Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum - View Single Post

Fairtax4me · 09-27-2019, 03:28 PM

What kind of longevity?
12V batteries tend to last only 4-5 years even if properly taken care of.
Do a swap to 8V batteries and you'll get closer to 8-9 years if properly taken care of, possibly longer.

As far as chargers go, it's hard to kill a Powerdrive charger. There are a few parts that can fail, but they are relatively easy to service and any part can be replaced and the charger will continue to work. The PD3 charger will charge your pack just fine for years.

There are several smart charger options on the market, but what to get determines how much you want to spend. Possibly the best right now is the Lester Summit II 650W that can usually be had for around $350 for the 48V version.
As far as longevity goes, it comes with a 4 year warranty, and it's made by Lester Electrical, One of the top battery charger manufacturers in the world. But those have not been on the market long enough to say if they will last as long as the old style transformer chargers. Some other companies are starting to have some issues with smart chargers after only 4-5 years.

Others like DPI have made a good reputation of reliability for themselves with a transformer charger, but with a "semi-smart" computer in it that offers different settings for different battery brands/types.

09-27-2019, 03:28 PM	#2
Fairtax4me Bonafide Nincompoop Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Charlottesburg Va Posts: 8,987	Re: Better charger than oem, and which one? What kind of longevity? 12V batteries tend to last only 4-5 years even if properly taken care of. Do a swap to 8V batteries and you'll get closer to 8-9 years if properly taken care of, possibly longer. As far as chargers go, it's hard to kill a Powerdrive charger. There are a few parts that can fail, but they are relatively easy to service and any part can be replaced and the charger will continue to work. The PD3 charger will charge your pack just fine for years. There are several smart charger options on the market, but what to get determines how much you want to spend. Possibly the best right now is the Lester Summit II 650W that can usually be had for around $350 for the 48V version. As far as longevity goes, it comes with a 4 year warranty, and it's made by Lester Electrical, One of the top battery charger manufacturers in the world. But those have not been on the market long enough to say if they will last as long as the old style transformer chargers. Some other companies are starting to have some issues with smart chargers after only 4-5 years. Others like DPI have made a good reputation of reliability for themselves with a transformer charger, but with a "semi-smart" computer in it that offers different settings for different battery brands/types.