HELP NEW BATTERIES BUT NEED advice

[TSEIDL]

ok i just bought new 6 volt batteries for my 2000 ez go electric cart. the batteries are fully charged according to place i bought them from.

i installed the batteries and pluged in the cart charger (powerwise) it clicked on but the needle barley moved. is this becasue the batteries are fully charged?

i took the charger into an ez go dealer and he took it to the back and told me the charger was working. (i didnt see him test it)

i have yet to run the cart since new batteries were installed. if i do run the batteries down should the charger read more amps when i plug it in

thanks for all your help

[highrollinmopars]

So why not run it and make sure it works. If the needle barly moves then they are probably charged up fine. If there are no other issues and the cart seems to run fine then use it and run them enough that you know they will need some charging and then try it. The needle on the charger should move more when they need charging. It dosnt sound like you have problems though.

[TSEIDL]

i am new to the cart/charger world. so what your saying is that because the cart is fully charged the needle shouldnt move much on the charger. ok

i ran the cart down the stree and it ran fine.

the only thing that worries me is that i replaced batteries that came with the cart casue i was having truoble recharging them, the charger always read zero with them too. i checked cart charger first like stated above. i charged each old battery with a small charger that i use for my lawn mower and the cart ran fine but i couldnt get it charged back up every time the charger click but not much of a reading past 0.

thats why i said screw it and got new batteries. i hope its not really the charger or the connection between charger and batteries

[scottyb]

It would help us help you if you had some voltage readings from the pack ....

[TSEIDL]

from the charger? how do i read the voltage and what equipment do i need?

i told you im green at this.. ;)

[OlManRivah]

Originally Posted by TSEIDL

i took the charger into an ez go dealer and he took it to the back and told me the charger was working. (i didnt see him test it)

Sounds like the charger is OK to me. He could have tried to sell you another charger.

[scottyb]

You need a digital voltmeter with a 200 DC volt setting... Harbor Freight sells one for like $5. But a decent one sells at homedepot or wallymart $20-40 .... you would then take before, during, and after voltage readings of the new batteries and we could tell if the charger was working and help you understand what the voltage drain limits are. I don't think anyone can properly break in a new set of batteries without a meter......

[rabbitreborn]

Just for reference..... in the last 10 years (or so) of working on golf cars (including 5 years as a dedicated E-Z-GO mechanic), I have never seen a properly working Powerwise charger's AMP gauge "barely move" unless there was an issue of lack of voltage in the pack. A properly functioning Powerwise charger will ALLWAYS go to 20+ AMPS when first plugged in if the voltage of the pack is above 32.5 volts. The higher the initial pack voltage the faster the AMPs being sent out will be dropping until getting to the 3-8 AMP range where they will remain in "trickle charge" for anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours befoer the charger finally shuts down.

The ONLY exception to this rule I have EVER seen is on a cart where the initial pack voltage was EXTREMELY low (above 24 volts but under 30 volts). In this case, the charger will throw minimal AMPs to the cart until the voltage rises (with the AMPERAGE steadily increasing as the voltage does) until the voltage is high enough to sustain the 20+ AMPs.


As Scotty said..... we need some battery readings to help you on this one.