charge stuck at 80%

[mcmike]

It's fall and it is nice to be back in Fl. On the to do list is connect the cart batteries and charge her up. Cart is a 1990 club car 36v with a Lestronic II charger. Everything snug and looking good plug her in and 4-5 hours later all is fine, still charging and go to bed. Wake up and charger is off. Wait 3-4 hours and get around to checking batteries with meter and 37.5 , 80%. Take it out for a SHORT spin plug it back in and charger comes on. Here is the problem. After one hour the charger keeps turning off. If I pull the plug out and put it right back in, it will come on but again only run for one hour. The charger at this time (80% batteries) says 5 amps when running. IT was 10-12 amps when first plugged in on first charge. Volts at the batteries with the charger on is 44.1 when first pluged in and 44.9-45.2 after 45 min. I pulled all the batteries apart let them sit 5-6 hours apart all around 6.25.
Batteries were at full charge 5 ½ months ago when I left, they are 3+ years old. I have on one and no way to charge them when I am gone! Also the plug and the wire just before the plug (charger to cart) SOME TIMES gets very hot, but not all the time. For my liking the plug seems a bit loose in the socket, but they have both been cleaned in and out.
OK the obvious question is WHAT HAVE I MISSED
thanks for reading and thank you all in advance
MIke

[Golf cart guy]

I see this all the time, this time of year. I'm assuming the cart sat for 5 1/2 months. Cycle the batteries a couple of time. Take it for a few miles, then plug it back in. If you didn't have a problem before, you shouldn't have an issue now. Its not good for the batteries to sit that long and they don't like it, but it is what it is, if that's all you can do.

[mcmike]

Thanks,
I will give it a try