Battery "water" color

Cabdella

Greetings... First question, and don't want to seem dumb. I have a 96 EZGO TXT 36v, Trojan batteries from 08. I bought it for the family for Christmas, and just drove it and had Santa hide it. Then became obsessed as it sat, and found all of you. My lord I have learned a lot! Today I fully charged it, and checked water, all were over the plates, so check! But in 2 of the batteries, certain cells were dirty looking, where the rest were clear. Do I fix that? I am planning on getting new batteries when needed, but want to know what if anything is needed....

Thank you all for the input you provide us newbies

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

sportcoupe

Acid is heavier then water and not very clear in color so in the cells you say are "clear" the acid is probably settled to the bottom and only distilled water is on top visible. Regular charging and driving keeps the acid and distilled water mixed up well. Carts that sit have the acid separate.

JohnnieB

The electrolyte (sulfuric acid diluted with distiller water) should be clear and colorless, or close to it, but there may have some debris floating on surface.

Chemically pure sulfuric acid (H2SO4) ranges from colorless to a slight yellowish tinge depending of how it was formed and refined, so at the 30% or so concentration used in golf cart batteries, it might look like watered down Mountain Dew (The soft drink variety )

Dyes are added to H2SO4 in some industrial applications, but I'm not aware of any being used in golf cart batteries, and even if it were, all cells in each battery would look the same.

If the electrolyte is cloudy, most likely, someone has added something other than distilled water to the cell, or the plates and separators are deteriorating.

------------
Foe maximum battery lifespan, you should recharge cart batteries after each use, no matter how slight.

Since 5 years is about an average lifespan for cart batteries, I suspect you will be replacing them in the spring and when you do, remember to charge them fully prior to first use and top break them in properly to get maximum storage capacity.
Here is how to do it: http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Batter...n_Methods.html

scottyb

Dirty battery water is full of particles that have sloughed off the plates. This is an indication that these batteries are nearing the end of their useful life in my experience. I hope this helps

Cabdella

Thank you all, wasn't sure why the color was different! I appreciate the help!

scottyb

URBANNGUERILLA

You think this stuff works? There was another thread about this somewhere, I thought the poster said it did not work, but I can't recall exactly.

sportcoupe

I think Scotty's account just got hacked.