Oh no, another battery charger/charging question

[w4rwf]

The reason I am bringing up this question is because my batteries, a 4 month old set of 8v batteries(Bull Dog bd-165) are having a loss of discharge capacity. In other words, the batteries are all of a sudden discharging faster. I have a curtiss volt meter and it shows a voltage drop of one and 2 bars way more quickly now than it did when these were first placed into service. I have just started searching/reading thru a lot of posts concerning chargers and there seems to be some consensus that a DPI charger is the way to go. I also have read that if you unplug the stock charger, in my case a power drive 3, after a regular full charge that it will do an equalizing charge which is what I believe that needs to be done. I have never done one. I am doing that very thing now in hopes of restoring the pack.

Now, on to my question. Is a DPI charger necessary for the life/health of my new batteries or will the power drive 3 serve me well also as long as I do an equalization charge say every week or 2 or on a monthly basis?

[Yamahaman]

Read this battery charging tutorial and it may help you understand more.

http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Batter..._Tutorial.html

[w4rwf]

Thanks Yamahaman! I read that article along with a bunch of other stuff and has only left me confused. Yeah, I'm a little dense sometimes and have to have things pointed out to me. It seems that the only thing I am missing with the stock charger is the float charge. Can that or can it not be accomplished buying a much cheaper 48v float charger or is more happening with the DPI than just the float charge after a charge?

[glassk]

her cart , a 2003 IQ has just gotten a second set of Trojans, took out some 09's and installed the others in July, six years a set. Maybe I'm just lucky or the Factory set up does work.

same symptoms when I replaced the set in July,...