36v Battery Meter Issues

[Snootalope]

Hey all, bought a 2003 txt 36v last year with brand new Trojan T-105 batteries and one of the first things I did was put a 36v battery meter on it. Specifically, the WZXBI-BI003-36V from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

While I might not be the sharpest crayon in the box, pretty darn sure I've got it installed correctly.

Since day 1, I charge it and when the key is switched on it'll read as full with the single LED all the way to the right. It's been installed for about 7 months now and the lowest I've seen the thing read is the third LED from the right, never even seen the yellow or red lights.

This past weekend (temps in the low 40's) we're down at the farm and I use it for about 45min - 1 hour of actual run time, up and down some moderate hills, nothing crazy. While driving back to the truck we're going up maybe a 10 degree incline hill - nothing this thing hasn't climbed a number of times and all of sudden it slowly creeps to a stop. Battery meter is showing the 3rd LED from the right - plenty of life left. Simply would NOT go up the hill, just acted as if it were dead - but according to the battery meter, I should be fine. Ended up pushing the frickin thing up the hill, where on flat ground and took off and drove fine.

Now I'm left scratching my head on what to do.. buy a new battery meter? Should I go analog instead of digital? Do I have a bad battery in there? Something up with the controller? Something else wrong maybe?

#PanicMode

[scottyb]

Don't panic - you have the wrong meter ( I'll explain) and the new batteries are not at their full potential yet. It takes 20-50 charge cycles for the batteries to reach 100%. During this time you should follow a new battery break in routine of many shallow recharge cycles... meaning that during this time the batteries are not deeply discharged. Continue this and they will get stronger... also - the temps are low and this reduces the battery power and capacity. Take this into count.
Now - the bar graph meters are no good. We are all using digital volt meters. in this example below the bar graph is showing full and volt meter is reading empty. The voltmeter is correct. How can this be? Well, the bar graph meter resets itself to 100% each time you recharge even if the batteries never got to full or the charge was cut off short. The digital read out is a true reading and we know that 38.2 is full and 36.4 is empty. See chart attached

Your handheld DVM should tell you if you have a seriously lower battery in the pack and if you have the pack connected in series and hooked to the cart properly.
Don't have a meter? watch this short video > http://www.cartsunlimited.net/troubleshooting-tips.html

[Snootalope]

Well that makes perfect sense! Thank you. So I was actually checking out your site earlier for a replacment meter. On the Battery Meter page: http://www.cartsunlimited.net/battery-meters.html --- The first option (#1) in the list is the simple Blue/Red meter -- would this be a good option for a replacement?

Does the Blue/Red meter at $14.50 have the third terminal so it turns on/off with the key? Or does it stay on all the time?

[scottyb]

Yes that little meter is a good option - red is a little easier to read than blue in the daytime. This 2 wire meter is self powering. They draw less than 1/60th of an amp so no need to turn it off but it want to just run the (+) side off of the key switch and the (-) side to the battery pack. I've left some on for years and other switched. If left on you can check the battery at a glance when you walk by.
It comes with instruction.

[Snootalope]

Ordered the red - TY! Hope this post helps other noobs like myself - wouldn't of wasted my money on the first meter had I known what I know now.

[cgtech]

Thank you... Both! ScottyB for a good meter, and Snootalope for being willing to learn some more about what your batteries are really telling you! Awesome solution! BTW, I left my volt meter on all the time. (When I was running sparky style).