charger very hot
 

Ok guys, looked all over in search and could not find anything. So here goes. I have an 08 precedent. All seems fine and everything seems to be working. Except for that low battery light which flickers during charging,,,,some say no big deal,,,,but it bothers me anyway. My real question is,,my Club Car charger gets so hot that i cant even touch the top of it while charging. It does cycle off like it is supposed to per manual. But it seems to really get hot to the point I am afraid to leave it alone in the garage. Hard to explain how hot, for example: I can put my whole hand across the top under the handle palm down and at 3 seconds I have to snatch hand off because of the heat. Any thoughts?

Re: charger very hot
 

Hello,
Mine use to get very hot also, eventhough it ran perfect. When I put new batteries in my cart, the charger ran much cooler. Perhaps your batteries are near the end and the charger has to work harder to get them charged?

Re: charger very hot
 

I was going to do a load check on the batterys today anyway. Batteries are stock late 07. For some reason they just should hold a charge longer. After a full night charge they low battery light will start to blink after about 4 miles going around our neighberhood. Should I be getting more? Volts check our ok though.

Re: charger very hot
 

Did you confirm all wires are tight and servicable? Are the batteries watered?

You may have a bad cell in one (some) of them. If you can load test them, that will prolly show that bad battery. I had the same problem with my '07 Trojans. Instead of dicking around, I just bought 4 new ones and all is good :thumbup:

Re: charger very hot
 

You should be getting more then that. I suspect the batteries are getting near their end of life. Are these the (4) 12v?

Re: charger very hot
 

all wires tight and very clean all around. Watered and in good shape, checked everything. And yes, sorry for leaving out, This is a 4 batt. 48volt. With the center run tow switch. The only thing hooked up is a cigarette lighter that was on when bought and I just wired up front and rear lights from Madjax. Followed directions to a T. Did not need harness. Was already wired for rear lights.

Re: charger very hot
 

Sounds like one or more shorted cells which do NOT add to the voltage in the string and causes the charger to work it's butt off in trying to reach the desired voltage level. (But it can't)
Tried checking battery voltages? (or I missed it somewhere in the posts)
Barna

Re: charger very hot
 

What charger? PowerDrive3? Read this......

Re: charger very hot
 

thanks for all the help guys. All this info will help me. Another question. I dont have any meter with cords long enough to attach to battery so I can see while doing a load check on the batterys. I assume I have to be driving the unit to get the load check. All I have is a craftsman 82140 multimeter with straight prongs. How would I attach these to the battery terminals?

Re: charger very hot
 

I've got a Powerdrive II and Powerdrive III charger using them on two different Precedent carts. Both carts have new batteries this year with clean tight connections and routine maintenance every month. The Powerdirve III charger gets really hot during the charge cycle and the Powerdrive II doesn't. But both chargers are operating properly from what I can tell.