How to test a golf trolley battery charger

[zap]

Greetings,
I have a 12v 36ah battery which is supposed to be a 36 hole golf trolley battery. The charger is specifically designed for Powakaddy (or Hillbilly) carts. The battery only pulls for 16 holes so I complained to the supplier who said, "sorry, it's out of warrantee". Which it is; by four days. So I'm in dialogue with the company re: my consumer rights.
In the meanwhile I want to test the battery charger to ensure it's not the culprit. The connection is via a 'T-bar' connector.

The charger doesn't seem to have changed its behaviour over years of use. i.e. plug into the mains and a green light flashes. Connect to the battery that requires charging and after a few seconds it clicks and the light changes to amber. When the battery is fully charged the light changes to green and it enters a trickle charge state.

I do have digital meters (in fact I still have an analogue one too) but I'm not sure how to test it. It seems that it needs to be connected to a battery before it switches into charge mode.

Can anyone enlighten me.

 

[Darkwood]

Check list!
Could be a battery issue?.
Could be a charger issue?
Could be a wiring fault or load that's draining the battery too fast?

Read up on testing and proofing batteries and chargers and also clamp the battery when loaded and work out it expected running time, if you have other identical models then you have a running load reference to gauge it by

What was the warranty length?
If you suspect product failure then get the problem confirmed by an Independent party with a written invoice and printed explanation, if it turns out to be the product at fault through premature parts failure etc then you have a good strong case. If the problem is due to abuse or accidental damage then you have lost your rights so check the caddy hasn't sustained damage anywhere that could put into question the root cause of the problem.

Very few people realise that a 1yr warranty is not worth the paper its written on unless the products expected lifespan is just beyond this, make a phone call to the supplier after you have the fault diagnosed and verified and explain the problem is down to premature parts failure and you are then protected by the 1979 consumers rights act - have a read up on this too so you can respond confidently..Get back to the supplier and say under the sale of goods act 1979 the should give a respectable service life regardless of warranty.


Whatever you do don't let them have the caddy or charging assembly before you have had an independent check, also and charges put to you by the Inspection costs can be reclaimed against the suppliers.

Watch how the red carpet unfolds for you when they know they can't BS you.... If you are at a golf course and this caddy is one of their hire ones then also use this against the supplier in respect to the after sales service will not reflect well to the Golf Club owners who buy their products.

Note ... Reasonable product Life/service is not defined and can be argued as to how long something is expected to last so 5+ yrs old most products cannot be argued as premature failure... up to 3-5yrs product dependent than you have a case if its found to be premature failure of parts.

Note! fully read up on any serviceable parts the caddy has and the service life and how many times the battery can be recharged if the caddy has not be serviced or parts exchanged to manufacturers recommendation then again you have no grounds.

If you have 2 or more caddies the same then swap the batteries around to proof if the problem is with the battery or not.

 

[zap]

Thanks for the response Darkwood. I agree with everything you say but I was unaware of being able to claim the costs of the independent checks etc. This comes as good news and I'm off to my local servicer, which happens to be at my golf club, this afternoon.

Many thanks again for the advise.

 

[Darkwood]

The hard drive failed on my mums laptop after 3yrs (2ys post warranty), it cost £230 at XXXXXX (MAJOR STORE) to have it repaired the very same place she bought it, although she forgot to get independent verification the idiots at XXXXXX actually forwarded the fault diagnosis with the quote for repairs which clearly stated the Hard drive had failedand was just unlucky .... when I found out my mother had be ripped of for repair costs I rang them and stated my case to which they denied it was their responsibility ....after getting the ill educated monkeys out of the way I got to someone high up he asked for verification of the product had failed and I would need an independent report..thinking he could avoid this claim so I forwarded the report his own company had passed on, he needed our own independent report and not his he said ...... asking why does he not value the report by the company he employed to diagnose the problem and Im sure Watchdog would love this story about how your trying to ignore the consumers rights act ... after a few seconds of silence and a could you please wait he came back apologised for the mistake and a full refund for the repairs in the post ..Kerching!

