Electric EZGO - Winter Storage

[Great white north]

Hi Everyone , what are best practice procedures for putting cart away for winter storage ?
I have a 48 volt TXT with 6 month old batteries 8-6 volt CR260 Crown s , also
Have DPI Accusense 48 volt charger . With 400 amp alltrax controller .
Do you leave charger plugged in all the time and periodically check water levels?
Or do you leave it unplugged and monitor SOC meter (have Scotty's unit) until
Reading gets to let's say 60% SOC , then plug charger back in for complete cycle
Do I take it out for a little spin once a week then put back on charger ?
The cart is in a heated shop . Do I leave run/ tow switch in tow when sitting ?
Just want to protect my considerable investment in Batteries so that when spring comes around (6 months! ) there in top notch condition
All comments welcome
Thanks guys !
Cheers !

[sportcoupe]

Leave it plugged in.

[Great white north]

Bump !

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Great white north

1. Do you leave charger plugged in all the time and periodically check water levels?

2. Or do you leave it unplugged and monitor SOC meter (have Scotty's unit) until
Reading gets to let's say 60% SOC , then plug charger back in for complete cycle

3. Do I take it out for a little spin once a week then put back on charger ?
The cart is in a heated shop .

4. Do I leave run/ tow switch in tow when sitting ?

1. Leave it plugged in. The DPI goes into float charge after the regular cycle completes and keeps the batteries fully charged.

2. This was answer by #1, but for those that don't have chargers with a float charge feature, don't let the batteries drop below 70% SoC while stored. That is the point where the heavy sulfation kicks in. If possible, don't wait that long before recharging.

3. Sulfuric acid is heavier than water, so it settles to the bottom if the batteries sit for a significant length of time and the SG of the electrolyte at the top of the plates becomes lower that the SG at the bottom of the plates (Stratification), so sulfation occurs more and sooner on the top of the plates than it does on the bottoms when the batteries sit still.

Taking the cart out for a spin periodically agitates the electrolyte, offsetting the stratification issues.
Initiating a regular charge cycle periodically so the batteries will gas, also mixes the electrolyte.
Another way is to use a Hydrometer or turkey baster to draw out some electrolyte and (Carefully) squirt it back in to mix it up.

4. Doesn't matter with float charging. If using a charger without float charging, putting it in Tow reduces the self-discharge rate.

[Volt_Ampere]

If you are going to leave it all winter I would invest in a battery maintainer. It will pay for itself by making your batteries last much longer. I use them on my car batteries when I leave my car in Colorado for the winter while I bask in the sun in Arizona.