Batteries or charger
 

2003 pds, batteries are powertron p2000's that are 14 months old. The pack settles at 37.6 v and has done do since new, the power wise charger seems to function properly as it goes to approx 42 volts before shutting off, but the kicker is that it never takes more than a couple hours to charge. All batteries are 6.2? range after settling. Run time is not good since I am basically starting with a discharged pack.

Re: Batteries or charger
 

Sounds like your charger may be cutting off early? Can you try another charger or try your charger on another cart?

No other charger or cart to test on. I am not 100% positive on the cut off voltage just that 2-3 hours is the max charge time.

Re: Batteries or charger
 

That's not right. Shut off should be 45-46v they should settle to 38.2

You may need a new circuit board? It's kind of an odd problem ... maybe somebody who knows more about this will chime in.

Re: Batteries or charger
 

I don't know if I know any more or not, but I do understand the dynamics of battery charging and battery chargers pretty well. :lol:

Since the charger is shutting off before the on-charge voltage is in the 44-46 volt range, either control board is bad, or the battery sense circuit is being lied to.
1. The voltage comparator on the control board could be triggering at too low of voltage.
2. The back-up timer on the control board could be timing out too soon. (Should be 16 hours)
3. Excessive resistance in the charging loop can report a falsely high voltage to the control board.

The first thing I would do is monitor the battery pack voltage at the control board.
Red wire that attaches to Heat-sink and black wire that connects to red wire in output cable is where to attach DVM leads.

If the voltage there does raise into the 44-46 volt range before charger shut off, clean all the connections in the charging loop.
The interconnecting cables between the batteries are probably okay or they would being getting hot during cart operation, but cleaning then certainly won't hurt. :mrgreen:

If there is a fuse in one of the wires coming from the charging receptacle, make sure both ends are making good contact.
(In fact, the 30A diodes in the charger effectively protect the 60A fuse, so some cart owners have been known to forget to reinstall it. :wink:)

The charger senses B- via the Auxiliary contact in the output plug. It is the little springlike thingy that touches the outside of the negative terminal (Radsok) in the cart's charger receptacle. Clean both the Aux. contact and the outside of the negative Radsok.

If the pack voltage at the control board is the same as the pack voltage measured at the main B+ and B- poles on the battery pack, replace the control board.

Since the new batteries have probably never been fully charged, the first charge with a properly working charger will very likely take a very long time. Possibly 12 or more hours, so let the charger run until it shuts itself off, check electrolyte levels and then restart it.

Hope this helps.

44 volts is the shutoff. But it still only takes a couple hours.

Re: Batteries or charger
 

Where, exactly, was the 44V measured?

What does the ammeter on the charger read during the first 15 minutes or so. (It should be about 18A-20A)

What are the individual battery on-charge voltages after about an hour of charging? (Should be 7.05V or higher and a variance of more than 0.1V between batteries needs further investigation)

44v was at the dash mounted meter from scottyb. B+ and B-

Ammeter does go to approx 20 at first.

I'll have to check the individual voltages this afternoon.

Re: Batteries or charger
 

1. Measure it at the control board with a handheld DVM. (The panel meter from Scotty would do the job, but it would be a hassle to disconnect and reconnect afterwards.)
FWIW: That last few tenths of a volt in on-charge voltage makes a lot of difference in the State of Charge the pack is charged to and how long it takes to get there.

2. That is a good sign the basic charger circuit is working. :thumbup:
Now we have to figure out why it is shutting off so soon.

3. The batteries are charged and discharged in series, so measuring individual voltage:
A. While on-charge
B, After they have rested for several hours after being "fully" charged
C, After the have been used for a while
Will point out weak batteries,or imbalances in the pack.

At this point, I suspect a dirty connection in the battery sense circuit or a bad control board, but haven't completely ruled out a bad battery.

Dvm of all batteries showed in the 6.2 range, all the were right at 1.3 specific gravity except on that was about 1.225 on my little cheapo tester. http://img.tapatalk.com/aefca3b1-c6e8-36f5.jpg