My Wife, and I, purchased an 825, with batteries labeled 2017, and 2018.
Being uninformed, we were hoping for more than 20, very short rides with our Sharpei. After each ride, I plugged cart back in, and heard charger spin up on front of cart, does that sound right ?
One day I forgot to plug back in, until next morning, and it immediately made the beeping sound. I presume because the batteries fell below the low limit ? I was, and am still extremely uniformed about the proper way to store, and/or charge, if we are only using once a week.
Now, batteries are depleted to the point of not even charging individually.
Seeking advice on new, affordable batteries, and how to properly maintain them.
Thank you in advance for any help.
God bless,
Scott and Carla
Check the water level in every cell of each battery. It should be about 1/4" above the plates.
If you did fully deplete the batteries, the onboard charger might not be able to start. Youâll have to get a manual / old school charger and hook up each battery individually for a few hours or days depending on the charger output.
Once they are charged that way, you can use the onboard charger again. Do you know which charger it is? Originally, e825âs came with either a Schott charger or a Zivan charger depending on the year. If itâs a Zivan, the error codes can be looked up here:
As for how often to charge them, the spedometer display will alternate between MPH and the charge level as you are driving. When the charge drops to a new level, it will display it then go back to MPH. IIRC, it also displays charge when you stop for a moment. Typically, I wait for it to drop to about 80% or less to charge, I try to avoid running below 40% as this can damage the lead batteries.
You can also go by mileage once you get a feel for your driving patterns.
Wowzers.
Excellent information.
So grateful for your time, and help.
Wifey couldnât understand the possible conversion to lithium.
So, for now, we purchased lead/acid, Duracell replacements.
I donât know where, and what charger looks like, so I can identify it for future. Anything I need to do, specific to hook up, charging, for our new batteries ?
Thank you again, God bless
Scott and Carla
Regarding the charger, what year is the cart? Should be on the VIN sticker on the inside of the roof. The charger is under the dash, not hard to get to, just have to pull two screws and fight with velcro.
You arenât turning the master disconnect off when you charge, are you? If you do, it wonât charge.
What batteries were in it when you bought it and what model did you replace them with?
Seems to be a 2002
I never really knew what disconnect switch was for, so never even turned it off. Also had no idea former batteries had to be checked/ filled monthly.
Old batteries must have been DURACELL ULTRA BATTERY, as they had no identifying labels, have pics, but donât know how to post.
New batteries are Duracell Ultra BCI Group 31M Deep Cycle Marine & RV Battery
2002 is right around when they changed to Zivan chargers, although Iâm not sure if all 2002âs have them. If it errors again, see if itâs beeping or not and what color(s) the led above the spedometer is flashing.
Anyway, I would clean any corrosion off of the posts and check the water in all the batteries. Then charge each one individually. A few hours after charging, check the voltage. They should all be above 12.6 If not, depending on how low it is, you might have a damaged or worn out battery.
I would also check the charger output voltage, but you are going to have to pull the top of the dash off to do that or get some really long lead extenders for your meter to be able to test from the 1st and 6th battery (front compartment, and under seat). See what the voltage is
My Wife, and I, are so grateful for your time/help. For some, like us, this was an expensive investment. Even though it is a 2002, we thought it seemed clean enough, and with the batteries having 2017/2018 stickers, thought it would bring us years of weekend putts around our 3 courses with our Pei puppies.
Canât imagine how ignorant I appear.
I am willing to learn, whatever it takes, to preserve our community car.
I appreciate the patience, kindness, and especially the time, to guide me.
Going to hook up new batteries in the next hour. Everything clean, master off.
Anything else I need to do ?
Is there a break in period ?
Again, thank you so much.
God bless,
Scott and Carla
I would check the charger output and settings. Those 2017-2018 batteries should have lasted longer. Three big reasons I can think of that they would fail so soon:
- not maintained - water level allowed to drop too low causing damage
- incompatible with charger or setting - ie: AGM/Gell batteries being charged with a flooded lead acid (FLA) setting. This would eventually fry the battery due to the higher voltage
- defective charger or batteries.
You said the old ones were duracells also. Did they have fill caps or were they sealed batteries? If you donât have a model number, what color were they? Gray & black or just black?
I was unaware of a few issues that probably didnât help.
Not servicing batteries, believing they were maintenance free
Not turning off main after fully charging.
Letting it go below 40%.
I checked all new batteries, 12.7
What sort of tester do I need to check charger output, and what screws on dash to get to it ?
Thank you again, God bless
New batteries.
Cleaned, tightened, everything I could reach.
Turned on key
Red light above wrench
Let off e-brake
Red light off,
95%
Should I plug in ?
Using 50â 12/3
Thatâs a temperature sensor for the charger. It just kind of lays on top of a battery. Maybe have to zip tie the cable to the bracket to hold it.
That could certainly have killed the old batteries.
If you want to check the charger output at the dash (easiest way): open the âhoodâ and look just below the windshield on the right and left, about maybe 6-8 inches in from the edge. Should be one large screw on either side (on mine they are Phillips head stainless, but not sure if that is original or not). Take those out and then just pry the dash up from the inside. The edge inside the cart is just velcroed in place.
Charging them even though they are at 95% is fine for the first time. It might even help balance (equalize) them
Back again.
