GC Battery Help

[JimmyB]

During winter I unplugged my golf cart and now the batteries are too low for my charger to pick up voltage and begin the charging process. First year having a golf cart and realize I should have just left it plugged in the entire time.

I have read the GC forums and thought I had it figured out that I needed to buy an 8V charger, charge each battery individually and then the charger would work.

I bought a Suuwer 8V charger on Amazon but can not get it to charge the batteries individually. It just blinks which means it isn't charging. Any thoughts are appreciated - thanks!

[mpotts]

you have to go positive on one battery to negative on the next in the series Google it. they will walk you through it step by step

[BowSlayer]

Throw a 12 volt charger on them one at a time for about 20 minutes each until your cart charger will kick on. Not that 1.5 amp one, a real charger.

[gonehuntin68]

I could be wrong but I think you have to disconnect the batteries first before putting the 8V charger on each battery. With all the batteries hooked together like they are in your picture, you have a 36V system not 6V so a 8V charger isn't going to do anything. It's like trying to charge a 36V battery with 8V charger and that's not going to work. I'm assuming each battery is a 6V battery.

[BowSlayer]

You don’t have to disconnect anything to charge Individually.

[JimmyB]

Each battery is 8V - total 48V golf cart. But yes, they are all still connected.

I am thinking maybe the 1.5amp charger is not enough as well. I will try later today with a bigger charger - does it need to be a 12V charger?

[bpa556]

During winter I unplugged my golf cart and now the batteries are too low for my charger to pick up voltage and begin the charging process. First year having a golf cart and realize I should have just left it plugged in the entire time.



I have read the GC forums and thought I had it figured out that I needed to buy an 8V charger, charge each battery individually and then the charger would work.



I bought a Suuwer 8V charger on Amazon but can not get it to charge the batteries individually. It just blinks which means it isn't charging. Any thoughts are appreciated - thanks!

Connect a good 12v charger to first TWO GC batteries in series (no need to disconnect anything).

Make sure charger is off.

Pull you wife’s car up next to it.

Attach jumper cables to the car battery.

Attach the other end of the cables to the Same battery terminals wearing charger clamps.

Turn charger on.

Disconnect jumper cables.

Repeat for subsequent battery pairs...


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[JimmyB]

if i use a good 12V charger do I need to use the resistor I read about online since it is an 8V GC battery?

[gonehuntin68]

You don’t have to disconnect anything to charge Individually.

Then how the heck are you going to charge them individually if they are all connected in a series like they are in the picture. If you measure the voltage across any of the +/- terminals you should see around 48V on a working system. There is no way a 8V charger is going to do any good in that case. The only way you could charge multiple 8V batteries that are connected together with a 8V battery charger is if they are all connected in parallel. Then your voltage would still be 8V so they could be charged. In this case though, they are connected in a series to make 48V. You can not charge each battery individually unless you disconnect each battery from any other battery and that is a fact.

As I said above, you can charge then all with 8V charger if they are connected in Parallel but if the batteries are not balanced it will not charge them all to the same voltage and that will cause your run time to be less then it should be. If you have 1 bad battery out of the 6 then it's going to cause issues. This also would be a big hassle in your case since they are all wired in a series and you would have to rewire to charge and then rewire to get the system back to normal.

If it was me and I bought a 8V charger, I would just disconnect all the wire leads going to the batteries and then charge each one individually and then connect the wires when done charging. I would check the voltage on each one though before you put the wires back on so you know each one is at least putting out the voltage it should.

I have no problem coming back and saying I was wrong about this but I've been dealing with charging batteries for many years and to my knowledge, there is no way to charge a individual battery that is in a series of batteries without disconnecting that battery from the series.

[powderburner]

the batteries will pull what they need then you will over charge them. Not good

I hook a 12v charger up. to one battery. Then rotate it every 20 min. to the next. all you need is the charger to see enough to kick off.

