Sky cart battery endurance

[Gladesgator]

I have a 48 volt Sky 200-6 cart seats 6-7 people, with Trojan 105 batteries. The cart is 9 months old and is used on a family hunting ranch with dirt roads and some hilly terrain. The cart when new would make 3 to 4 trips around the ranch, each trip about 2.25 miles and the battery indicator showed about half charge.

Starting 3-4 months ago the cart seemed to be losing power faster, making one trip and then showing a half charge and can barely make it back up the hill to leave the ranch. I have checked the battery's specific gravity and voltage, checked all connections and the charger seems to be working OK.

Anyone have any ideas on what could be the problem, thought maybe the motor itself, or anything else I could check? The dealer has offered to go over the cart but it is a 100 trip to take it there. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

 

[Gladesgator]

No msg

 

[dougmcp]

Losing power like you described is an indication that one or more of the batteries is not up to snuff or it's not getting a full charge.
You said you checked the batteries.
With a digital voltmeter I would check and record all of your battery voltages with a fresh charge and then drive until it slows down and then check the batteries again. If you have a bad battery it should show up then.

Here's a SOC chart to help you diagnose your batteries, let us know how it turns out:

 

[Gladesgator]

Dougmcp,

I will be going to the ranch this weekend and will check the batteries after using the cart as you suggest. I had found one battery that was lower ( sp. gravity and voltage) and was replaced by dealer but did not fix the issue.

Will let you know what I find, thanks again for the suggestion.

 

[Gladesgator]

I checked the batteries and all had voltage readings in the 6.1 to 6.2 range when the voltage indicator lights were showing fully charged. According to the chart they are in the 60% to 80% charge, so maybe it is an issue with the charger.

I will probably take the cart back to the dealer to see what they can come up with. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[dougmcp]

Your welcome. Keep us posted as to the outcome or any more questions.

On another note: If you have an LED state of charge meter and it is showing full charge with only 60%-80% it probably needs to be reset.