Total Charge Issue

[ltmoeller]

I have a 86 e-z-go and when I plug the charger in it runs for a minute or so and shuts off.I replaced both receptacles on charger plug and cart side as they were wore.It still shuts off after a minute or so.If I unplug it and back in it will go again doing same thing.Batts are 3 years old and all read 6.15.
Thanks,Tom

[bigstik40]

6.15 V. is only about 65% S.O.C., so, for the health of your batteries, you would be advised to charge your batteries ASAP !! Your charger appears to have "issues", so I would suggest that you charge your batteries in 6 V. pairs with a 12 V. automotive charger until you work out your charger problems. I'm sure johnnieb will be along soon to help sort out the charger problems. Good luck - RAY

PS - Forgot to mention to post what model charger you have.

[ltmoeller]

Charger is total charge.I have bypassed relay and now it stays on longer but did shut off but ran longer than usual.I'm trying to get batteries up so I can load test them.
Tom

[JohnnieB]

If you have a Total-Charge that looks similar to the ones pictured, with the relay bypassed, it will only run until the backup timer times out (Up to 12 hours) and then shut off.

Measure the battery pack's On-Charge voltage. It should climb up to about 45V, or a bit higher before the timer times out.

If it doesn't, restart the charger and let the batteries charge for another 12 hours.

After you've gotten the On-Charge voltage to reach at least 45V, let the batteries rest for 12 hours and measure the pack and individual voltages.
The pack should read 38.2V, each 6V battery should read 6.37V and all six should be within 0.1V of each other.

BTW: Automotive load testers (SLI Battery type) don't report a Deep-Cycle battery's health accurately.

[ltmoeller]

I am up to 43.7 volts so i'll let it keep going.It'been on about 6 hours.
Thanks,Tom

[JohnnieB]

Charger seems to be doing its thing.

They batteries will be gassing heavily, so keep an eye on the fluid levels and don't let the plates get exposed.
Use distilled water only.

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After the batteries will consistently get up into the 45V On-Charge range before backup timer times out, we can sort out the charger's automatic operation, but leave the relay by-passed for the time being.

[ltmoeller]

Ok, I unplugged charger and then did a 12 hour charge during the night.Had 44.0 volts this morning.Took cart for a good ride with my volt meter hooked to the pack and it held about 37 v.xcept on a hill it dropped to 35.5 then back above 36.I'm going to do another 12 hours as you said.Main issue is circut board is bad.
Thanks JonnieB for your help.
Tom

[JohnnieB]

The battery voltage fluctuates all over the place while driving the cart because the higher the load (Amps being drawn) the lower the battery voltage drops.

Only dropping 2.5V (37.0V down to 35.5V) on a hill is a good sign.
Or it wasn't much of a hill.

I have a dash mounted DVM (http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Digita...ry_Meters.html) and on the return legs of my trips when the pack is discharged the most, I back off the throttle on hills when the voltage drops down to about 1.75VPC (Volts per Cell). That would be 31.5V for a 36V battery pack.

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Just getting to 44V while on charge is still a little low. Keep charging them repeatedly with 12 hour charge cycles until they consistently go above 45V.

The nice thing about the ferroresonant transformer design chargers such as the Total-Charge, is that the charging profile is built into the matched transformer and capacitor pair and as the On-Charge voltage increases, the charging current decreases, so there is little, if any, danger of overcharging the batteries.

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All the charger's control board does is turn the charger on (if the pack voltage is above about 30V) and off (when the On-Charge voltage reaches about 45V).