Thread: Charging Amps?
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Old 02-26-2010, 07:20 PM   #7
sunking
Gone Wild
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 486
Default Re: Charging Amps?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tech Support View Post
I forget we're dealing with deep cycle batteries, which usually end up way below 50% level and need to remove the sulfate. You are correct.
No problem I really did not disagree with with just added some details because slow does not have much of a meaning to me, and there is apoint where to low of a charge current is too low and will not do what you expect besides take forever.

I did forget to add one thing I would like to point out to folks and that is the charger themselves. I have never bought a new cart, I can afford to I just never pay retail for anything. All the carts I have bought I do not take the charger, so what I might say may not be true in all cases about them, but I do know about batteries and charging algorithms.

Most of the stock chargers i see, at least for EZ-GO are constant current types with timers. Correct me if I am wrong. That being the case they are pretty much useless IMO. I think the CC line uses constant current but the controller on the cart has a signal lead to tell the charger to turn off when the batery is charged?

Ok enough beating around the bush. If your charger is constant current with only a timer, chances are pretty darn good you are frying your batteries. As I said earlier Sulfation is the number 1 killer, but there is another killer even more deadly than sulfation, and that is plate errosion. Keeping batteries is a delicate balancing act betwen over charged and under-charged with a very fine line in the middle. On the under-charged side is sulfation already discussed. On the over charge side is plate erosion. The damage is accumulative and irreversible so when the plates erode they are gone and you can't get it back Cocaine. (Yes I am a Erric Clapton fan)

So how do you fix or control the problem if this is you. Well there is not a good answer, or at least one you will like. You have no real idea od what DOD your battery is in when you connect the charger. With a timed charged you would have to know exactly, run some calculations, and then set the timer. The other option is to get a hydrometer out and continually monitor the SPG level to se when they reach 1.277 for a Trojan, well that sucks.

Imo the real or at least best solution is to chunk the charger and get a real 3-stage battery charger. Just plug it in and forget about it until it is time to go ride. Fisrt stage is a constant current mode called BULK charge and that is applied until the cell voltage reaches approx 2.35,then it switches to ABSORPTION charge which is a constant voltage of about 2.45 volts until the charge current reaches about 3% of the C rate, then it switches to FLOAT mode which is a pure constant voltage of 2.25 volts per cell which is applied until you turn it off and go ride with a 100% fully charged battery.Even if you leave it on for a year your battery is in perfect shape assuming you keep the water level up. Heck you could leave it outside in a sub arctic winter and the battery will be just fine unless it drops below -77 F, then you got a problem of a frozen battery and cracked case.

Ok I will quit rambling on now.
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