AGM Batteries

[SoFLCart]

I am curious to find out if anyone has tried replacing the lead batteries with AGM batteries. Any opinions about this?

[scottyb]

AGMs are okay. Not having to water them is great. You need a charger with an AGM setting ( lower charge rate and finish) Expect a little shorter useful life. But that is a small price to pay if you one to shorten useful life by forgetting to maintain water levels properly.

[Fairtax4me]

Kinda depends. They don’t work in every situation. For a stock cart on stock wheels/tires, and running on mostly flat and smoother terrain, probably fine.
AGM have less power density, so will not have the same run time.
They do not like high discharge rates, so a cart with a high power motor/controller combo may end up damaging them.
They do not generally handle vibration well, so if you’re running rough roads or dirt/gravel on a frequent basis they may get damaged.
They do need a specific charger to charge correctly.
They tend to cost quite a bit more.

Don’t have to add water to them, and they tend to not get corroded terminals.

[CartsRFun]

Regarding power density...not so sure that agms have lower
power density is exactly correct..

My Crown1 agms have performed very well for me...my 8x6volt pack
have accumulated over 6500 miles in 2 years...where flooded lead acids
may have shown to drop performance as soc declines toward the 50%
mark...where as my Crown1 agms no such thing...every night after
using my cart during the day...they go on charge...and I do balance -
equalize charge monthly.

A lot has to do with the quality of the lead plates used in the batteries.
Crown has done a great job in this regard. They use thicker plates..

Battery amp hour capacity has a lot to do with service life and run times.
Mine are the 6 CRV 260 ah size...

It is however my own experience that a Eagle Pro charger be used
on the agms as a Lester Summit II 650 charging profile...consistently
overcharged my former set of Crown1 agms with a continuos 68 volt
phase 2 unending charge cycle....fried my batteries...fortunately
my dealer was very supportive..

Yes the agms are more expensive but the advantage of being maintainance
free is well worth the price...

Talk about expensive and problematic are the lithiums ...they are
getting better...juts not for me ..yet..

You might like to take a look at this from Crown batteries...

https://www.crownbattery.com/hubfs/D...Deep-Cycle.pdf

https://www.crownbattery.com/hubfs/D...Deep-Cycle.pdf

Best wishes
Happy cartin'

[SoFLCart]

Thank you for sharing. I am just wondering because I am not looking forward to replacing my batteries with another set of lead batteries. Since January of this year, I have had to use 5 gallons of water in my batteries. Is that normal?

[Fairtax4me]

Originally Posted by SoFLCart

Thank you for sharing. I am just wondering because I am not looking forward to replacing my batteries with another set of lead batteries. Since January of this year, I have had to use 5 gallons of water in my batteries. Is that normal?

Depends on how much you use the cart, but usually No. What charger are you using and what brand are your batteries?

[SoFLCart]

I have included a picture of my charger. I have Gator batteries.

[Fairtax4me]

Never heard of Gator batteries. Are they 6v? How old are they?

How long does the charger normally run? Does it turn off on its own?

[SoFLCart]

Yes, the batteries are 6V. The batteries were new when I bought the cart. The charger does turn off by itself. The batteries come with an 18-month warranty. Although I will probably buy batteries from a company like Crown or Trojan when I need to purchase new batteries.
What would make using AGM batteries for the cart different than using AGM batteries in a car? I told the mechanic that I have a couple of amps in my car and he said it made no difference that I could use AGM in the car.

[CartsRFun]

Originally Posted by SoFLCart

Yes, the batteries are 6V. The batteries were new when I bought the cart. The charger does turn off by itself. The batteries come with an 18-month warranty. Although I will probably buy batteries from a company like Crown or Trojan when I need to purchase new batteries.
What would make using AGM batteries for the cart different than using AGM batteries in a car? I told the mechanic that I have a couple of amps in my car and he said it made no difference that I could use AGM in the car.

Agms while similar in concept...the golf cart agm is a deep cycle construction
with much heavier gauge lead plates that are able to supply the high amp
draw and continuous demand that car agm cannot provide. Batteries intended
for automotive use will die very quickly in the high current demand environment that the golf cart will place on the battery pack.

While you could use a deep cycle cart battery in a car....(over kill)
the opposite is not true ...

Hope this helps

Happy cartin'