Battery Charger stuck at 5 amps - Any suggestions?

[billwmore]

I just bought a 2002 DS IQ CC. I got it Sunday, and checked out batteries, filled with distilled water and plugged into charge, the charge does it thing, turns on turns off, turns on again to 15amps. When it gets to 5amps it stays for hours. I have read how to reset the OBC, tried that last night, didn't work. Plugged it in again this morning 7:30am and at 9:30 it is still 5 amps. With the charger running the all 6 batteries read 60.0. When I unplug charger they drop to 55.6. The the individual batteries are (6being the - term and 1 being + terminal) 6-9.38, 5-9.44, 4-9.39, 3-9.36, 2-9.32, 1-9.32. Any ideas on how to get the OBC to shutoff the charger?
Thanks
Bill

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by billwmore

I just bought a 2002 DS IQ CC. I got it Sunday, and checked out batteries, filled with distilled water and plugged into charge, the charge does it thing, turns on turns off, turns on again to 15amps. When it gets to 5amps it stays for hours. I have read how to reset the OBC, tried that last night, didn't work. Plugged it in again this morning 7:30am and at 9:30 it is still 5 amps. With the charger running the all 6 batteries read 60.0. When I unplug charger they drop to 55.6. The the individual batteries are (6being the - term and 1 being + terminal) 6-9.38, 5-9.44, 4-9.39, 3-9.36, 2-9.32, 1-9.32. Any ideas on how to get the OBC to shutoff the charger?
Thanks
Bill

The OBC will shut the charger off when the pack reaches 63 to 65v plus or minus.
If your batteries will not come up to this voltage after about 8-10 hours of charging then you probably have one or more 'bad' batteries.

[billwmore]

I will plug back in and see what happens. How do I check and see if I have a bad battery? These batteries are Aug. 2010.

[scottyb]

Connect the meter to the pack and run the cart. Note the voltage drop under load. If the drop is more than 5v redo the test with the meter on each individual battery for the same test. Note the results and post them here. Load test best performed with the cart under hard acceleration up hill.

[SaltLifeCC]

Scotty is the expert. I didn't have a meter I could keep attached to the pack or a battery. So, when I found I had a bad battery, I charged the cart, rode it (put the batts under load), and then came back and checked each battery individually. I found that one was discharging at a much more rapid rate than the others. I pulled it, charged it by itself, then let it sit a while and come back and test it and realized it was even discharging while sitting faster than it should.

[monepit]

I just noticed last night mine charged fron 15 amps down to 5 in 3 hours then stayed at 5 for 3 more and then it just shut off. I guess that my be normal. I do have new batteries.

[SaltLifeCC]

Originally Posted by monepit

I just noticed last night mine charged fron 15 amps down to 5 in 3 hours then stayed at 5 for 3 more and then it just shut off. I guess that my be normal. I do have new batteries.

Probably fine. Are you breaking in your batteries by letting them get down to 75% before you plug back in? If not, they probably are charging back up relatively quick.

[billwmore]

ScottyB,
I unplugged it drove it to the club (1 mile there and 1 mile back). On the Charger is was 60.0, off charger it started at 54.0 and after 2 miles it went to 49.8. I also checked each battery after the trip.
1. 8.36 (has the + terminal for all 6 batteries)
2. 8.41
3. 8.41
4. 8.38
5. 8.42
6. 8.40 (has the - terminal for all 6 batteries)

It looks like the battery 1 is discharging the quickest.

These are Exide 8V Aug 2010. The previous owner didn't take care of the batteries. When I got it I had to put water in all of them.
Any ideas? Should I get a hold new set of Trojan?

[bonduranth]

No water and no charge can kill a battery. I would be more interested in what the voltage of each battery is under load. You can measure the voltage with no load, but you must ALSO use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity (the ball kind are useless). Then using the proper charts, then you can determine state of charge.