Hello all, looking for some advice; I have a 2004 Gem E4 825 with the stock Zivan battery charger that’s only charging to 75% now. I’m looking to upgrade to the Delta-Q Battery Charger 72v 12a 912-7200-D1. My question is, I’ve heard it cant be done because of the interlock components pre 2005 and then I have heard it can be done by leaving the old charger in place or modifying the wiring to trick the system? can anyone shed light on this for me.
Thanks
Any dq charger will work fine. What makes you think the Zivan is bad?
can anyone shed light on this for me.
Sure- That light is a train at the end of the tunnel coming straight at you.
Q1. What gives you the idea that it is only going up to 75%?
- The meter on your dash pod says so?
- Are you having a range issue?
Q2. When was the last time you did a check of your battery?
- How old are your batteries?
- Water level?
- Voltage level?
- Balance with the others?
Q3. How long have you had this car?
- Was it working good for you as it was?
- Do you wish it had “more”?
Depending on how you answer the questions above, it will steer/direct future suggestions.
Well, I called the gentleman at ride 4 fun about it, and he was telling me it’s a bad charger. Not sure if saying that to get me to buy his $600 charger or not. When I plug in the car, the indicator is green and only displays 75%. I plugged the car in last night, and this morning, it’s saying 100%. not too sure it’s a charger issue. He didn’t help me in any way to test it to find out. I just bought the gem car, so I’m new to the scene. I noticed that when it was at 75%, I drove 2 miles in turf mode, and it dropped from 75-54% in 2 miles. The guy at R4F told me again it’s a charger issue with not getting a proper charge and not batteries they are May 2020.
Q1. What gives you the idea that it is only going up to 75%?
- The meter on your dash pod says so? - The meter said 75%
- Are you having a range issue?-Yes, 2 miles went from 75% - 54% not sure if that’s bad seems so.
Q2. When was the last time you did a check of your battery?
- How old are your batteries? -All batteries are May 2020
- Water level? -Topped them off a little but was above the plates.
- Voltage level? I tested after it stated 75%, and they all had about 12.46v each
- Balance with the others? - Not sure about this
Q3. How long have you had this car? - Just bought it.
- Was it working well for you as it was?
- Do you wish it had “more”?
Did you just post on FBook?
Is you name Matt?
I’m having a bad case of deja vous…
I’m having a bad case of deja vous…
[dang]
OK- So- Ignore that round gauge for now. I have been calling that thing a first generation guesstimate device lately. It contains a bit of electronics, logic, wired to a little cube of voodoo that nobody really understands. It sorta takes a half glance at battery volts, possibly compares the level to the last time you had the car out, and displays a guess at what is in the pack. This installs a bit of false security in the driver that everybody laps up and takes as gospel. In reality, it gets mixed up easily and sometimes needs several runs to figure things out. It should be trusted as much as your local weatherman. We tend to yell at him too.
Your better bet is to find a cheap Volt gauge and temporarily hang it where you can see it. Ideally, find one rated for full pack V and use it as a more accurate fuel gauge.
But- since this car is new to you, Do a full pack check.
Your pack is 2 years old now and who knows what horrible things have been done to them.
- Run your car through a full charge cycle. Hopefully, you get a green light.
- Unplug it for 15 mins(cool down) and plug it back in again. See how long it takes to hit green light.
- Measure each battery V. Write that number down. Keep track of which batteries are what. Use a post-it on top of each battery, or draw a pic of the layout and write the number down in the drawing. This comes in handy when you refer back to it in a month, or many moons later. Hopefully all the batteries are within maybe 0.10v of each other. If not, you can boost the really low ones up with an automotive charger to pack some electrons in that battery. This is called balancing the pack.
- Also note which battery is #1 and #6. Measure and note across all batts for full pack V.
- Load test - Brakestand test
- Hook your meter up to batt1 and point your car in a safe direction (in case you run away)
- Put your left foot on the brake real hard and press on the accel a good bit and see how far down you can make the batt drop. Maybe do this to a count of 5. Write this number down. Observe also how the battery recovers (no need to write obv number)
- Do this to every battery in the pack.
- When done - Note pack V.
A quicker(cheater) version is to run the car around the block (or go get some ice cream) and check each battery real quick when you get back. This does not give you a real time load reading but it will give you a snapshot of where your weak batteries are.
Return with those numbers and post them here.
After your load test, put the car back on charge and see where they end up after green light.
In an idea happy/balanced pack they will all be very close to each other at the top and at the bottom. They will all do their part in your ice cream missions and supply the same amount of little electrons equally. Due to internal manufacturing and chemical imbalances this is rarely the case.
If you see one or two batteries that are dropping way low but others are holding their V, then sometimes you can get away with only replacing the punky ones. It is not the best scenario and realize you may be replacing others very soon but this gives you a bit more time to figure out what this car will be to you and how it will fit into your life(getting deep here).
If all batteries are more/less acting the same and you are still only getting 2 miles out of them this means you have a tired pack and they will need to be replaced for full enjoyment.
Q4. What are the batteries?
Many times POwners will throw “any old thing on sale” just to get the car going. This works(kinda), but it is a short term fix, and the usual effect is someone gets the idea that these things are cr@p and put it on the market to get rid of it. If lucky- cr@p batteries can last Two years. (sound familiar?)
Thanks for the detailed response; I’m not Matt and haven’t posted on FB. I looked at the batteries today; the batteries are all Trojan 30XHS year stamped 05/20. I called Trojan earlier in the week asking about load testing I was told to test to 665CCA did this today; unfortunately, I didn’t record the readings will do it again to record while completing the other tasks. 5 out of 6 passed with 510-530 CCA one failed at 495CCA. All were between 12.42-12.52. I will order a voltmeter online tonight to install and go that route, as well as do the other tests you’re recommending. Thanks again for the info; I will try to get it done this week.