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Old 09-08-2009, 10:17 AM   #1
bartoner
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Default State of Charge Meter Help?

So I put an analog state of charge meter on my cart over the weekend, tried to find a hot wire at the ignition, couldnt get it to work no matter what wire i taped into, so I just wired it straight to the batteries since most of you here said the draw in minimal, I hooked the positive wire to the positive on the first battery, and the negative to the negative on the last battery. My question is this...yesterday I look at the meter before i went for a cruise, and the needle was high up in the green area, borderline on the white area that says chg....so I figured I was good to go, drove about 1.5 miles to a buddies house, hung out for a while, on the way home, the lights shut off and I start to lose all power, barely make it back to the house, but the charge meter still shows 3/4 into the green area, what gives?? any ideas?

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Old 09-08-2009, 12:14 PM   #2
dougmcp
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

Bad battery connection. Clean and tighten all connections, replace any bad or questionable cables.
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Old 09-08-2009, 12:47 PM   #3
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

But if the battery pack is dead enough for the lights to slowly dim to the point they go off completley...shouldnt the state of charge meter have showed a low charge?
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Old 09-08-2009, 01:09 PM   #4
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

Have you confirmed your new state of charge meter is correct?
Do you have a digital voltmeter?
Did you check your new state of charge while the cart was driving and dying or after you stopped?
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Old 09-08-2009, 01:18 PM   #5
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

I havent checked it with a multimeter yet, thats my next step. but the from the minute i hooked up the SOC gauge it read near the boderline of the green and the white CHG area, and it hasnt dropped below that, except of course when i give it some throttle or going up hills..
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Old 09-08-2009, 02:42 PM   #6
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Default

State of charge meters are only used for an "estimate" of the battery pack. Don't "live" by what it says, especially when sitting and not under power. You didn't metion how old the battery pack is that you have? Meters are best used by what they say when you are fully under power...
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Old 09-08-2009, 03:04 PM   #7
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mikesmotortoys View Post
State of charge meters are only used for an "estimate" of the battery pack. Don't "live" by what it says, especially when sitting and not under power. You didn't metion how old the battery pack is that you have? Meters are best used by what they say when you are fully under power...
Yeah I understand the not living by what they say, but when the meter tells me that I have a full charge, I would think it is full, thats the purpose of the meter right? I know that battery packs and all that come into play, I guess my question is, why would the meter say its charged, when in fact there wasnt even enough battery power to keep the light on, even when not moving??

I keep getting mixed signals here, you tell me that the meter is best read when fully under power, but here in this thread, someone is saying that the meter should be read when the cart is idle and not under load???

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...indicator.html
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Old 09-08-2009, 03:04 PM   #8
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

Agree with all above and add: they only show the amperage draw when you press the pedal and suck amperage, sorry to say, but for me this type of state of charge meters are useless, best are digital, they practically do the same, measure the amperage draw, but they compare to a parameter in a built in memory and they keep decreasing led lights. Basically they both work the same, if you have a digital hooked to any electric vehicle, it wont go down unless you apply a big amount of amperage draw for the meter to compare parameters. That's why sometimes I see carts that were stored for 4-6 months and still show full charge with digital meter; if the batteries are low, once you press the gas pedal, the digital meter starts to run its built in software and will show a near to accurate state of charge. I've seen them going to totally discharge in matter of minutes... and this is where I tell customers: you might take better care of your batteries if you want them to last!
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Old 09-08-2009, 03:07 PM   #9
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

SOC (state of charge) is a quite difficult thing to determine with any kind of accuracy. Probably the closest you will get is with a battery hydrometer. It measures the specific gravity of the liquid in the cells.

There is a way to get a pretty good guess and that is to take a voltage reading when the batteries have rested. There are different charts with slightly different numbers but most are for 12v batteries. You can use those charts by checking batteries in pairs. Fully charged and rested for several hours with NO load on them should read 12.6 to 12.7v for each pair. 12.2 will indicate a approximate 50% charge.

The gauges like the one pictured are really close to worthless as far as providing useful information. It is about as hard to tell how full a battery is as it is to tell how full a portable propane tank is. At least you can weight the propane tank and know how full it is (-:
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Old 09-08-2009, 03:10 PM   #10
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Default Re: State of Charge Meter Help?

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Originally Posted by gaston View Post
this is where I tell customers: you might take better care of your batteries if you want them to last!
thats the whole purpose of me trying ot get this thing to at least let me know when to put it on the charger...but if its not accurate, and shouldnt be trusted, why even bother with it? I have read about calibrating it so that you know what point on the meter is when it should be charged, but in this case, the meter never dipped from below it was when i hooked it up, except under load. Am I wasting my time with this type of gauge? I read on here somewhere where alot of people prefered the analog over the digital, and were happy with them, but now im confused???
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