Charging 6 volt batteries in a series
Monday, June 15th, 2009Jeff
I have a 36 volt (6 6-volt batteries) Cushman golf cart.
Can I bypass the old charger and use a 6-12 volt battery charger to charge these six 6 volt batteries wired in a series? If so where do I put on the + and – cables? One on the first battery and one on the last battery in the series?
Thank you for your time
Tom
Indianapolis
Tom,
I am not sure why you want to do this but I am going to assume the on-board 36 v charger is dead, and you have this other charger around but it is a 72 volt charger (6 x 12)??.
My first suggestion is call or stop by a used golf cart outlet. There is usually at least one in all larger cities having several golf courses. They have tons of these used chargers around and will either give you one or sell you one very cheap since many people are paying to have these old carts re-furbished for use in RV parks and they usually include a new charger with each cart sold. Be sure to get the right model as many of todays golf carts use six (6) batteries @ 8 volts each which require a 48 volt charger.
If your charger is really a 72 volt charger designed to charge six (6) batteries of 12 volts each, then you cannot use it. It is possible to use a 12 volt charger and connect to two batteries at a time in series which makes 12 volts. You would connect to the positive and negative of each set of 2 batteries, then move to the next set of 2 until all 3 sets are charged, or you could use a 6 volt charger (some 12 volt chargers have a 6 volt switch) and charge them one at a time the same way, but do not connect a higher voltage charger to a lower voltage battery set.
Good luck,
Jeff Yago
