Batteris Going?

[scottyb]

A equalization charge would amount to recharging a fully charged pack ... Make sure water levels are correct. Then charge twice back to back, discharge to 5-10% only and recharge. Then discharge to 10-15% and recharge....... see if they improve with this type of activity.

[JMGreco]

I broke the pack down and charged the batteris in pairs with my 12 volt charger. Started the first pair at four yesterday afternoon and the last pair before going to work this morning. Wired the pack back up this eveneing and briefly got 38.2 volts before settling in at 38.1. JonnieB, will report back individual battery number once down to 37.1 or 70%. I may do the equalization charge though before getting down to 70% but thought this was a good start. Also makes me a little suspicious that my 36 volt charger may be cutting off early, will monitor.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by JMGreco

......Also makes me a little suspicious that my 36 volt charger may be cutting off early, will monitor.

Remember that the charger is reading the battery pack voltage at the charger receptacle while there is a few amps of current flowing, so any resistance in the black wire coming out of the receptacle, through the interconnecting cables on the battery pack, back into the receptacle via the white wire and all the connections in between, will cause the charger's control board to see a falsely high reading.

If you run the pack down to about 70% or so, the charger will put out about 20A for about 15-30 minutes before it drops down to <10A. During that time, measure across the interconnecting cables with 20A flowing through them. Any voltage measured means that cable has resistance and needs to be replaced, or fixed.

[JMGreco]

Guys, finally got a chance to get back to this. Monitoring the voltage during two recent charges, high readings were 44.9 and 45.5. Seems as though the charger is doing its part and not cutting off early based on info on previous posts. At 70% charge or 37.1 v each individual battery read;

6.20 (new battery)
6.17
6.16
6.19 (new battery)
6.14
6.17

I thinking that the batteries are getting to the end of their life and there is little more I can do at this point. If I am wrong please let me know. As always, thank you.