Help with troubleshooting charging

[silverstreak]

I have a 2006 lifted TXT EZGO that I bought last Fall. Its been doing great, as long as I charge it every night. I checked the acid level in the batteries (36 volt) on Sunday and a couple cells needed a little distilled water, so I filled them.

I drove the cart last evening and it was fine. I charged it over night, and unplugged it from the wall this morning and didn't use it during the day. I knew my husband would want to take our usual evening ride tonight, so I plugged it in again for about 2 hours. It was charging when I went out to get it. But it wouldn't back up. Without a load, the volt meter was where it usually is. But when I tried to back up, it dropped drastically and wouldn't back up (even though it tried). I checked the cells again and had to add just a tad of water.

In troubleshooting, I discovered that the battery charger was only delivering about 12 amps. It usually delivers about 18. I've been using a 100' extension cord to charge it and thought maybe it wasn't working properly, so we pushed the cart to the house and plugged it directly into the wall. At first, the charger read 15, but then dropped back to about 11.

the charger should be reading 18-20 all the time, even if the batteries are low, right?
Does this sound like a charger problem?

The cart attempts to move, but does that pulsating thing when it just doesn't have enough juice.

If the charger isn't working, shouldn't the volt meter have read low without a load too?
We don't know much about carts and I'm trying to do a little troubleshooting myself, before I call the golf cart guy.

I appreciate any help you can give me. I have bad knees, and I'm sooooo dependent on that cart. I need to fix it fast, or I think I might cry.

Have I done a bad thing to sometimes leave the charger plugged into the cart, while having it unplugged from the house electricity?

 

[silverstreak]

P.S. When I charge it, the volt meter on the cart goes into the red area. Is this bad?

 

[Jimmy D.]

Actually that is quite common if you have the larger charger with volt meter they start out high and slowly reduce toa lower charge as time goes by.

I would suggest getting gauge for your cart either digital or analog so you can keep an eye on it like a fuel gauge the idea is not to let it totally discharge your cart. Just like a gas gauge and if you charge it at say about 50% and above they come back quicker in only a few hours.

If you have only a small charger with the blinking LED they can be a problem i9f you plug them in they start off in the red blinking when you first plug them in then switch to a blinking green light indicating they are charging properly. But if the light stays red the power in your cart batteries is too low for this small charger to charge.

In an emergency If you have jumper cables you can jump or boost charge them from another golf cart with the same series battery system 36 or 48 for 15 minutes to a half hour. until your plug in charger can charge them on its own.

Jimmy D.

 

[shadowman]

from your post it sounds as simple as your batteries are about done, have you load tested all of them? it could be one just dragging the rest down with it...............i don,t think i would worry about the charger right now i would concentrate on getting the batteries right..........................