Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum - View Single Post

kernal · 07-12-2018, 08:52 AM

I went through this several years ago. Similar scenario but with a simple charger on an EZGO with Trojan's.
Batteries would not come up to the charger's programed shut off voltage so the charger kept chugging away. The charger had an amp gage and the amps would only drop to about 7-8 amps and not shut off. Normally the charger would be at 1-3 amps just before shut off. New batteries cured the problem.

This had me stumped for awhile. The batteries were only 4 years old to the month at the time and had been cared for IAW the generally accepted procedures on this forum. Even started a thread about it in the EZGO section. The consensus of opinion was (is) that the batteries were just at early stage of end of life.

Factors: This is a street cart and used heavily. Almost a daily driver. So even though it had quality batteries that were meticulously maintained and charged every day that the cart was used, the batteries were mostly gone at exactly 4 years. This was puzzling. Not only that, the batteries were charging fine one day and the next this problem arose. Also, the cart operated normally albeit some range reduction.

Conclusion: The batteries were starting to fail because of a very high number of charge cycles. We've all seen the charts showing battery life expectancy vs. depth of charge (discharge). Even though these batteries were never deeply discharged, they had hundreds of shallow ones. You only get X number of charge cycles and apparently I had used most of them up at the 4 year point.

I am fortunate to live in a place that is extremely golf cart friendly. Thousands of them here so batteries are a big business. This means that batteries are plentiful, relatively cheap, and most of all FRESH. These particular batteries were loaded right off the shipping pallet and all next to each other. They were a matched set, or at least as close as you can get to a matched set. This might explain why they all basically died together. Could also be a testament to Trojan quality control but this is all speculation really.

07-12-2018, 08:52 AM	#3
kernal Gone Wild Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Peachtree City, Ga. Posts: 2,759	Re: DPI Charger and Battery Issues? I went through this several years ago. Similar scenario but with a simple charger on an EZGO with Trojan's. Batteries would not come up to the charger's programed shut off voltage so the charger kept chugging away. The charger had an amp gage and the amps would only drop to about 7-8 amps and not shut off. Normally the charger would be at 1-3 amps just before shut off. New batteries cured the problem. This had me stumped for awhile. The batteries were only 4 years old to the month at the time and had been cared for IAW the generally accepted procedures on this forum. Even started a thread about it in the EZGO section. The consensus of opinion was (is) that the batteries were just at early stage of end of life. Factors: This is a street cart and used heavily. Almost a daily driver. So even though it had quality batteries that were meticulously maintained and charged every day that the cart was used, the batteries were mostly gone at exactly 4 years. This was puzzling. Not only that, the batteries were charging fine one day and the next this problem arose. Also, the cart operated normally albeit some range reduction. Conclusion: The batteries were starting to fail because of a very high number of charge cycles. We've all seen the charts showing battery life expectancy vs. depth of charge (discharge). Even though these batteries were never deeply discharged, they had hundreds of shallow ones. You only get X number of charge cycles and apparently I had used most of them up at the 4 year point. I am fortunate to live in a place that is extremely golf cart friendly. Thousands of them here so batteries are a big business. This means that batteries are plentiful, relatively cheap, and most of all FRESH. These particular batteries were loaded right off the shipping pallet and all next to each other. They were a matched set, or at least as close as you can get to a matched set. This might explain why they all basically died together. Could also be a testament to Trojan quality control but this is all speculation really.