ERIC charger does not shut off after full charge?

[brownstevend]

Hi Everyone,
I have a 2015 club car with an ERIC charge. The batteries are a few years old, full of water, etc. I've noticed the battery icon on the charger (both top and bottom) go solid green indicating that it is fully charged, after charging overnight. No red or flashing orange "!" error lights.

What I've noticed recently is that I can continue to hear the batteries "boiling" after it shows fully charged. Is this a good or bad sign? What is causing it? How do I fix it? I'm sure someone has seen this before, but I'm not finding much when consulting Dr. Google.

[Fairtax4me]

The batteries may bubble for 15-30 minutes after the end of a charge cycle. That doesn't mean the charger is still charging. Its due to the surface charge that the plates have which will probably be around 55 to 60v at the end of the cycle, depending on the charge profile that the charger is set to.
Usually more bubbling is due to the age of the pack, but can vary based on how long the pack was on charge. A longer charge cycle will usually mean more bubbling.

What batteries are in the cart? Was the charge profile in the charger updated to match the batteries when they were installed?

[brownstevend]

Thanks for the response. These are lead acid batteries that replaced the original factory lead acid's. Not sure if the charger profile was changed before me, but I haven't changed it. :) I left off of charge last night and disconnected. Checked it this morning and I could hear the batteries bubbling, but not rapidly like when on charge. Plus it is in tow mode (which my understanding doesn't draw as much juice as in Run mode with the key switch is off?).

Probably one detail I should have included in the original post, is that I put the golf cart in storage for 2 months and didn't disconnect the batteries and they were dead to the point I had to charge each battery individually for about 15 minutes and then connect the ERIC charger. Luckily they charged fully and we put probably 10 miles on it with no issues.

Should they bubble when not charged? Or did letting them drain completely possibly kill a cell or two? I have to go back to storage this weekend to get my multimeter to test. Thoughts?

BTW..I've also disconnected the main positive battery cable going to the controller and I still hear them bubbling, but I'm not 100% sure which one it is. So no current going in and no current going out of the pack. Is it possible that one batteries has a bad cell or two and the other batteries down/up the line are trying to equalize the voltage/charge?

[Roy Gurley]

What Batteries?

[_ogre]

Originally Posted by brownstevend

Probably one detail I should have included in the original post, is that I put the golf cart in storage for 2 months and didn't disconnect the batteries and they were dead to the point I had to charge each battery individually for about 15 minutes and then connect the ERIC charger.

2 months of storage should not have discharged the batteries to that level. you might have a draw on the batteries. killing the battery to zero volts is bad, but not always fatal to the battery and your not the first person to do that. let it run a couple charge cycles before writing them off, running them 10 miles says a lot of life is left in them.

if they bubble over onto the floor, just run the water level a little lower, 1/4" above the plates is fine. my 03 had Panasonic batteries that were on their last legs, they'd bubble over if full, not with 'enhanced' water level

[brownstevend]

Originally Posted by Roy Gurley

What Batteries?

Hi Roy. They are Brute Force 8V batts.

[brownstevend]

Thanks _ogre. I'll charge them a few times and see what happens. What's weird is I can still him them bubbling two days later with no load and the positive cable disconnected.

[Fairtax4me]

There is sulfate buildup on the plates causing them to self discharge. This is the reason they are bubbling after such a long time off charge.
This is somewhat typical for a battery that is really old, but can also be attributed to chronic undercharging of the battery after just a few months or years of use, depending on how often they get charged.

I’m not familiar with the Brute Force brand, I’ve heard of them once or twice but don’t know who makes them. More than likely the charge profile in the charger is not correct for those batteries. It may be close enough, but may not be adequately charging them.

[brownstevend]

Originally Posted by _ogre

2 months of storage should not have discharged the batteries to that level. you might have a draw on the batteries. killing the battery to zero volts is bad, but not always fatal to the battery and your not the first person to do that. let it run a couple charge cycles before writing them off, running them 10 miles says a lot of life is left in them.

if they bubble over onto the floor, just run the water level a little lower, 1/4" above the plates is fine. my 03 had Panasonic batteries that were on their last legs, they'd bubble over if full, not with 'enhanced' water level

Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

There is sulfate buildup on the plates causing them to self discharge. This is the reason they are bubbling after such a long time off charge.
This is somewhat typical for a battery that is really old, but can also be attributed to chronic undercharging of the battery after just a few months or years of use, depending on how often they get charged.

I’m not familiar with the Brute Force brand, I’ve heard of them once or twice but don’t know who makes them. More than likely the charge profile in the charger is not correct for those batteries. It may be close enough, but may not be adequately charging them.

Thanks!!!
How would I update the charging profile if that is necessary? BTW..I've had this cart for 2 years, got it with new batteries and never heard this before the batteries discharged to 0 in storage. Will this maybe cause the sulfate buildup? If so, will it potentially "burn off" (?) the sulfate? All batteries tested at over 8V (averaged around 8.6) with my handy dandy multimeter.

[brownstevend]

Thanks @Fairtax4me! I found where you posted on another part of this forum about the battery profiles. I installed the Delta app on my laptop, downloaded the profile config (?) from the charger and it was using profile 256. I have no idea what 256 was designed for, nor could I find any details. There were many errors in the logs. So, I wonder if this profile may have cooked my batteries over the last few years? Based on my research for my batteries' details, it looked like 71_V1.36 was the best fit. So, I loaded that version, then exported it to make sure it "took" and let it charge overnight. My batteries were never overfilled, but when charging with 256, they "boiled" over some. I checked it this morning and they show fully charged, no crazy bubbling like before and no acid/water on top of the batteries. I've yet to drive it around, so I'm hoping it is good to go. :)