Golf Cart Question

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  • femurphy77

    Grandmaster
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    Mar 5, 2009
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    S.E. of disorder
    We have a 2012 Club Car Precedent at work, it's a 48V electric cart. My question is; do we need to keep it on the charger all the time? The reason I ask is that we have purchased it to donate to an area school sports team and it's been sitting for about 3 months while waiting on various additions are installed on it. We finished with the mods and were preparing to deliver it when we found the batteries were dead, not low, dead. Flatline. Respiration has ceased. Getoten. Break out the will! My thought is that there is an internal short or something that is drawing the batteries down to zero, the vendor we purchased the cart from tells us that we have to keep the cart plugged in to prevent this from happening and since we didn't that voids the warranty on the batteries.


    Bogus or legit?
     

    atvdave

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    2   0   0
    Jan 23, 2012
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    I don't know about the charger, but i do know from personal experience that if you don't use your cart for a long time, the batteries will go bad.
     

    Huntinfool

    Sharpshooter
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    1   0   0
    Mar 17, 2013
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    I don't know about the warranty issue. But yes to probably need to keep on a charger / trickle charger
     

    tmschuller

    Master
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    Feb 25, 2013
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    Grant county
    We have electric carts at work and they left them plugged in over the winter ..constantly and had to buy new batteries. Depends on what kind of chargers you have. Whether it floats or keeps a constant charge on. Is what the interstate battery guy told us. Everyone has a theory. Hope you get it figured out.
     

    actaeon277

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    Nov 20, 2011
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    We have electric carts at work and they left them plugged in over the winter ..constantly and had to buy new batteries. Depends on what kind of chargers you have. Whether it floats or keeps a constant charge on. Is what the interstate battery guy told us. Everyone has a theory. Hope you get it figured out.

    Actually, they know how to maintain/charge batteries.
    It's just labor intensive, so no one does it.
     

    Mr Evilwrench

    Quantum Mechanic
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    0   0   0
    Aug 18, 2011
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    Carmel
    They're just pining for the fjords. A trickle charger should keep you good against self discharge. I would also bet those dead ones could be recovered. Check the acid level, unless they're maintenance-proof, top them off if necessary, and hit them with a starter to blow out any lead shorts between the plates. They may come back with a little less capacity or shorter life, but it would be worth a try.
     

    CountryBoy19

    Grandmaster
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    11   1   0
    Nov 10, 2008
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    Bedford, IN
    All batteries self-discharge at some rate, some much faster than others. Lead-acid batteries must be maintained. If they sit for long they will discharge to the point that permanent damage occurs. They can likely be "recovered" but they will never be to the full capacity they were before they drained.

    Thusly, as you've already been told, its best to keep them on a charger all the time if it's a smart charger, or charger them every couple weeks if it's not a smart charger.
     

    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    Valparaiso
    ...its best to keep them on a charger all the time if it's a smart charger, or charger them every couple weeks if it's not a smart charger.

    ^^^ What he said. If fed constant trickle all the time, the electrolyte may be boiled off after a while. Smart chargers are the way to go. As Ron Popeil used to say- "set it and forget it."
     

    femurphy77

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    Mar 5, 2009
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    Well I did manage to get enough voltage in the individual batteries with a car charger to jolt the main cart charger to life. The acid levels are all good and it's been on the main charger for about 24 hrs now and still showing a 12 amp charging rate. All the batteries are bubbling and it will move under its own power. I'm going to leave it on the main charger for another 24 hours and then turn it over to marketing so they can present it but I am going to strongly recommend that they just go ahead and put new batteries in it to avoid problems with them in a few months. The warranty on the batteries when delivered was only 30 days since they were "reconditioned" batteries so it was never an issue to me but you know how marketing types like key words.

    I'll go ahead and suggest they also charge it every two weeks when not in use and after every use to hopefully obtain the maximum life from the batteries (whichever they end up with, new or current).
     

    CountryBoy19

    Grandmaster
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    11   1   0
    Nov 10, 2008
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    Bedford, IN
    I thought most electric carts came with a charger that you keep plugged in when the cart isn't being used.
    Some are "smart" (they sense the battery voltage and keep it topped off w/o boiling off the electrolyte) and can be left plugged in all the time. Many are "dumb" and are meant for carts that are used on a regular basis. From what I recall many of the dumb chargers have a timer function so you can leave them plugged in without fear of damaging the batteries by over-charging but they will only charge if you turn them back on.
     
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