cart wont go. need help.

[dougmcp]

Originally Posted by djhartley2003

Thanks for the info on the voltage. I think my batteries have had it.

I was able to get the voltage off the batteries last night. I don't think it looks so good. I drew it out so that you can see what I have and where. The voltage readings are after letting it sit for a few days with out being plugged into the charger. I am going to plug it in and see if they charge and if the voltage changes after that.

It appears that the two 4v readings are really bad and may not even come back to life.
Charge it up completely and let the charger shut off by itself.
Take another reading on the batteries the next day and you should have your answers. Any battery that isn't over 6.25v is done/shot.
It looks like you are using an analog meter, you need to use a digital meter to get an accurate reading. Harbor Freight has them for less than $5.00 or Home Depot/Lowes/Ace Hardware/Autozone/Napa for less than $20.00

[djhartley2003]

Ill charge it and let the charger turn off on its own to get the best reading I can. I am using a digital volt meter. Its a Fluke T5-600, cost about $100. The electricians here at work told me what I should buy.

[dougmcp]

Glad you got a good meter.
Battery numbers are important when analyzing, can post your individual battery numbers with 2 decimals and your pack voltage with 1 decimal.

[djhartley2003]

Thank you for the help and the feed back. Its nice to have a place to come and ask a question.

[djhartley2003]

Well over the weekend I was able to put the charger on my cart and keep an eye on it while it charged. I need new batteries. The front 4 still read 6 volts each and one of the ones in the middle of the cart on the side of the controller is reading 4 volts but the other one next to the controller is now reading 0 volts when I put my volt reader on it. Thanks for the help everyone. I'm going to keep going on my fabrication and get new batteries when I can.

[dougmcp]

You can't have a battery reading 0 volts, it will always have something in it.
Are you sure everything is connected?

[LostHusker]

Sounds like he has a short on one of his batteries, ran into this once, could not get a reading on a battery, took it out the tray just to find out if the battery moved it would show some voltage, move it again none. Strangest thing I ever saw. Not saying this is the case but something to consider.

[djhartley2003]

I never thought of that. Ill take it out of the cart and see if it shows something then. Thanks for the tip.