Everything to do with batteries!
 

Golf Cart Battery maintenance

Watering your golf cart batteries

Only add distilled water AFTER fully charging. The only time you should add water before charging is if the lead plates are exposed. Only then fill just above the lead plates.

It is important that all battery cells be filled properly to obtain good battery life. The water should completely cover the plates inside the battery, but should be about a quarter inch below the bottom of the fill tube.*Using a battery fill bottle will eliminate the quess work. Again, always use distilled water.

Use only distilled, deionized or demineralized water to replace the lost water in batteries. Using tap water from homes or buisnesses can produce calcium or magnesium sulfate crystals that can fill the pores and coat the plates therfore reducing battery life

Charging your batteries

Charge the batteries daily after each use. If you play golf; charge between rounds if possible.

Before you plug in the golf cart battery charger, inspect all battery cables for frays or corrosion and make sure the terminals are clean and tight.

Cleaning your batteries

Always neutralize the battery acid first before rinsing of with water. You can use a mixture of baking soda and water or get some battery acid cleaner from an auto parts store. Cleaning your batteries once a month is a good practice. If you minimize corrosion to the electrical system battery life can be increased and properly maintained batteries can last as long as 5 years.

Let the cleaner set for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse off with clean water. Be careful not to spray water directly into electrical components like your speed controller.

After rinsing if there is still deposits of battery acid spray again with the baking soda solution or cleaner and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before rinsing; repeat if required.

These deposits on the batteries must be removed because they can cause your golf cart batteries to self discharge. If there is still evidence of corrosion get some protective gloves and a stiff bristle brush and scrub the deposits off. Dirt and debris can build up quicker on lifted golf carts because they are typically used off road.

These basic cleaning tips also work on gas golf cart batteries

Golf Cart Battery Comparison
 

The following data may be helpful in comparing batteries among different manufacturers. Please keep in mind that only deep cycle batteries specifically designed for golf carts should be utilized in our carts. In fact, deep cycle "marine" type batteries will usually not work satisfactorily. And most certainly, automotive "starting" batteries should never be used in a golf cart. Using an incorrect battery will most likely result in short run times and early battery failure.

More data may be added as it's collected.

Note: With the Forum Admin's approval, I may add another topic with price information. In the interim, if you have current pricing on any of these batteries that you feel is an exceptional deal and would benefit others, please feel free to email the who-what-where-when info to me.

6-Volt Batteries

Trojan batteries specifications

:

T-105, 447 Min @25Amps, 115 Min @75Amps, 225Ah @20Amps, 62 Lbs;
T-125, 488 Min @25Amps, 132 Min @75Amps, 240Ah @20Amps, 66 Lbs;
T-145, 530 Min @25Amps, 145 Min @75Amps, 260AH @20Amps, 72 Lbs

Exide

:

E3600, 390 Min @25Amps, 110 Min @75Amps to 5.25 volts, 186Ah @20Amps, 62 Lbs;
GC-5, 480 Min @25Amps, 135 Min @75Amps to 5.25 volts, 226Ah @20Amps, 65 Lbs;
GC2-H, 525 Min @25Amps, 155 Min @75Amps to 5.25 volts, 245Ah @20Amps, 68 Lbs;

NAPA 8144

(mfg. by Exide - equivilalent to Exide 3600)
390 Min @25Amps, 110 Min @75Amps, 186Ah @20 Amps, 62 Lbs

NAPA 8146

(mfg. by Exide - equivilalent to Exide GC-5)
480 Min @25Amps, 135 Min @75Amps, 226Ah @20 Amps, 65 Lbs

StowAway STGC2

(Mfg. by Exide for Sams Clubs - equivilalent to Exide E3600)
390Min @25Amps, 110 Min @75Amps, 186Ah @20Amps, 62 Lbs

US Battery

:

US-1800, 392 Min @25Amps, 107 Min @75Amps, 208Ah @20Amps, 56 Lbs;
US-2000, 445 Min @25Amps, 114 Min @75Amps, 216Ah @20Amps, 59 Lbs;
US-2200, 474 Min @25Amps, 122 Min @75Amps, 232Ah @20Amps, 63 Lbs;
US-125, 517 Min @25Amps, 140 Min @75Amps, 242Ah @20Amps, 67 Lbs;
US-145, 562 Min @25Amps, 154 Min @75Amps, 251Ah @20Amps, 70 Lbs;

Deka Batteries

:

GC10, (? Min @25Amps), 100 Min @75Amps, 190Ah @20Amps, 59 Lbs
GC15, (? Min @25Amps), 115 Min @75Amps, 215Ah @20Amps, 63 Lbs
GC25, 488 Min @25Amps, 132 Min @75Amps, 235Ah @20Amps, 67 Lbs


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8-volt batteries

Trojan

:

T-860, (? Min @25A), 90 Min @56A, 150Ah @20Amps, 56 lbs
T-875, 295 Min @25A, 117 Min @56A, 170Ah @20Amps, 63 lbs
T-890, 340 Min @25A, 132 Min @56A, 190Ah @20Amps, 69 lbs

Exide E-4800

, 290 Min @25A, 110 Min @56A to 7.0 volts, 63 Lbs.

NAPA 8148

(Mfg. by Exide, similar to Exide E-4800)
290 Min @25A, 110 Min @56A, 63 Lbs.


