You Can't Judge a Battery by Its Label

trishndoug

Just got as a gift a new (to us) 1984 Club Car DS Electric that hadn't run in a couple years. Previous owner didn't know why it wouldn't charge. I did some research and learned that if these batteries were completely discharged (they were), the charger wouldn't know it was hooked up to anything, and wouldn't do anything. I'd first have to charge each battery with a regular car battery charger.

The posts were badly corroded, so I figured a cleaning was in order, regardless what else might be going on. I didn't know I could have cleaned them where they sat; I would remove them for the cleaning. I first took a picture of the battery bay, so I could put everything back the way it was after cleaning. Cleaned and charged all the batteries, put them back into the cart, and wired them back per the picture. Turned the key; nothing.

Did some more research, i.e. how to test the the batteries with a multitester. Did that and was getting some weird readings. Then, I noticed something that didn't look right: one of the red power leads was connected to a NEG battery terminal. In my limited experience with things electrical, Red always went to Positive. I looked at my picture of batteries for the 10th time. I had done it the way it looked in the picture.

On further study, I noticed something odd: On some of the batteries, the POS terminal (POS here means Positive - not the term of contemporary texting vernacular) was next to the P in the word PowerVolt on the battery label; on others, the NEG terminal was next to the P. The labels had been inconsistently placed onto the batteries! When I had put the batteries back into the cart, I had used those labels as my reference for orientation, and connected the wires as my picture showed.

I looked for and found a wiring diagram that had little pluses and minuses on it, confirming the red power wire was supposed to be attached to a POS terminal, and showing where all the other positives and negatives were supposed to be. As it turned out, I had 4 of the 6 batteries turned the wrong way, thanks to those stupid labels. Once I got them turned around and wired correctly, the little battery meter on my cart moved off peg for the first time, and I knew I was in business.

I'm curious - is this the only battery brand that sticks its labels on willy-nilly like this, or is it a common practice?

Hope this saves someone else some trouble.

BGW

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Raystar57

I never trust battery labels.
The + and - should be etched into the battery case.
Go by that always.

What is this brand "PowerVolt"?
I don't hear them referenced here on the forum.

Are these golf cart style batteries?

Welcome to BGW!

Kashmir

You can take a digital multi meter and place the leads on each post, touching the posts correctly will show a reading like 8.23; if the leads on on the wrong post (i.e. the pos lead on neg post), the reading would be -8.23

trishndoug

Sorry; I just saw your reply. PowerVolt were the batteries that were in the cart when I acquired it. I don't know whence they came. But yes, they are GC batteries.

nickdalzell1

I can judge the label if it says Rural King. Lord if I had a dime for each time a customer complained about short lifespans on those stupid batteries...they're lucky to last a year much less 3

StarBreaker

I use to work on a receiving dock for a large retail store.
When the delivery of car battery came in. All the battery in the truck were unlabeled. The driver would look at his order and see what brand was sold at each store. He would then peel and stick the brand label on each battery.

WalterM6

I once got a set of Crown Batteries because I heard they were so good. They went out within a year. Looking close at them they just had a sticker on them like Starbreaker described. I wrote Crown battery informing them of this but I never heard back. Fortunately we got a genuine US Battery distributor in town now.

nickdalzell1

Usually it's not so much the brand as the parent company which operates under numerous brands. Rural King/Duracell/Tractor Supply, etc are all made by Exide. Exide batteries are known for being super cheap and super crap.