Where to START ??

[biggd740]

I recently was given a 2001 48 volt club car. It has been sitting for a couple of years outdoors. it has the red trojan batteries, and I have the Powerdrive charger. Of course it wont run . Was wondering were I should start first ?

[shadowman]

welcome, with the batteries and cables......will never run without them..........get your self a volt meter and 1st check batteries for water....add distilled water to 1/8 inch above plates then clean every connection and make sure they are tight..........plug charger in but theres a good chance it won,t come on so do a serch for bypassing low voltage sensor on charger and once you get charger working let it charge the batteries........stay with the cart make sure nothing is getting really hot and all is acting normal...........if batteries take a charge than you can see if cart will run and if not we,ll have to go from there but if batteries are junk and theres a chance they might be you,ll have to start by buying new batteries.......make sure you get right ones........thats about it to start other then cleaning up anything you see thats rusty or crodded...............

[biggd740]

Finally gettin around to workin on this cart. I followed all instructions you all left. I done the bypass thing. How long should it have to charge while in bypass to find out if the batteries will take a charge ??.......I charged in bypass for three hours and volts went from a beginning of 9.6 to 15.8...measured with volt meter in a series. I noticed that charger had a "hum" to it while in bypass mode, but when I switched wires back to normal .I didnt here the "hum". Is there a certain number of volts batteries have to be at before charger will charge as designed ? Also is it ok to measure total voltage while in a series?.........Thanks for ANY & ALL advice.

[erict]

Originally Posted by biggd740

Finally gettin around to workin on this cart. I followed all instructions you all left. I done the bypass thing. How long should it have to charge while in bypass to find out if the batteries will take a charge ??.......I charged in bypass for three hours and volts went from a beginning of 9.6 to 15.8...measured with volt meter in a series. I noticed that charger had a "hum" to it while in bypass mode, but when I switched wires back to normal .I didnt here the "hum". Is there a certain number of volts batteries have to be at before charger will charge as designed ? Also is it ok to measure total voltage while in a series?.........Thanks for ANY & ALL advice.

I beleive the pack needs around 34v for the charger to turn on by itself.

[biggd740]

does anyone have an ideal about how long i can expect the batteries to charge enuff to take charger out of bypass mode?

[erict]

Originally Posted by biggd740

does anyone have an ideal about how long i can expect the batteries to charge enuff to take charger out of bypass mode?

You will have to use DMM and check the batteries to see. I just used a regular charger and charged each of my 4 12v up enough for the powerdrive charger to come on.

[ZackMan]

Welcome!! If you can charge each battery individually, that may help in starting the powerdrive charger to charge the battery pack.

[Colbyntx]

Originally Posted by biggd740

Finally gettin around to workin on this cart. I followed all instructions you all left. I done the bypass thing. How long should it have to charge while in bypass to find out if the batteries will take a charge ??.......I charged in bypass for three hours and volts went from a beginning of 9.6 to 15.8...measured with volt meter in a series. I noticed that charger had a "hum" to it while in bypass mode, but when I switched wires back to normal .I didnt here the "hum". Is there a certain number of volts batteries have to be at before charger will charge as designed ? Also is it ok to measure total voltage while in a series?.........Thanks for ANY & ALL advice.

If you only got 15.8 across the whole pack, I would say they are shot! Leave it on for 10-12! Check the voltage before you remove the charger. Good set of batteries will go up around 60v's at the end of a charge. Let them sit for an hour after charging and check voltage again. If you get them up around 40v's, undo the bypass and let the charger and OBC do their thing.

[shadowman]

you need at least 36 for the charger to read them and when it does come on just leave it on cause regardless it should shut off at 16 hours and from what you have posted it may just take that long.............................

[biggd740]

ok Guys. I let batteries charge for 13 hours in bypass mode and never got any better than 16 volts. So , Im wondering now how hard or expensive it is to change a electric cart to gas or maybe install a 10 or 11 hp side shaft engine..??...Has anybody tried this or had any luck with it?