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The last thing you want to do is replace your
expensive golf car batteries. When your golf
car begins to feel sluggish or doesn’t go the
distance, your first worry is likely that your
batteries need replacing. But, battery is-
sues are not always an issue with the actual
battery pack. Sometimes, charger issues can
appear to be a prob-
lem with the batter-
ies.
Undercharging is one
of the most common
problems for golf car
owners, resulting in
reduced operating
time and overall poor
performance of golf
cars that use deep cy-
cle flooded lead-acid
batteries. While our
first reaction may be to blame the batter-
ies, many times the problem results from a
poorly performing charging system. Battery
chargers that are left in garages or sheds
are subjected to temperature extremes and
corrosive environments that can affect their
performance. Before you replace a set of
10
WWW.GOLFCAROPTIONS.COM
Diagnosing Battery
Charger Issues
By Julie Wilson, Owner
WHEELZ Custom Carts & Accessories
expensive batteries, make sure that your battery
charger is operating correctly.
Connect the charger to check that it turns on and
delivers a charge. Test the voltage at the battery
pack positive and negative terminals. Determine
the maximum on-charge voltage and charge cur-
rent, using the charge
meter near the end of the
charge cycle just before
the charge terminates.
Reset the charger. Once
the charger has success-
fully completed a charge
cycle and has automati-
cally shut off, unplug the
power to the charger.
Wait a few minutes and
plug the charger back in.
The charger should re-
sume charging normally. Reset your charger this
way periodically. Some chargers can be reset by
unplugging the DC power cord from the charger.
Check the battery charger’s performance. Monitor
the on-charge voltage at the battery pack’s posi-
tive and negative terminals. Typically, the voltage