Yamaha 36 Volt Charger or Batteries Bad?

[Budmeister]

Greetings,
My daughter has a 36 volt Yamaha on indeterminate age that she has put 6 new Trojan batteries into at a cost of over 1k. that she bought from the BX here on an overseas base. From day one after I installed them there has been an issue with it holding enough of a charge for it to make a 0.5 mile trip without running out of charge. The cart ran better with the 7 year old batteries. There has also been questions brought up about the charger but that may be a red herring. I found a hydrometer and checked every cell in every battery and they were all not just bad but very bad at 1100 or lower. I checked the hydrometer in my golf cart and it was good at 1250. Is there any malfunction in the charger that could have done this damage to the batteries or did the BX sell us some bad merchandise, albeit unintentionally?

 

[HotRodCarts]

What brand are the new batteries? You would need to put a digital volt meter on the battery pack and monitor it while charging the batteries to see if the charger is working properly.

 

[Budmeister]

Trojan batteries. All cells are now dead. We need new batteries again, charging won’t work. The question I have is did I buy bad batteries or is it possible some malfunction in the charger damaged them

 

[Patrick L]

Did the charger really turn on when the batteries were first installed ?
If so, how long did it run ?
What did the battery indicator meter show ?
You might try charging the batteries with an automotive charger [ 2 batts in series at a time]. A cart charger won't turn on if the batts are too low.

 

[Budmeister]

I thought the batteries were trash when the cells read bad (1100) on the hydrometer

 

[guitarman]

Hard to imagine getting 6 bad batteries at the same time

 

[Budmeister]

checked every cell

 

[HotRodCarts]

Let us know what the voltage total battery pack voltage is after a complete charge cycle. What is the date code on your batteries?

 

[frye.steve]

Had/have a similar situation with my G14 electric cart. Bought it used from the U.S.; replaced the battery pack (Trojan T-105s from a German firm), the motor, controller, solenoid and eventually the F & R switch, when the new batteries wouldn't hold a charge. Turned out it was the U.S. 110volt charger. Replaced the charger and that worked well for 4-5 years. Am now having the same issue with a 2-year old battery pack. Am in the process of testing the batteries to determine why they won't last but 9 holes; suspect a bad battery. Have read somewhere that one bad battery in the pack will allow the pack to only charge to the max of that bad battery. It sounds like at least one of your 6V batteries might be a dud.
Next steps for me is to test electrolyte, load test each battery, then charge each battery individually, then run it around the course and see what one is the weakest.
Have also been toying with the idea that I may not be smart enough to figure it out and may end up taking it to a cart repair shop.

 

[Budmeister]

This was one of my adult kids golf cart and she got her money back from the bx for the batteries and is getting rid of the unit. We do not have the option of carrying it to a repair shop on this island. She bought another used golf cart, a 1992 Club Car, and that afternoon the forward/reverse switch caught on fire and she called the base fire Dept. Anyway I told her order a new switch and another solenoid and I’ll put them in and hopefully she will have a driveable cart.

 

[frye.steve]

Thanks for your comment. It's difficult for me as well to get the cart to a good shop. So far, I've done all the work myself, from adding three different horns to wiring in a volt/ammeter and upgrading the suspension. One of the problems with older carts, as you are probably aware, is finding parts/repair manuals and parts. BTW, thank you for your service. Hope your cart repairs get you running.