Also check the liquid level in each of them. just to make sure.

[Paycheck]

Then how the heck are you going to charge them individually if they are all connected in a series like they are in the picture. If you measure the voltage across any of the +/- terminals you should see around 48V on a working system. There is no way a 8V charger is going to do any good in that case. The only way you could charge multiple 8V batteries that are connected together with a 8V battery charger is if they are all connected in parallel. Then your voltage would still be 8V so they could be charged. In this case though, they are connected in a series to make 48V. You can not charge each battery individually unless you disconnect each battery from any other battery and that is a fact.

As I said above, you can charge then all with 8V charger if they are connected in Parallel but if the batteries are not balanced it will not charge them all to the same voltage and that will cause your run time to be less then it should be. If you have 1 bad battery out of the 6 then it's going to cause issues. This also would be a big hassle in your case since they are all wired in a series and you would have to rewire to charge and then rewire to get the system back to normal.

If it was me and I bought a 8V charger, I would just disconnect all the wire leads going to the batteries and then charge each one individually and then connect the wires when done charging. I would check the voltage on each one though before you put the wires back on so you know each one is at least putting out the voltage it should.

I have no problem coming back and saying I was wrong about this but I've been dealing with charging batteries for many years and to my knowledge, there is no way to charge a individual battery that is in a series of batteries without disconnecting that battery from the series.

I think I am going to agree with you.

[E.TX.BOWHUNTER]

If you test across each battery(even when connected) you should read 8 volts when good. When you read across all the batteries in series you get 48 volts. Yes you should be able to charge each battery individually but you need a larger charger for golf cart batteries. The only load on the charger is what is between the charger connections. If in doubt you can disconnect the first battery connection to the cart on either the + or - side. Keep distilled water in them too. Check at least monthly if only weekend use.

[BowSlayer]

Then how the heck are you going to charge them individually if they are all connected in a series like they are in the picture. If you measure the voltage across any of the +/- terminals you should see around 48V on a working system. There is no way a 8V charger is going to do any good in that case. The only way you could charge multiple 8V batteries that are connected together with a 8V battery charger is if they are all connected in parallel. Then your voltage would still be 8V so they could be charged. In this case though, they are connected in a series to make 48V. You can not charge each battery individually unless you disconnect each battery from any other battery and that is a fact.

As I said above, you can charge then all with 8V charger if they are connected in Parallel but if the batteries are not balanced it will not charge them all to the same voltage and that will cause your run time to be less then it should be. If you have 1 bad battery out of the 6 then it's going to cause issues. This also would be a big hassle in your case since they are all wired in a series and you would have to rewire to charge and then rewire to get the system back to normal.

If it was me and I bought a 8V charger, I would just disconnect all the wire leads going to the batteries and then charge each one individually and then connect the wires when done charging. I would check the voltage on each one though before you put the wires back on so you know each one is at least putting out the voltage it should.

I have no problem coming back and saying I was wrong about this but I've been dealing with charging batteries for many years and to my knowledge, there is no way to charge a individual battery that is in a series of batteries without disconnecting that battery from the series.

That's a lot of words..lol

I'll just say this.... you're wrong. You can charge each battery individually without unhooking anything. Get out your multi-meter and test voltage on each battery. It will be around 8 volts, not 48.

[BowSlayer]

Depending on how low the pack is I have also plugged in the cart charger and while it's plugged in hook up a 12 volt charger to a battery and it would bring the voltage up just enough for the cart charger to take over. If you have a multi-meter check the pack voltage and see what it is.

[bpa556]

if i use a good 12V charger do I need to use the resistor I read about online since it is an 8V GC battery?

No. If you connect the 12v charger (and temporarily the jumper cables) to 2 batteries in series, you are effectively inducing a 12v charge into a 16 volt battery.

Charge each subsequent pair to 12v. They won’t be fully charged, but they’ll have enough to be picked up by the GC charger and it’ll top them off.


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