Battery keeps going "dry" after a few weeks?

LIVIN

I purchased a new Trojan battery for my cart approx 3 months ago and after 2-3 weeks I notice I have a slight loss of power.
When I check water level in all batteries the new one seems to be "dry"(not completly but slightly below the plates) and I have to add more water in each hole.
We use our cart several times a week and every evening when we are finished I plug it in to re-charge.
All of the other batteries that are 18 months old maintain their water level. It is only the new one that does not.
Any Ideas?

BGW

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coal_man

I've read on here before that when a new battery is placed in a battery pack with older batteries that the charger will "overcharge" the new battery in order to get the older ones up to a certain voltage level. That may explain the new battery losing some of it's water. I'm not sure what the cure for the problem may be. Hopefully some of the more experienced battery guys can help on that.

coal_man

EZ-GOnewild

timbo2

THE NEW BATTERY CHARGES UP FASTER THAN THE OLDER BATTERIES AND SINCE THEY ARE ALL TIED TOGETHER THE NEW BATTERY CONTINUES TO CHARGE (BURNS UP) UNTIL THE OLDER BATTTERIES GET FULLY CHARGED TELL CUSTOMERS THIS ALL THE TIME BUT THEY NEVER BELEIVE ME THEY ASSUME I AM JUST TRYING TO SELL THEM ALL SIX BATTERIES

LIVIN

I had one of my batteries explode and had to replace. I could not justify the extra expense to replace the other 5.
The only thing I can think to do is to keep a close eye on new one and keep adding water unless someone else has another suggestion?

I also think what is happening is that my wife will unplug cart and drive around the block (1/4 mile) and park it. That evening I will pull it into the garage and plug it in overnight to charge batteries.
I bet that if we ran the batteries down more then I would not experience the problem at all or alot less?

phasetim

How old are the other batteries? Maybe I can help you justify the purchase. Placing a new battery with old ones weakens your new battery... Now that new battery is going to last you maybe 2 years... over that two year period all the others will go out, and you will weaken them.. So you get into a quarterly fight your battery routine, and over a 5 year period you buy batteries twice as often.

You are already damaging your new battery by boiling the water off, just making sure it stays wet doesn't totally erase the damage, it is getting overcharged by the charging process, and being stressed by weak batteries with it. It wouldn't be going dry routinely if the other batteries weren't near death anyways..

timbo2

I Second That Most People Spend More Money In The Long Run By Changing One Or Two At A Time If You Not Going To Replace All At The Same Time Try To Find A Good Used Battery But They Are Pretty Hard To Find By The Time You Get To Replacing The 5th Battery It Will Be Time To Start Over And Replace The One You Just Put In

LIVIN

If I have to replace the newest battery in 2 years due to the fact it's life was cut in half it is easily justified.
My current 5 batteries are approx 18 months old and have tested OK. The 6th battery exploded and needed to be replaced.
So the choice is spend $750. +tax and replace all 6 or $125. for the 1 battery that needs to be replaced.
The assumption is I could possibly cut the life of newest battery in half and it will need to be replaced in 2-3 years with the other 5?
If this assumption finds itself to be correct then worst case scenario I am out $62.50(half the cost of the newest battery purchased) but enjoyed my cart for another 2-3 years and have $625 in my pocket for cerveza.

phasetim

except I wonder why an 18 month year old battery set is making the other run dry... It's all your choices, your decisions. I am merely trying to help explain why a battery that should need watering every couple months, is now needing it much more frequently. Batteries rarely just explode 18 months into their life.. manufacturing flaws usually come out much earlier.... I would bet you'd have a problem finding many 11 month old warranty batteries, they are usually 2-5 months old when they flaw like that. (from my experience, and I process a bunch of batteries.)

Seriously though: I don't think anyone here is trying to rib ya, just trying to help you make sense of it...

Side note: good plug for trojan battery's 18 month warranty :-)

LIVIN

I don't think anyone is trying to "rib" me and I really appreciate the advice.
I am going to look at the code on the older 5 batteries to verify age and let you know exactly.
Thanks again for the help.....