I have seemed to maintain batteries better, water level, clean. Still dont understand whether or not to leave it plugged in all the time. From 80 goes to 100 in a couple hours. But when i leave it plugged in overnight, after it reaches 100, it goes back down to 75ish. If i unplug, turn master off, its 80 in the morningâŚso confusedâŚplease help.
Thank you so much.
So charged and disconnected(master disconnect) shows it settles at 80% charge just sitting over night.
It makes sense then when you leave the batteries connected to the rest of the system and it leaks 5% through the electronics after the full charge and overnight period.
If the charger is a Zivan then once it finishes the charge, it will not restart a charge unless AC power is removed and reconnected.
Sounds like some very weak batteries.
First of allâŚi am extremely grateful for your response. I agree with the possible weak battery thought. These were bought in 2019. My wife and i barely use our cart, but i was instructed on this forum to charge to full, once a week, then turn main off. After 2 years of that, and minimal use, i topped off each battery with distilled water, and then used our battery charger/restorer, and got each battery back to 13.2-14.2, but each only showed about 85%-90% on that. When i completed that process and plugged cart back in, it went to 100%.
It seems to drain pretty fast, especially on the runs to 23mph down the street, it will lose 2-3% in two blocks. If i do replace batteries, again, is there a âbestâ process for stretching battery life ?
Our cart is in excellent condition, with only 500mi on the clock. But we are old, and new batteries are 7-8 bills.
lead based batteries should always be recharged after use and it was good to put them on the charger and then disconnect them once fully charged if youâre not going to use it for awhile(upto 4 weeks). After 4 weeks the charge cycle should be repeated since batteries will have self-discharge. Maybe even an 8 week cycle might be ok.
As long as the charger is set to the proper profile for the battery type/capacity your batteries should be A-OK and live a good long life. Well, as long as when you do use them they donât get discharged below 50% capacity(~12.2V). Iâm not talking about the GEM battery indicator since that is estimating at best. If the batteries get discharged below 50%, if fluid levels get below the plates, if they overheat, etc ,etc unrecoverable damage can be done to the batteries and capacity will be reduced.
Lead acid batteries are a PIA and I fell victim to missing a level check one summer and damaged 2 batteries. Got sick of dealing with lead and made a lithium pack out of Nissan Leaf battery modules(I knew a guy who knew a guy and could get new modules). Wasnât cheap, wasnât easy but it was far better. Far more options are available today.
BTW, the way to do a static test of your battery condition is to charge it fully and when it stops do a quick check of each battery voltage and write it down. They should be closely matched and all up around 13.8-14.0V +/-0.3. Then let the GEM sit for 2 hours and take a 2nd battery voltage measurement and this time the batteries should be around 12.7V +/-0.1 and if they arenât closely matched look for problems like different acid levels and always check to make sure the battery cables are not corroded and are tight. Loose and/or corroded battery terminals will affect charging, operation and the capacity gauge.
Thank you so much. Great info.
Do i have to disconnect each battery to test ?
I had this reply parked in the editor for a while and it looks like dougl came back and beat me to most of the questions. Donât mind the duplicate answers
Still running that set of Duracells? Iâd say you did pretty good at 4 years.
The main issue is that they look like Deep cycle marine? They arenât really rated for the high current draw that these cars need and tend to get worked fairly hard. Again, Iâd say you did good at getting them to last 4 years.
Here are some general battery tips that may help answer some of your questions.
When charger is active it shovels amps in, tapers down to finish, then pretty much shuts off. It looks like yours has meen updated so it should bump itself back on in a week if left plugged in and BattSwitchON. Alot can happen in that week and usually it is better to just unplug and turn car off.
The batteries will typically cool down to a resting voltage on their own. How far it comes down is determined by how the batteries have been treated and how old they are.
The issue with the LIPI (leave it plugged in) theory is that since the charger is technically idle, the car is still partially active. The Main Switch is still ON and the DC Converter is still active and consuming a trace of power.
As dougl pointed out, (depending on what charger you have) it may/may not come on for a week anyway. So the LIPI theory is more for the long term storage for weekend/occasional use cart people. Based on this thought it is best to adopt the plan of âCharge after every use and fully shut it all down when doneâ. Come back every now and then and plug it in If you are not using it.
Balance Your Pack
Proper maintenance is key, (watered and clean), but also keeping the pack balanced is super important. You should be checking your individual voltages of all your batteries at least once a month since new to make sure they are all at least 0.1v from each other(even closer is better). Boost up the low ones and keep notes so you can spot potential issues. Your pack is only as good as your weakest cell.
SOC - State of Charge
Hopefully you are also keeping track of battery SOC (State of Charge) and not allowing batteries to drop below 50%. According to the chart (below) a ârestedâ battery showing 12v is considered depleted and in need of a charge. Yep. 12v on a 12v battery is dead. Unfortunately, the little round monitor on your dash is horrible for this because it only gives you an idea of an overall voltage based guess at remaing power. It only sees Total Pack V. This is why it is important that when you purchase your batteries that they are are matched, of the same age, and kept balanced.
Scenario: If you have 5 batteries that start off at 12.8 and one at 12.3 you will not be able to tell when that battery dips below 50%.The cart will still drive perfectly fine but you are actually damaging your pack.
