If you own or plan to own an electric golf cart, understanding how to properly care for your batteries is a must. Without proper care, your golf cart batteries can become corroded and lose its ability to power your cart. Following the techniques guide below will ensure that your golf cart battery is always in the best condition possible.
Keeping your golf cart battery at full charge when not in use is an important part of overall maintenance. Before you start to charge your golf cart battery, there are a few safety tips you should be aware of.
Always charge your golf cart batteries in a well-ventilated area
Do not smoke while charging or performing any kinds of maintenance on your golf cart batteries
Don’t attempt to charge a battery that has loose or corroded terminals, or dry cells
Make sure your golf cart battery charger is working properly
Whilst it should not necessary to recharge your golf cart after every single use, it’s good to have the habit.
Recharging your golf cart battery after every use ensures that you will be able to use it with no trouble if something comes up, also that it will be ready to go whenever you are. Out of a stock golf cart, you can expect to go 25-30 kilometres on a full charging.
Recharging your golf cart battery after every use ensures that you will be able to use it with no trouble if something comes up, also that it will be ready to go whenever you are. Out of a stock golf cart, you can expect to go 25-30 kilometres on a full charging.
Your golf cart batteries may lose some of their power when overtime. However, the charger that you have plugged in does not have ability to sense this loss of power. By unplugging and re-plugging your charger, you will avoid any loss of power. If you don’t use your golf cart each day and tend to leave it sitting in the garage or storage for a few weeks at a time, it’s better to remind yourself to disconnect and reconnect the battery charger every few days.
Make sure when servicing your golf cart batteries that you operate in a safe environment. Remove all jewelry (watches, rings and bracelets), wear safety glasses or goggles, and wear heavy acid proof rubber gloves. Contacting metal with battery terminals is very dangerous and can lead to severe injury. Take your time and don’t rush, the acid in batteries is corrosive. It will destroy clothing and burn your skin on contact if spilled or splashed. Keep a neutralizer such as baking soda or household ammonia mixed with water readily at hand in case of skin contact or a spill.
Your golf cart batteries should be fully recharged everyday it is used, even if it was only discharged 25%. Try to avoid full discharge and over charging as these will shorten the life of your batteries. If your golf cart is being used more often than in a normal day it may benefit from some additional time on the charger over the lunch hour or during other down time.
Because water is lost during the charging cycle you should wait to add distilled water till near the end of the charge cycle or once the battery is off the charger. Keep the level above the tops of the plates due to the exposed portion of the plates will become permanently inactive due to sulfation. However,do not overfill as the batteries may pump acid when it is placed on its charger. This will reduce its capacity and may corrode its metal parts.
The most important part of your golf cart batteries maintenance routine is making sure the water level in your battery cells is at optimal height. The water line in each cell should be above the lead element, and about 25mm from the top of the cell.
If the lead element is right at water level or above, add some distilled water to bring the level up where it needs to be as tap water contains trace amounts of chemicals that can cause damage to your golf cart batteries in the long run.In warmer months, the batteries need to be refilled more frequently.
You should aim to check the water level in your battery cells every once every two months at least to ensure that your batteries isn’t ask risk of being ruined owing to low water levels. The best time to refill the water in your golf cart batteries is at once after fully charging your golf cart. By keeping the water at the correct level after every charge, You will eliminate any concerns about low water levels in the middle of the drive.
Lowering the water level too low may be harmful to the health of golf cart batteries. If the water level in your golf cart battery is too low, the plates inside the battery will dry out and start to flake off. When this happens, you cannot recharge your golf cart, and you will have to replace your battery altogether. In additional, your battery can start to overheat and even catch on fire.
Keeping the terminal connections on your golf cart battery clean goes a long way towards preserving battery span life. If you start to see corrosion building up around your battery terminals, you should clean them off at once.
Take some water and a little bit of baking soda, and scrub at the corrosion with a tooth brush. When you’ve removed the built-up corrosion, you can rinse with water and apply a amount of battery terminal protector to prevent the build-up of more corrosions.
Test the batteries with a multimeter. Unfortunately, batteries do wear out over time. If you suspect your batteries have an issue, you can test them by clamping a multimeter to the terminals. A low voltage can signify that your battery needs to be replaced.
The maintenance of the battery is very important, please strictly follow the requirements of the manual. If you have any questions about batteries, such as car batteries, front terminal battery, please contact us for more information.