Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum - View Single Post - Picked up a used 18 Onward and have battery questions

Fairtax4me · 02-12-2020, 07:14 PM

You can try cycling them a few times, but more than likely those are toast.
The two main ways that a dead battery exhibits itself is loss of voltage, and loss of capacity. Loss of capacity is often due to degradation of the plates, and they can show perfect voltage at rest even though you can't get 10 minutes of run time from them.

Sometimes sulfate buildup on the plates can be knocked off with multiple charges, or charging at a higher than normal voltage. But at best you will get only a portion of the capacity back. The battery will never return to it's full rated capacity.
Those watering systems are pretty near useless IMO, and often get clogged which prevents water from reaching all of the cells. They also lead to massive battery failures if the right conditions present, you end up with a chain reaction of battery explosions that can literally take out the entire pack. You're much better off without it.

02-12-2020, 07:14 PM	#7
Fairtax4me Bonafide Nincompoop Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Charlottesburg Va Posts: 8,987	Re: Picked up a used 18 Onward and have battery questions You can try cycling them a few times, but more than likely those are toast. The two main ways that a dead battery exhibits itself is loss of voltage, and loss of capacity. Loss of capacity is often due to degradation of the plates, and they can show perfect voltage at rest even though you can't get 10 minutes of run time from them. Sometimes sulfate buildup on the plates can be knocked off with multiple charges, or charging at a higher than normal voltage. But at best you will get only a portion of the capacity back. The battery will never return to it's full rated capacity. Those watering systems are pretty near useless IMO, and often get clogged which prevents water from reaching all of the cells. They also lead to massive battery failures if the right conditions present, you end up with a chain reaction of battery explosions that can literally take out the entire pack. You're much better off without it.