Installed Digital Volt Meter, now a question

[Nsmustang55ol]

Fully charged the cart, sitting at around 51.2-51-3. When I stomp on it it’ll drop as far as 46-47v then once I’m up to speed it will level back off high 48’s-49s. When I stop the voltage will creep back up to above 50 and eventually settle. Does that sounds normal for a USA battery? Cart is a 2017 TXT with 23’s. I get good run life but I’m wondering when to look at the meter and say ok time for a charge. never run below 50 is what SoC chart says. Which is 48.5. But that’s at rest? For how long? Thanks I’m advance.

[cgtech]

Let it sit for a few seconds before reading it. The longer you wait, the more accurate the reading. Measurements while driving are no good for SOC readings, but will alert you to issues you may be having, like any readings below 42v while driving are indicating a battery issue/failure.

[Nsmustang55ol]

Oh ok. So dropping to 46v for a sec when I stomp on it is normal?

[cgtech]

Sure, that's actually pretty awesome.

[Nsmustang55ol]

Sweet. Thanks for the help.

[2K6TBSS]

My digital meter does the same thing when I start from a stop. I usually cruise (with the radio going) at about 47-48v. Once I stop it goes back to normal.

The draw when you start is higher than cruising, same idea as starting off in your vehicle from a stop light (you have to give it a little more gas to get going).

[Andy4639]

The volt meter is a look at the volts it takes to make things run. Any good battery will drop in voltage to get you the torque to start moving then once your at speed the voltage should go back up. If you are driving the cart and the voltage doesn't come right back up are stays low then get it on a charger. You could have a battery going dead also though.

New batteries you should see a quicker return of voltage over a old set of batteries.
As stated only at rest voltage is what you need to look at most times.

[JohnnieB]

The voltage of Lead-Acid batteries drop when Amps are drawn from them. The voltage drop is very fast, but the voltage recovery is very slow.

Attached is the battery pack voltages I got after various amounts of time following a ~10 mile run when I was doing some range estimates with a 36V pack of T-105 batteries.

AS you can see my apparent SoC increased from 68.3% to 82.0% over an hour's rest. In other words, the longer you let the batteries rest after use, the more accurate the SoC estimate.

Of course, those numbers are for a specific set of batteries and they don't directly apply to the batteries in your cart, but the trend does.