PW Charger stops at 37.4 V???

[scottyb]

They are a different animal. I was an ac and dc certified tech but that first golf cart had me scratching both ends at once

[sonnysmith]

AMEN... My friends. Don't start working on them when you are as old as I am.
Some will never get fixed.
Sonny

[radioman]

A thorough understanding of mechanics, battery technology, DC and AC theory including a thorough understanding of Ohms Law, using test equipment properly, patience, digital to analog conversion, proper safety apparel when working on one, lock out tag out, and 50 years experience in various fields of electronic maintenance will help you get started working on golf carts.

[gonesouth]

OK, to answer questions:

Friend's charger shut off at 38.5 on his cart.

I took the radsocks and their male compatriots off and soaked them in lemon juice for three hours......should have taken pictures... they were pure copper clean.....looked like electrolytic copper coming out of the mine. Put them back and set up the charger.....measuring the voltage under charge at the B= and B- terminals, the charging voltage early on was 44.1V, and the shut-off voltage was 39.4. Based on the Trojan chart, the SoC has improved from about 70% to about 100% when "fully charged".

I then measured the voltage at the charger connection (the radsocks) after charging and the voltage was the same as the B=/-. Of course, this was not under load. Before charging, i measured the resistance across the battery to battery cables, and all were the same at 0.6 Ohms. Then, during charging, I checked the voltage drop across each battery to battery cable, and the drops were below 0.01 volt.

My conclusions are that the connectors were dirty, the cables are OK, and the batteries are weaker than I like, but are still charging to 100% SoC, so they may last for some time. A secondary conclusion is that Bob's charger and cart probably need the lemon juice treatment, too, but since they are over 100% SoC there's no rush.

Thank you all for your help. I've learned a lot, and saved buying a set of batteries for a while, which was my original objective. Thanks again.

Jim