leaving charger connected?

[scottyb]

Batteries left idle WILL LOOSE 4% of their charge each week. Which means that in as little as 3-4 weeks they need recharging just from sitting idle .......
If you are a part time cart user re read what I just posted above. Cold weather will slow the process slightly and hot weather will speed it up (snowbirds).

[golfcarfixer]

If you like to leave it plugged in thats up to you.I have had several cars that were plugged in when a lightning storm came through.The chargers got hit and the OBC on a club car does not like lightning.The receptacles can also fry.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by golfcarfixer

If you like to leave it plugged in thats up to you.I have had several cars that were plugged in when a lightning storm came through.The chargers got hit and the OBC on a club car does not like lightning.The receptacles can also fry.

Diddo on this .... I had a customer last winter who had this happen and we had to replace the batteries, the OBC, and the charger.

[golfcarfixer]

I remember you talking about that incident,What a mess.

[scottyb]

Needless to say they do not leave the cart charger plugged in any more

[rabbitreborn]

Florida is the lightning capital of the world, I would never think of leaving a cart plugged in for extended periods of time........

[e-z-go1988]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Batteries left idle WILL LOOSE 4% of their charge each week. Which means that in as little as 3-4 weeks they need recharging just from sitting idle .......
If you are a part time cart user re read what I just posted above. Cold weather will slow the process slightly and hot weather will speed it up (snowbirds).

I want to trickle charge my 36v, T105 battery pack over the winter when not in use. What output current would be required of the trickle charger to keep the pack fully charged?

[arcitech]

I remember reading a post where one of the guys bought a mechanical timer for the outlet, and he would have it set to be on for 23 hrs and off for 1 hour. It would allow the charger to go back into automatic mode and keep the batteries charged over the winter. You could also use a surge suppessor power strip or UPS and not have to worry too much about lightning, although there is no guarantee when it comes to a direct hit. That is probably the simplest way of maintaining batteries without much hassle.

[e-z-go1988]

Originally Posted by arcitech

I remember reading a post where one of the guys bought a mechanical timer for the outlet, and he would have it set to be on for 23 hrs and off for 1 hour. It would allow the charger to go back into automatic mode and keep the batteries charged over the winter. You could also use a surge suppessor power strip or UPS and not have to worry too much about lightning, although there is no guarantee when it comes to a direct hit. That is probably the simplest way of maintaining batteries without much hassle.

Thank you for the response.
I recently purchased a 36v trickle charger for an electric scooter to use as a maintenance charger for the 36v pack in my EZGO. I wondered if the 1.5A output would be adequate or too much to equalize the 4% that batteries will lose weekly when not in use. By my expert calculations the trickle charger needs to output 0.32Ah so I will need to use the timer as you suggested, to limit the charge time.
My charger is 22 years old and I don't want to strain it unnecessarily just topping off the batteries.