CRAP !CRAP! CRAP!

fogtender said:

Geeze, Well there you go! What are you whining about then!

But seriously, the terminals can be dirty and you won't get power down the pipe to the motor, on a car, it may cause you to appear to have a dead battery or enough power get though to where you solenoid just clicks...

Clean the terminals and then go from there.

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Back is killing me so I think i'll give it a rest for today . I'll disassemble everything tomorrow and give it a good cleaning . I am bypassing the lift charger now and charging each 6 volt battery on my little charger .There are 8 Funny thing is its not showing the batteries are charged very much according to my shop charger . They are taking a lot of amps ??? Wish I had another 48 volt charger I could just plug into the system . $5 says its still a battery problem

BigAl said:

Back is killing me so I think i'll give it a rest for today . I'll disassemble everything tomorrow and give it a good cleaning . I am bypassing the lift charger now and charging each 6 volt battery on my little charger .There are 8 Funny thing is its not showing the batteries are charged very much according to my shop charger . They are taking a lot of amps ??? Wish I had another 48 volt charger I could just plug into the system . $5 says its still a battery problem

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They will charge like that fine each, but if the terminals to the different batteries are dirty, they won't pass Amps. Can you post a photo of them? That would help a bit.

It only takes one bad connection to kill the whole show.

fogtender said:

They will charge like that fine each, but if the terminals to the different batteries are dirty, they won't pass Amps. Can you post a photo of them? That would help a bit.

It only takes one bad connection to kill the whole show.

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Tomorrow

Just a swag here but your horn must be drawing all of the current in the system.

Al, this is one of those Doooooohhh things, but make sure that the posts on the batteries are good. One being cracked inside can cause a problem from the description of the system.
Right now, it sounds like they are almost completely drained. They might return with charging or they might be shot. Not very much experience with 6 volt systems.

loboloco said:

Al, this is one of those Doooooohhh things, but make sure that the posts on the batteries are good. One being cracked inside can cause a problem from the description of the system.
Right now, it sounds like they are almost completely drained. They might return with charging or they might be shot. Not very much experience with 6 volt systems.

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Its actually a 48 volt system and they tie 8-6 volt batteries together

BigAl said:

Its actually a 48 volt system and they tie 8-6 volt batteries together

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Al I,m sure you have a good handle on things & know what your doing , But I just wanted to suggest to make sure I check your ground wire where it mounts to the frame .

I had a similar situation awhile back on one of my golf carts & the ground was not a problem untill one of the batterys kinda blew up due to a loose connection at one of the batterys , I know because thats the first thing I allways check is the ground , After I replaced the bad battery & the power cables & several cellenoids & it was still not taking a charge like I though it should I found when the battery went tits up it fryed the ground cable where it connects to the frame .

Granted its not the same thing as what you are working on but basiclly the same type of system , Mine are 36 volt & take 6 $125.00 batterys , Just sayin I could have saved time & money if I would have rechecked what I allready did . Didn,t make sense to me because the lights still worked , But ended up being the problem after the fact . Best of luck .

I appreciate any and all help .

I did check the ground and it looks ok .


I forgot about the "glowing" Battery cable wire I saw the other night when it started raining and I had to go out and close the compartment lid. Something was causing a direct short . I am thinking a bad cable ?????????

BigAl said:

I appreciate any and all help .

I did check the ground and it looks ok .


I forgot about the "glowing" Battery cable wire I saw the other night when it started raining and I had to go out and close the compartment lid. Something was causing a direct short . I am thinking a bad cable ?????????

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Not knowing what kind of lift it is or what kind of control system it uses , Its hard to say . But I,m assuming theres far more to it then just the batterys & cables , I would look for the control panel & would assume it also has cellenoids as well as othe electronic components that could be causing the problem . Just a guess though .

But if a cable was glowing , the cable & ends may appear to be fine from the outside , under the insulation & inside the connecting ends could be much different . Just my opinion though & I,m far from an electrical genius

In my little town the local CarQuest shop will make up battery cables for you using welding wire. Just take them the measurements and they will make the cables while you wait.

As someone else said, the cables may look fine but may be deteriorated under the insulation. Since you had one battery explode, I suspect you have several bad cables. The suggestion about checking the ground was a good suggestion. It doesn't take much of a ground connection for the headlights to operate, but in order to get the full volts for the motor to operate, you need a good, solid ground connection.

Bob

Well if all was turned off, there is no reason your cables should be glowing no matter what shape they are in. If all was normal, the hydraulic motor won't draw that type of amps unless the wire connection was also creating a blockage causing massive amp buildup and heat.

You may have a solenoid that welded itself into the closes position which keeps the system energized. Again, you may have a cable that is chaffed and it grounded out somewhere.

But regardless, I would clean all the terminals first, then check the cables as you go, make sure they don't have any "Weak" areas in them when you bend them, that could be the wire parted inside and you can't see the damage.

Post a few photos of the battery box.

Found the PROBLEM !!!! One 6 volt battery in the 48 volt series is toast . Hydrometer showed it was fine , but the meter only shows it is producing only 2 volts . I talked with the battery guy and he said that it is common to see that .
I am so happy I could shit in my hand and rub it in my hair !!!! Since I don't use the boom lift much and the other batterys are showing full charge ,The battery guy said just to replace the one battery . Going to replace the cables too .

BigAl said:

I am so happy I could shit in my hand and rub it in my hair !!!!

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LMAO!

Oh this is working out great !Ordered my battery and the company will deliver it to me at 11 tomorrow morning . All for $134 . Saves me a drive all the way to Sacramento .140 miles ! They are only charging $5 to deliver it !!!!


Looks like I may be back pressure washing the house tomorrow afternoon !!!!

Glad you are back in the... er.... lift again...!