Battery Health Question

[fishbones]

2 years ago I stripped down a 94 DS and rebuilt everything from the ground up.
Pretty much all new except the V-glide.
At the time I put 6 8 volt Crown CR-190 batteries in it.
Lately it has been cutting out and left me stranded. I have the controller set to cut out at 46 volts I believe. Full charge now is only 49.8 volts, each battery has 8.3 volts. When I press the pedal it my digital volt meter drops below cut off point. According to the charge chart this puts these 2 year old batteries at 80%.
Does that sound about right for 2 year old batteries? Trying to root cause the issue.
Batteries were brand new and at the time I bought a Lester II charger from Scotty B.

[Swan]

Doesn't sound right to me . How often are you charging them ?

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[fishbones]

Originally Posted by Swan

Doesn't sound right to me . How often are you charging them ?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using Tapatalk

I keep the cart at my hunting property so I plug it in and leave it when I am not there.
Lester II is supposed to monitor them and re-charge every 10 days I believe.

The above volt readings were taking after removing from charger but probably 5 days after the charge.

[Tom47]

If the water level in the batteries is okay and the cables are all clean and secure, you need to see what the battery voltage is before disconnecting the charger and then 1/2 hour or so after disconnecting the charger and before running the cart.

If the voltage is around 52 volts with the charger connected, and it drops to 49 after being disconnected, it sounds like your 2 year old batteries are failing to hold charge.

If you can, check the voltage of each battery at that time and the specific gravity of each cell. There is an outside chance you have one bad battery.

This is very unusual for quality Crown Batteries.

[kernal]

This doesn't sound right to me either as my CR190's are 7+ years old and still capable of powering the cart for 10+ miles on pavement under optimum conditions and remaining above 50% capacity.
Assume you have a Lester Summit 2 650W ? You say remains plugged in all the time. Lester says (manual) storage mode requires two conditions: 10-15 days AND the batteries have dropped to a certain predefined voltage although they don't say what the predefined voltage is. Also though not specified in the manual it is implied that if the charger is unplugged from the cart OR the AC power the storage mode is canx or will not reset. So this means to me if you lose power at the cabin, even for a second, storage mode is suspended until the cart is reconnected thru the DC connection. I wonder if something like this is happening and if you have some way of determining the reliability of AC power at the cabin when you aren't there, like an AC powered clock that doesn't have auto reset.
Also, I think 46v cutoff on the controller is too high. My cart can routinely drop below that voltage on hills or heavy accel even with new batteries. 2 cents

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by Tom47

If the water level in the batteries is okay and the cables are all clean and secure, you need to see what the battery voltage is before disconnecting the charger and then 1/2 hour or so after disconnecting the charger and before running the cart.

If the voltage is around 52 volts with the charger connected, and it drops to 49 after being disconnected, it sounds like your 2 year old batteries are failing to hold charge.

If you can, check the voltage of each battery at that time and the specific gravity of each cell. There is an outside chance you have one bad battery.

This is very unusual for quality Crown Batteries.

Thanks, I will check that out. I want to test them out on a load as well.

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by kernal

This doesn't sound right to me either as my CR190's are 7+ years old and still capable of powering the cart for 10+ miles on pavement under optimum conditions and remaining above 50% capacity.
Assume you have a Lester Summit 2 650W ? You say remains plugged in all the time. Lester says (manual) storage mode requires two conditions: 10-15 days AND the batteries have dropped to a certain predefined voltage although they don't say what the predefined voltage is. Also though not specified in the manual it is implied that if the charger is unplugged from the cart OR the AC power the storage mode is canx or will not reset. So this means to me if you lose power at the cabin, even for a second, storage mode is suspended until the cart is reconnected thru the DC connection. I wonder if something like this is happening and if you have some way of determining the reliability of AC power at the cabin when you aren't there, like an AC powered clock that doesn't have auto reset.
Also, I think 46v cutoff on the controller is too high. My cart can routinely drop below that voltage on hills or heavy accel even with new batteries. 2 cents

I can lower the cut out, not sure if its always done this but when I accelerate on level ground the voltage will drop 3-4 volts. Anyone know what the symptoms of the vlgide failing are?

All cables are clean and tight.
Charger is 650W

[Mbop]

I don’t have a club car or a cart with a v-glide but I have read in multiple places on this forum that it is not abnormal for your voltage to drop by the amount equal to one battery while accelerating from a stop or while going up a grade. At least this was the case with a 6v setup. I’m not sure if it holds true with the 8’s or 12’s.

I think the kicker is that after the initial jolt or finishing your climb the voltage should very quickly return to normal. As mentioned, I would grab a hydrometer and check your cells and possibly also check each battery voltage at rest and under a load.

My cart will drop well below 46v when accelerating at times, especially if we have been driving it all day. I would lower your low voltage threshold. I think mine is at 37.5 so I never have to worry about it stranding me. Just keep an eye on your voltmeter.

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by Mbop

I don’t have a club car or a cart with a v-glide but I have read in multiple places on this forum that it is not abnormal for your voltage to drop by the amount equal to one battery while accelerating from a stop or while going up a grade. At least this was the case with a 6v setup. I’m not sure if it holds true with the 8’s or 12’s.

I think the kicker is that after the initial jolt or finishing your climb the voltage should very quickly return to normal. As mentioned, I would grab a hydrometer and check your cells and possibly also check each battery voltage at rest and under a load.

My cart will drop well below 46v when accelerating at times, especially if we have been driving it all day. I would lower your low voltage threshold. I think mine is at 37.5 so I never have to worry about it stranding me. Just keep an eye on your voltmeter.

Copy, thanks for the info. I was thinking V glide because the time it stranded me without the pedal depressed, my volt meter read near 49 volts but the cart would do nothing when I depressed the pedal. I towed it back to the barn with my tractor and got on the cart and was able to move it. Checked battery water and it was ok but topped off, put on charger, unplugged it next day and drove it, went maybe 1/4 mile and it started acting up again.
the V glide is litteraly the only thing on the cart that was not replaced.

[Tom47]

I don't think the v-glide is your problem, since it runs for a while before failing. If the microswitch failed, it most likely would not be intermittent.

One dead battery in the pack can cause you to drop below the cut off voltage no matter what it is set at.

Assuming you have a hydrometer, (get one if you don't- it can give you a heads up regarding battery condition and life expectancy) check the specific gravity of each cell right after removing the charger, and then again an hour or so later. Record these readings and look for any that do not show specific gravity in the green or below 8.45.

[8.49 is full charge, but my 8+ year old batteries show 8.3 to 8.45 after charging. They are on their way out but still get me 18 to 20 miles believe it or not. However, even with this low specific gravity, my pack voltage is at 60 to 70% after the 18 mile run.]

Also check and record the voltages of each battery right after removing the charger and again a couple hours later. Then try to drive it hard if possible (don't go too far from home) for a bit. Check the voltages per battery again. We are more concerned about individual battery voltages at this point instead of pack voltage. Post the results you find with these tests so someone here can decipher it.

I'm thinking you have one faulty battery which, since they are in series, affects the entire pack voltage.

Based on my own experiences with my cart, similar problems with rapid cutout were due to the motor brushes and also the solenoid contacts.

Good luck.