Re: (ET) Charger Problems?

["Paul Heinzerling" <pheinzerling uakron edu>]

The automatic Lester charger I use for my golf cart typically runs the end
voltage up to about 44+ volts for a couple of hours and then shuts off.  (I
believe the logic is that when the voltage doesn't rise anymore for a
specified period of time the batteries have all the charge they're going to
take - credit a post a long time ago from Jim Fisk). The regimen for golf
cart batteries, being in cyclic use the way the Elec Trak's are, is to
equalize them at every charge.  You can treat your batteries better than
this, but this is the easiest thing for golf courses to handle.

Your end voltage is definitely way too low, in the range of the generally
specified (and widely argued) float voltage of 2.17 volts per cell.  This 
is
the voltage designed to just make up for the battery's tendency to
self-discharge.  If you could hold this for a week or two, you might have a
quasi-charged battery pack, but you still would lose the advantages of
equalizing.

I would suggest you goose them up one 12V pair at a time by using an
"automatic"
automotive battery charger.  These usually have a "regular" and 
"maintenance
free" battery setting for which there is no standard, but they typically
will limit at about 13.5 - 14.0V on "regular" and 14.0 to 14.5 on
"maintenance free."  Try the low setting first for about 24 hours and if 
the
ammeter drops and holds at a low level (meaning the batteries aren't too
badly gone), switch to the high setting and leave it until the ammeter 
stops
dropping for a few hours.  Watch the water and think about hydrogen levels,
but a couple of days of light gassing beats throwing out salvagable
batteries.  If you find that this helps, the problem is definitely with the
charger.

All you have to do now is find six straight days during which you can try
the above routine.

Good luck

Paul Heinzerling
Hudson, Ohio