dead or not dead

dalsdorf

I tested each battery cell of my 2003 club car, 48 volt/trojan batteries all six of them with a hydrometer and it steadily read between 1100 and 1150 in each cell and indicated it needed a battery charge. But then on the back it said if the range was anywhere below 1250 it needed replacing. I bought the car about 2yrs ago, not really sure how old the batteries were when I bought it and had to replace one battery last summer. I'm thinking replacing, any suggestions as a replacement for the trojans batteries I have now. I can't afford new trojans at the price is listed?

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

arcitech

Sounds bad, use the search function and look at battery refurb or restoration, and are you running 4/12volt? The 12's are notoriously bad. Lot's of help around here and I'm sure a CC guy will post soon.

P.S. What are the voltages charged, then run the cart for a few minutes and re-check volts. Give each battery and total pack voltage when you do the checks. More info will get you better help.

GLEEMO

If the batteries are Trojan batteries there is a date stamp on the flat part of the lead ,+ POST
it is a 2 digits id A-L for the month and 0-9 for the year.

Make sure batteries have distilled water 1/4 to 1/2 inch above plates.
Clean all surfaces, clean and tighten all connections.
Charge batteries until charger shuts itself off .
wait 8-10 hours then take voltage and hydrometer reading again and post all HERE.

Replacing one battery at a time is a bad Idea unless U have a shorted battery.
What happens is in older batteries , the charger runs longer , so now the best battery
which does not need that long to charge , boils it' life away.
If one goes early try to find a used one of the same time and strength for replacement.

OLD MEC

The readings you gave are almost dead, 1100 is LESS than 30% of charged, while 1150 is about 40% of charge. At these readings if you are trying to run cart you are doing damage to controller, motor, solenoid, etc. Are you getting the readings of 1100-1150 AFTER CHARGER HAS SHUT OFF ON ITS OWN and a 1 hour wait at least to cool down to get correct adjusted readings? Some thing is causing these low readings and I feel its some thing besides ALL BATTERYS? Usually one or two cells in a bad battery will show this low but not all of them in a pack. Had you just added distilled water without full charging batterys to level mixture out?
Often owners of CC dont know that if you dont allow your STOCK Club Car Power Drive charger with cart mounted OBC ( I HOPE YOU HAVE ABOVE CHARGER ) to complete its cycles and shut down on its own that you are first not allowing full charge and second iterupting the OBC cycle so it never get finished with all tests and proper series of charges cycles? SEE great article in forum by DrBob for OBC operation.
By repacing only one battery from a pack of 6 you are damaging and shortening the life of your new battery as its being over charged and causing boiling and plate damage.
Look under STICKIES FOR NEW BATTERY INFO. Dont fool yourself into choosing by price or advertised brand rather than quality and amp hour rating. Pick different batterys up and you can tell basic quality by weight ( more weight more lead ). A cheap battery will cost you more in the long run and do damage to your electronics along the way also.
My pick would be Trojan, but US and Crown seems to have very good batterys as well IF you get high amp hour rated.