This is a Laptop 2yrs post warranty.
Ive also done it with my washing machine on 2.5 yrs mark when the impeller for the heating failed... after a lot of waffling they asked for a Independent report ... explaining I work for a registered service company for there machines and I do the services and would allow entry for their own engineers to inspect it at no cost to me.. another please hold was given and I got a manager on next... I explained my knowledge and findings this was a common issue and would not sit back on it...

2 weeks later a delivery of the upgraded model and they took my old one away ... never had a issue with this one in 7-yrs since...

Knowing your rights is crucial to avoid been ripped off, knowing the washing machine back to front was a tactical advantage I had in this situation but was confident that Id of had it repaired for free anyway.

 

[ayjay]

is the golf course up hill?

 

[Besoeker]

Greetings,
I have a 12v 36ah battery which is supposed to be a 36 hole golf trolley battery. The charger is specifically designed for Powakaddy (or Hillbilly) carts. The battery only pulls for 16 holes so I complained to the supplier who said, "sorry, it's out of warrantee". Which it is; by four days. So I'm in dialogue with the company re: my consumer rights.
In the meanwhile I want to test the battery charger to ensure it's not the culprit. The connection is via a 'T-bar' connector.

The charger doesn't seem to have changed its behaviour over years of use. i.e. plug into the mains and a green light flashes. Connect to the battery that requires charging and after a few seconds it clicks and the light changes to amber. When the battery is fully charged the light changes to green and it enters a trickle charge state.

I do have digital meters (in fact I still have an analogue one too) but I'm not sure how to test it. It seems that it needs to be connected to a battery before it switches into charge mode.

Can anyone enlighten me.

darkwood has given you excellent advice regarding consumer rights.
If you happen to be in the Three Counties area, or can claim to be, this fellow does consumer affairs and gets results.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Back to your wuestion about testing the charger.
I'm assuming that your 36Ah battery is lead acid, probably sealed lead acid (more correctly valve regulated lead acid) given the application.
We make chargers for such.
They are set at 2.27V per cell so 13.6V in your case at 20C. It changes a little bit with temperature if the charger is temperature compensated but it gives you a guide on what to check for.

 

[Guest111]

As Darkwood said,a 12 month warranty is not worth a light,I saw a programme a while back and a bloke from trading standards was on and he stated quite clearly their definition of a warranty should be reasonable,ie if you buy a drill for £15 and it lasts a year then that's fair enough,what do you expect for such little money.However if you spend £400 on a washing machine would you really expect to replace it on a yearly basis? no you wouldn't.Far to many companies rely on you not knowing your rights,another one is who your contract is with,I recently bought a laptop and was informed that if there are any problems with it after 28 days then it has to be sent back to the manufacturers,not correct,my contract is with the store who sold it me not the maker,so if it does go wrong then legally they have to put it right not the maker.Knowing your consumer rights these days is important and a quick hunt on google will soon put you on the right road.

 

[zap]

Many thanks for this Besoeker . I'll get the meter out and see what I'm getting.

 

[zap]

sometimes it definitely feels like it

 

[shanky887614]

£200 for a laptop hdd is a con.

£50 at most.

even including labour it would take under an hour

 

[Darkwood]

£200 for a laptop hdd is a con.

£50 at most.

even including labour it would take under an hour

Hence I saw it was a massive con... cost me nothing and full refund back

 

[zap]

darkwood has given you excellent advice regarding consumer rights.
If you happen to be in the Three Counties area, or can claim to be, this fellow does consumer affairs and gets results.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Back to your wuestion about testing the charger.
I'm assuming that your 36Ah battery is lead acid, probably sealed lead acid (more correctly valve regulated lead acid) given the application.
We make chargers for such.
They are set at 2.27V per cell so 13.6V in your case at 20C. It changes a little bit with temperature if the charger is temperature compensated but it gives you a guide on what to check for.

You're absolutely correct about the type of battery.

Sorry for the delay but I didn't put the battery on charge until last night.
Here are my results which seems to indicate that the charger is working correctly:
Start of charging - 14.35V DC @ 26°C or 79°F in old money.
Fully charged - 13.65V DC @ 21°C or 70°F ...

Comments welcome -