Losing power

[wild cat]

Got a 1987 Electric marathon golf cart that's want stay charge for long, put a test load on each battery and they are good, replace all cables with new one and want run but for a hour and half....checked the charger and it's putting out 40.4 volts.....it's a 36 volt golf cart....could the solenoid be going bad??

[branson]

the charger should cut off at arround 44-45 volts. maybe you are not letting it finish charging. however a hour and a half of pedal time sounds reasonable.

[wild cat]

I let the charger on it for 12hrs and it still does not hold a charge, could it be the charger??

[hucklburry]

I read on here that the best load to test is while running the cart, not the inexpensive battery testers. Doubt it has anything to do with the solenoid, its kind of a work or it don't device.

Are you running flat out for 1.5 hours, or you run/stop/wait/run/play golf/sit in tree stand/come back it doesn't run since its been off the charger for 1.5 hours?

[JohnnieB]

What is the Amp-Hour rating of the batteries?
About 225AH is the standard for the 6V batteries in a 36V battery pack. If they are less than that, the run-time will be reduced accordingly.

To find out if the batteries are being charged fully, measure the voltage about 12 hours after the charger shuts off.
The attached chart will tell you the SoC. (State of Charge)

It depend on which brand battery, but for fully charged, the pack voltage will be about 38.2V, each battery will be about 6.37V and all batteries ought to be withing 0.1V of each other.

[Sir Nuke]

wild cat....just because you charged it for 12 hrs, doesn't mean the pack is totally charged. is your charger one of the older ones that has the timer in it?? if so, you need to try RE-STARTING the charging cycle as soon as the 12 hr cycle is over and start it again.

[wild cat]

Sir Nuke, yes, it a old one with a timer on it, but the timer quit working about 2 yrs ago, so I just plug it up and keep a eye on the time, thanks Johnnie B, I look into that too, and Hucklburry, I used it on my little ranch to get to where I need to go, it's more like a little work truck for me with a bed on it, getting up leaves and trash on the land, stuff like that.....thanks guys for the infor, and I check them out and let ya'll know if I find the problem.....

[scottyb]

Your batteries have probably not had a proper complete charge in years.
Chargers have come a long way since the old egg-timer models.

Not sure I could do a battery pack justice without a modern automatic charger.

Consider investing in a DPI smart charger for the best results.

[HiTechRedNeck]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Your batteries have probably not had a proper complete charge in years.
Chargers have come a long way since the old egg-timer models.

Not sure I could do a battery pack justice without a modern automatic charger.

Consider investing in a DPI smart charger for the best results.

Ditto