Newbie question on charging

[Qman97]

Hi all,

Newbie and first post so please be gental most of what I have done so far comes from posts on this forum, I've been lurking for a few weeks.


So I purchased a place at the beach that comes with a 2005 48v CC. I was told the batteries wouldn't charge and the previous owners didn't want to put money into it. I personally think it has sat with the water levels low over a hard winter and possibly froze one if not all of the batteries.

The date codes on the batteries are C-12, and look in decent shape. I topped off all cells and was able to use my 12v car charger to get enough juice in them to have the CC charger come on and charge. after about 12 hrs charging I tested all the batteries at 49.7v and each battery at 7.8-8.4v. This reading was true one week later when I returned and retested both the pack and individuals batteries.

We ran the cart for about 8-10 miles this last weekend and put the charger back on, it worked fine so I left it on overnight for another 16hrs or so.

I tested the pack that morning and it was at 50-51+volts I don't remember the exact number. Each battery individualy was 8.4-8.6v on my meter.

The questions I have are:

Is this normal? To high? To low? What should the fully charged reading be?

The charger does not appear to turn off. It starts above 15 then trails off to 10 and sits about 8-10 in the morning when I recheck. I do not think it comes on immediatly I believe there is a 3-5 second delay, comes on, off, then right back on.

What does resetting the OBC do and should I look into doing this?

It seems to run better the more we use it. Is this normal? Acceleration and top speed seem to be increasing the more we run it around.


I plan on running back down this weekend to run it around and was wondering what the "normal" amount and distance on a fully charged 48v system should or would be.

Sorry about the long post, I like tinkering and I am thrilled I was able to get the cart working for under $25 so I don't want to burn up anything now that things seem to be working.

Thanks!

John

[mrgolf]

Use distiller water 1/4 inch over plates in batteries. Charge until charger turns off. Could take about 16 hours, sometimes a little more. Leave charger connected when cart is not being used. Have fun and welcome to BGW.

[Sergio]

Resetting the OBC would be a good idea in your case.

Just unplug the pack negative for more than 10 minutes and the OBC will reset.

The OBC in the club car measures the energy removed from the batteries and stores it in "volatile" memory. That information is used during the charge process to make sure the batteries are not over/under charged.

Since You used a separate charger to partially charge some of the batteries, it is a good idea to remove power from the OBC so it loses the saved information about the State of Charge of the batteries.

The OBC will then perform a "baseline" charge of the batteries the first time after the reset.

It is also important that you only have one cable connected to your pack negative and that the cable goes through the hole in the OBC to the controller B-.

That hole has a Hal effect sensor that measures energy in/out of the batteries.

[Qman97]

Originally Posted by Sergio

Resetting the OBC would be a good idea in your case.

Just unplug the pack negative for more than 10 minutes and the OBC will reset.

The OBC in the club car measures the energy removed from the batteries and stores it in "volatile" memory. That information is used during the charge process to make sure the batteries are not over/under charged.

Since You used a separate charger to partially charge some of the batteries, it is a good idea to remove power from the OBC so it loses the saved information about the State of Charge of the batteries.

The OBC will then perform a "baseline" charge of the batteries the first time after the reset.

It is also important that you only have one cable connected to your pack negative and that the cable goes through the hole in the OBC to the controller B-.

That hole has a Hal effect sensor that measures energy in/out of the batteries.

Appreciate the information......I saw the reset procedure on the sticky list, is that for older carts?

Should I reset the OBC before I go riding around or before I put it on the charger?

One wire only through the OBC and connected correctly. I triple checked.

[Sergio]

Yes, that sticky is only for older carts... just leave the pack disconnected for at least 10 minutes, that will allow the capacitors in the controller to discharge and the memory in the OBC to be lost.

I would do it before you charge it.

As mrgolf said, it could take as long as 16 hours for a full charge, but the current should be below 4 amps near the end of the cycle.

If You start the charge at night and the next morning the current is still around 8 amps as you mentioned before, measure the voltage of each individual battery (while the charger is still running).

A bad/weak battery will not be able to reach full charge voltage and it will cause the good batteries to overcharge and boil.

[Qman97]

Just a quick update after your advice.

I checked the pack and each battery when I got to the beach. After sitting one week from last charge the pack was at 49.3 and each battery 8-8.4

I removed the (-) cable for a good 20 min and put everything back in service, ran it around for about 2 miles of slow/fast and stop/go before putting it on the charger overnight.

I charged it up for 12 hrs and it was still at 5-6 amps on the charger, 56.8 volts on the meter.

We ran it around for a while, stopped for dinner and had it plugged in during that time. We ran around after dinner before plugging in for the night. When I checked in the morning after about 10 hrs the charger was off and the pack was at 50.8 and all batteries were at 8.4 volts on the meter.

I think resetting the OBC worked! Thanks again for the info and direction, I do appreciate it!

[SaltLifeCC]

After a full charge, ride it a bit and come back and check each battery. If you have a bad one, it will probably show much lower voltage than the rest. I have had this happen on both my carts and I just replaced the bad ones with used ones about the same age.