I am a new GEM owner. I purchased a used 2002 E825 that has electrical problems. The previous owner put marine batteries in it. Not sure when. I charge them and get to 100% but after only 24 hours the charge goes down to 65%. I live on a hill near a lake and at first I was only getting one round trip (6 blocks) a day. Now when I plug it in to charge a beeping sound goes off. It has a zizan charger. Do I replace the charger and the batteries or is there another solution. Also once I have the electric problem solved will I have to upgrade the engine to handle the hill or will new batteries solve that also. Help…
I was wondering this too. I put marine batteries in back in March and power is dropping to 90 percent overnight. After driving just a few miles power is down to 70 percent. Is this just what you would expect with cheaper batteries? Batteries are only 10 months old. Used to stay at 100 percent over night and short trips would only lower battery 10-15 percent at most.
You have something drawing down the battery pack OR maybe a bad battery. Shut off your main switch and see if the pack poses over night. If yes look for a bad battery. If NO look for something drawing the pack down.
While your at it check all connections for bright and tight.
[quote=OLD HOUSEBOATER;32984]You have something drawing down the battery pack OR maybe a bad battery. Shut off your main switch and see if the pack poses over night. If yes look for a bad battery. If NO look for something drawing the pack down.
While your at it check all connections for bright and tight.[/quote]
Can anything be drawing the batteries down with the under seat switch switched to “off”? I brought my 6 month old Odysseys up to full charge, load tested them and each one tested fine and were holding 12.6 to 12.8 depending on the battery. This evening the first two I checked showed only 90% charge… on my charger, not the one on the panel. ???
[quote=OLD HOUSEBOATER;32991]What model # batteries?
Your charger needs to be set to AGM . If you don’t have an AGM setting set it to Flooded?
If you have it set on GEL you have to change the setting.or the batteries will degrade rapidly.[/quote]
The batteries are Odyssey pc1700 flooded lead acid. The charger was set to C which is for agm. Think that was the problem
I have nursed the six month old batteries back to holding steady at 12.7 to 12.9 volts. If any one is interested in how to do this let me know.
After getting the batteries back I found the charge type switch info on another thread on this forum. It’s not addressed in the service manual as Tommy points out below.
Will take a run tomorrow, re charge with onboard charger and let everyone know the results.
You are right. Battery type setting is not covered in manual. WHY? Apparently it is VERY important! However, charger settings are covered in another thread on this forum.
The quick version is that IF your charger is a Zivan it has circular dial on top with a slot that indicates the battery type in code. Check the thread but I believe “C” is for gel batteries, another for agm, and “E” and “F” is for flooded lead acid. “F” is for larger, higher amp batteries. Again, check the thread, it lists settings from “A” to “F” and the type battery each is for.
If you had it set on gel that is your problem. Chargers that came with 2002 model year don’t have an AGM setting. PC1700 batteries are AGM type. you must use AGM setting or flooded setting if your charger doesn’t have the AGM setting.
There was a big discussion on this subject about 6 months ago
You may or may not have a dial that you can set. You can call Zivan (Electric Conversions) at 916- 441- 4161. Give them the serial number and they will tell you what you have. Don’t let their abrasiveness get to you.
Thanks for the information OH. I’m beginning to question the wisdom of getting this thing. Wife thought it was cute and I like to tinker.
My batteries were fully charged, showing 12.7 average each, with auto type charger after 18 hours. Checked the voltage at the +/- connection on top of charger. It showed 72.4volts. Drove the car about a mile and the dash showed only 62% and the thing wouldn’t climb my fairly steep drive.
I plugged in the on board charger and the voltage at the top of the charger showed 69.9 when first plugged in and only rose to 72.4 after cycling through several charges.
Have not been through the complete check procedures as per the manual you provided, but with No power/longevity I think it’s time to get out of this thing and go back to an upgraded golf cart. Seems these GEMs are as bad as the many reviews seem to indicate. You have one, OH, that seems to work. Just wonder what I’m doing wrong??? By the way, mine is a 2002 model yet the charger does have the setting wheel for the various battery types. After results yesterday, I set the dial to F to get more amps but the voltage across the +/- plug on top of the charger remains 72.4. The volt meter on my 36v EZGO would go as high as 44 when charging and stay at 38+ when fully charged. Is it time for a trip to the shop?? I really don’t want to put any more money into this thing if the performance I’ve seen us as good as it gets.
So I’ve been leaving the main switch off to see if the batteries were draining. After it had been off for a few days I checked and the power read 85 percent. I backed it out of garage and it changed to 75 percent. I shut it down and powered back on and then it read 65 percent. It was then at 65 percent and lower after I drove it. Don’t know why it read 85 and 75 percent at first.
But having the main off the batteries still drained down considerably more than they used to. Normally they would only drop to 95 percent even after a week. Battery charger is the NG1 and I looked under that round plug and there’s no dial there so It’s set to what ever’s factory. Batteries going bad already? I’m going to check each battery next after it’s done charging, they’re about 10 months old.
[quote=Dangiz;7974]I am a new GEM owner. I purchased a used 2002 E825 that has electrical problems. The previous owner put marine batteries in it. Not sure when. I charge them and get to 100% but after only 24 hours the charge goes down to 65%. I live on a hill near a lake and at first I was only getting one round trip (6 blocks) a day. Now when I plug it in to charge a beeping sound goes off. It has a zizan charger. Do I replace the charger and the batteries or is there another solution. Also once I have the electric problem solved will I have to upgrade the engine to handle the hill or will new batteries solve that also. Help…
Dan[/quote]
I have a similar problem as stated here on the OP. I bought a 2003 GEM e825 two seater with batteries from AutoZone installed. They are dated 3/15, the only spec on them are: Part # 31-950, Cold Crankling Amps @ 32* 950, and Reserve Capacity 195 (one of them says Duralast heavy duty). The charger is a Zivan NG1 (not sure of the setting because I messed with it before I read this post). The charger has a sticker on it that says MICRO UPGRADED.
When I first got the GEM it seemed to charge in an hour or two. The red LED comes on when I plug it in after an hour or less it changed to yellow, then green shortly there after. I would “top it off” every two or three days and it performed fine. As time went on it started taking longer to charge and would discharge much quicker. By the end of the summer It would not charge completely to 100 percent no matter how long I left the charger on. So I didn’t use it for 2 months and left the disconnect switch closed during that time period. I checked the individual voltages and got:
#1 3.90 #2 10.68 #3 7.97 #4 8.71 #5 2.84 #6 10.93
I charged each one to a little under 12V individually, then hooked them all together and plugged in the Zivan charger. It started out @ 79.6V with the red LED on then an hour later it had dropped to 77.3, still red. I left it charging and in another hour it had recovered to 78.6V still red.
So my question is do I have a charger problem or wrong batteries?