'98 Club Car charger

woodbutcher

Well-known Member
It was 3 years old when I got it, and I made the first battery swap after using it three years. The current set of 6 batteries have been on it three and a half years. Trojans are the best I've found, but the ones in it now are Interstate. But, the problem I'm having now is with the charger, I think. It seems to be overcharging the batteries until they boil over. Is there any reason that a battery could cause this to happen, or is there something in the charger that might be screwed up?
Butch
 
Try disconnecting all the batteries from each other, let it sit for a day or two. Check each battery, preferably with a hydrometer or load test. If that is not available, check with a volt meter. If any are low, you have a bad battery that the charger is trying to bring up, and the others are getting over charged in the process.

If they all check close to the same, reconnect them, put the charger on and check the voltage. It should be around 13 volts. If it's up above 14 or so, something is wrong in the charger. This is not likely though, probably a bad battery. It's not recommended to replace only one battery.
 
woodbutcher,
Good bet one of your batteries is junk, and charger doesn't shut off. Cooking a battery isn't good. Put a timer on charger. All golf cart chargers shut off when the current drops to a certain level. A dead battery will keep the charger on. You may have damaged all them by not having all the same batteries in the pack

Everyone thinks that just because their batteries are only a few years old, they should be good, WRONG.

Everyone should have a hydrometer with thermometer. I got mine from NAPA.


I got rid of my old school resistance load tester and bought a battery conductivity tester. However I've never seen one for 6 v batteries. Test two at a time I guess. Good thing to invest in. First thing I grab for if I think I have a battery issue, because some of my batteries are sealed and can't use a hydrometer.

You may want to check into a charger that will desulfate batteries. They make chargers for 36 and 48 v carts.
 
I've worked on a few carts for friends in Florida, 36 and 48 v
All it takes is one bad battery and charger can boil, cook, ruin the rest.
Battery minder makes a charger to desulfate all batteries at once. Did you do a hydrometer test on cells?
 
If you have gotten 6 years out of those batteries they are most likely about finished off and on the way out. They would run in another brand of cart probably, but the Club Car set up in not very tolerant of aging batteries. The OBC,(on board computer) on the cart is the brains of the battery charger and it is most likely bad. Read that as approx. $100-$150.00. There are a bunch of different OBC variation so you have to be careful when you replace one. There are a lot of upgrades for them also The charge rate and shut off is regulated by it and it is on the cart, not in the charger. If the batteries are low on the specific gravity,the OBC will keep charging them till they boil over and fry. The OBC has to see about 60-64 volts at the end of the charge cycle to shut it off.The older the batteries get, the harder it is for them to attain the correct specific gravity and voltage and thus take a good charge. Load testing a golf car battery pack is much different from testing automotive batteries. The machine to test them is about $800.00-$1,000.00 and are not usually found anywhere but at a cart dealer's shop. It will put a load on the whole 36 or 48 volt pack at once and then it measures the minutes till the pack reaches the drop out voltage to shut it off. Do this,test the batteries after they have charged at least 8 hrs and then let them sit for another 3-4 hours to stabilize and then take the specific gravity readings. Take a reading of each cell and record it on a chart for reference along with the individual battery voltage readings. The battery cells should all be within .05 points of the 1.250 scale. If you have much variation, the cells are going bad and the battery is on it's way out. Club cars of this era were very finicky about the battery and charger situations. They do make chargers that you can bypass the OBC and this charger will regulate itself with out the OBC unit. You will probably wind up replacing the batteries and the OBC unit. On the 98 models I think it is under the body behind the seat on the left side bolted to the
body itself. I take the batteries out and turn the cart on it's right side to change the OBC unit. Be very careful since this is a computer do not cause any arcs and hook up the negative able last. If this cart has a tow/run switch always put it in tow before doing any work on it or pushing or pulling it around. Most likely you will need a set of batteries and an OBC unit.
 

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