CHARGER NOT TURNING ON LOW VOLTAGE LEAD BATTERY ONLY

These are the instructions on how to recharge battery pack when pack voltage is too low. Main vehicle battery charger has a low voltage threshold. Once battery pack drops below this threshold the battery charger will not operate. There are two different chargers. The older version which was manufactured by Lester is a large silver box. This version charger low voltage threshold is about 40 volts DC. The newer style charger is manufactured by IES and is a black unit about 1 square foot in size. This version charger low voltage threshold is about 20 volts DC. This voltage is measured by reading the voltage over the entire battery pack. Negative at the front positive at the rear. 

This will require a separate 6, 12 or 24 volt battery charger. We will start with charging with 12 volts. Place your battery charger setting on 12VDC. Amperage not to specific. High the faster this process will go. Typically, don't want anything higher than 60 amps. 

The main goal is to get the battery pack voltage above the threshold of the main battery charger. These are 8 volt batteries so you are not trying to fully charge them. Just getting energy back in them so the voltage of the battery pack will rise. But note you want to try and keep the battery pack balanced. Don't charge some batteries for say 1 hour and others for 10 minutes. Try and be consistent.

Note that the battery cables do not need to be disconnected. Everything can stay just as it is. For added safety you can turn the main battery disconnect off in the front right wheel well. 

Start with negative clamp of 12 volt battery charger connected to the negative post of the front battery as shown below. You could start by charging to say 10 minuets. To be more accurate on how long to charge each battery you can also use a voltmeter and measure the voltage of the batteries being charged just to see what the voltage is rising to. In the case of 20 volt threshold each battery needs to be at least 2.3 volts.  

Now keep your battery charger clamps in the say orientation and just jeep moving them back.

And again.

And again.

This is where things take a little twist. You will have one remaining battery. If you have a battery pack voltage above the battery charger low voltage threshold you can just skip charging the last battery. And at this point you would plug in the main battery charger and it should start charging. If so you are good to go.

You can charge the last battery using the 6 volt setting on your battery charger. Just connect to the negative and positive post of the rear battery.

If you do have a 24 volt battery charger you can just take and charge 3 batteries at a time. You can even fully charge them since the 3 x 8 volt batteries equals 24 volts.