Battery question???? XXXX UPDATE XXXXX

[joelyn]

bought 2 new batteries for my mobility pride scooter, 12 V U1AGM 35AMP BATLIQ1017..... INSTALLED THEM TODAY and before charging them they tested at 12.7 v.. put the scooter charger on and both batteries showed 13.4 v,.
my question..... the charger has been on for about 5 hrs now and the charger still shows red light on which means they are not fully charged yet... i tested the batteries and one showed 15.2 and the other 14.8..... i unplugged the charger for now because i am not sure if they are to much charged.. is it normal for new batteries to show a reading so high even though the pride charger says they are not fully charged yet?? should i plug the charger in again tomorrow and continue to charge until the charger shows green like it usually does????? thanks for any advise..

[joelyn]

thanks for the info, i will check the charger out and check the batties again and report back. thanks

[Thermoguy]

How are you reading the voltages? Can you trust your meter? Some can be off a few tenths of a volt to more. Check that before you go too far.

[Vintage465]

jkwilson wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
They need to be "Equalized" how to do that on your system I do not know. I know how I'd do it but it requires hooking them in parallel to a DIFFERENT charger.

Don’t equalize AGMs. It will damage them.

True statement. Everything I've read is that AGM's aren't supposed to be equalized.

[2112]

Pride has a few recommended batteries depending on model that have a max charge voltage from 14.8 - 15V. Below is an example



Does your battery have charge information on it?

What is the charger model number? What's its output amps?

[jkwilson]

Just to be clear here, the manufacturer specifies the charger output voltage is 29.6V. 14.8 +15.2 is more than the charger is supposed to put out.

[jkwilson]

wa8yxm wrote:
They need to be "Equalized" how to do that on your system I do not know. I know how I'd do it but it requires hooking them in parallel to a DIFFERENT charger.

Don’t equalize AGMs. It will damage them.

[wa8yxm]

They need to be "Equalized" how to do that on your system I do not know. I know how I'd do it but it requires hooking them in parallel to a DIFFERENT charger.

[CA_Traveler]

Charging raises the battery voltage and they can maintain that for some time, it's know as surface charge. Use the scooter a little or let the sit overnight and the voltage should drop to the 12.7V range.

[CA_Traveler]

Do you have the mfg specs? Depending upon the mfg, etc up to 15.0V for charging might be OK but it does seem high. 0.4V difference seems significant. Are the batteries connected in series?

Call Pride and get a technical person, not some sales person. Also battery quality can and does vary so that might be a factor. Expect pushback if you use a different battery source.

[jkwilson]

An AGM full charge resting voltage may be a little higher than 12.7V. Most are around 12.8V, with some like the Optima at 13.1V. The charger for your scooter is supposed to produce 29.6V while charging. That’s 14.8V per battery. Seems likely you have a charger problem, though having two batteries in series showing different voltages after charging with a single charger would also indicate some difference in the batteries that bears watching.

[Grit_dog]

12.7 V at rest IS fully charged.
And 14.8-15.2 IS too high of voltage for an AGM battery.
Something is wrong.