if the pack doesn't need it, right?

Chuck

[shadowman]

i can,t answer that.....1 time won,t hurt but no you wouldn,t want to always overcharge the batteries, how old are they? are all your cable ends clean and tight? things like that could keep the charger going........at what amps was the meter before you unplugged it?.....i would check all this basic stuff and if all,s ok than start looking at something more...........................

[gaminde]

that charger does it have a manual timer Or does your cart have an OBC if it manual timer replace it.

[shadowman]

its a 36 volt cart there is no OBC..............................

[cdressel]

It's a 36 volt resistor/solenoid cart - no OBC.

Batteries are 2-1/2 year sold and have been well cared for. From the first post,
"After 10 hours (off the charger), the battery pack voltage is still 39.0.
The individual battery voltages are 6.47 to 6.50.
Hydrometer readings: Five batteries are at 1.275 in each cell. One battery is 1.250 in the three cells."

After 24 hours, pack voltage read 38.8 volts, using two meters for verification. From this, I believe the batteries are good. All connections are clean and tight. (I like to keep things clean and I check connections often.)

From the first post, I noted, "I forgot to look at the charger ammeter before I unplugged it, so I don't know what the meter read."

Also from the first post, It's an "AccuPower 536R Automatic Charger" . It's automatic and has no manual timer.

I do remember that for a few minutes before the charger automatically shuts off, the meter has apparently dropped to "zero" on the scale, but the transformer is still "humming" quite loudly. This seems to go on for anywhere from 5 to ten minutes before all is quiet, when it completely shuts down.

After a day, I ran the cart for about fifteen minutes and plugged the charger back in. The charger automatically shut-off after approx. 45 minutes. To me, this means it may just have been a "fluke" that the charger failed to shut down automatically. I'll test it again it a couple of days. I'm just a little concerned that I can no longer trust it to automatically shut down when the charge is complete.

Thanks for all your help and insight.

Chuck

[shadowman]

yes keep an eye on it as like you said it could have been just a fluke........................