[h3]US Battery]/h3]:

US-8VGC, 337 Min @25Amps, 128 Min @56A, 170Ah @20A, 64.5 Lbs.
US-8VGCHC, 345 Min @25Amps, 136 Min @56Amps, 183Ah @20Amps, 69 Lbs

Deka GC8V

, 318 Min@25Amps, 121 Min @56Amps, 165Ah @20Amps, 67 Lbs


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sizes:

Trojan T-105 & T-125, L-10 3/8 W-7 1/8 H-10 7/8
Trojan T-145, L-10 3/8 W-7 1/8 H-11 5/8
Trojan T-875, L-10 3/8 W-7 1/8 H-10 7/8
Trojan T-890, L-10 3/8 W-7 1/8 H-10 7/8

Exide (all of the above listed Exide batteries)
L-10 3/8 W-7 3/16 H-11 11/32


US Battery (all 6-volt) L-10 1/4, W-7 1/8, H-11 1/8
US Battery (all 8-volt) L-10 1/4 W-7 1/8 H-11 1/4


Deka GC15, L-10 1/4, W-7 1/8, H-11 3/8
Deka GC25, L-10 1/4 W-7 1/8 H-11 1/4
Deka GC8V, L-10 3/8 W-7 1/8 H-11 1/8


~~~~~~~~~~~~

Misc. Info

Voltage on a fully charged battery in good condition will read 2.12 to 2.15 volts per cell (about 12.75 volts for a 12 volt battery, or 6.40 for a 6 volt)


Specific Gravity Readings to determine State of Charge:

12.75 & Above = 100% Charged
12.60 to 12.74 = 85 to 100% Charged
12.40 to 12.59 = 75 to 85% Charged
12.20 to 12.39 = 50 to 75% Charged
12.00 to 12.19 = 25 to 50% Charged
12.00 & Below = Fully Discharged


In both voltage and specific gravity readings, consistency among cells and among batteries is important.

Everything to do with batteries!
 

Club Car 36V/48V battery wiring

Club Car with 4 12 volt batteries

Battery Guide - Break In, Maintenance, Charging
 

I've made this document for people that bring me their carts to work on.

Feel free to use as you desire or make a sticky.

Everything to do with batteries!
 

DC to DC Reducer wiring:

Everything to do with batteries!
 

A site member spotted the passive voltage bypass on my batteries and asked me about them. I put together some images and a write up on how to build them and decided to post it here in case anyone else wanted to build them.

One of the challenges when batteries are charged in series is that the entire pack may became "out of balance". Even if you have a voltage converter and draw power from the entire pack, small differences in battery chemistry can make individual batteries have different charge/discharge profiles.
Once the pack starts to get out of balance, the batteries that reach voltage first will start to boil while the others will be undercharged due to reduced current available to them or due to the charger prematurely reaching its set voltage and turning off.

These devices basically sit there without doing anything most of the time, but when you charge the pack and the voltage across an individual battery reaches 10.2v (2.55vpc), the zeners start to conduct and they bypass some current around the battery so that the other batteries can continue to charge.

I saw the original concept in the EV car forums from a guy named Lee Hart, I did not like either of their implementations so I made some changes that I think makes the devices more reliable.

Here is a link with more information:
http://www.evdl.org/pages/hartregs.html

Diagram (Picture #1):
The part numbers are from Mouser electronics. The second circuit is to test the actual zener voltage of the diodes as they have vary.

Test Circuit (Picture #2):
I used this simple test circuit to measure the actual zener voltage of each diode and pair them together in order to obtain 10.2v. The particular zener in the picture (bottom left) tested at 5.18v, so this unit would be paired with a 5.02v unit.

Re: Passive Voltage Bypass for 8v battery
 

Parts (Picture #1):
I used an over-sized 10w resistor to dissipate the heat from the zeners and to act as the basis for the circuit.

I used 2 zeners instead of one since it provides lots of benefits: 5 watt zeners are much less expensive than the 10w and using 2 of them to add up to 10.2v allows you to compensate for the difference between the zeners.

I ordered the non-insulated 5/16 terminals because I wanted to solder those connections.

I had a lot of different sizes of heat shrinking tube already, so I used 3 different sizes.

Assembly (Picture #2):
Solder the red wire to the anode of one of the zener diodes.
Solder the black wire to the cathode of the other zener diode.
Place shrink tube over the solder connections but don't go over the zener diode.


Assembly (Picture #3):
Solder the other lead of the zener diode to each lead of the resistor as shown.


Assembly ( Picture #4):
Put shrink tube over the resistor-zener solder connection as shown.
Put some JB weld quick to bond the diodes to the power resistor (the areas circled in green), JB weld has good thermal transfer and it will help transfer the heat from the zener diode to the resistor.


Assembly Final (Picture #5):
Crimp/Solder the 5/16 ring terminals to the end of the wires.
Either put the zip-tie right after shrinking the tube around the entire part or re-heat the shrinking tube before putting the zip-tie. The warm supple heat shrink tube will make a pretty good seal with the zip-tie.

I ordered all parts from Mouser electronics, they have a price break at 10+ parts so keep that in mind when ordering. The final cost was around $2-$3/unit.

I built these units last year because the batteries that came with my cart were pretty out of balance. There was always a lot of "water" around the top of the good batteries. I finally started to check the individual voltages near the end of the charge cycle and discovered that my good batteries were above 11v while the bad ones barely got above 9v.
These devices kept the good batteries to about 10.6v while allowing the bad ones to gradually get to 10v.
One of the bad batteries eventually started to fail under heavy load so I decided to change the entire pack.

I have installed the devices on my new pack and hopefully they will keep the batteries from getting out of balance. It has only been 8 months since I changed the batteries and so far they are all 8.55v or 8.54v each.

Re: Everything to do with batteries!
 

:thumbup:

Re: Everything to do with batteries!