Hydrolink install question (48V)

[vonjet]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Sorry we are not so useful the 500th time around. Hydrogen gas is a byproduct of bulk charging wet cell batteries. It collects in the easy fill tubes and ignites as only hydrogen gas can with the smallest of electrical sparks - I hope that is more useful

Thanks that helps and freaks me out. Hydrolink will be coming off.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by vonjet

Thank You. I learned something. Hydro link is coming off. That was a waste of money! lol It was on my last set of batteries so I figured it was something useful.

Honestly they scare me, but that's what happens when you know how stuff works sometimes

[vonjet]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Honestly they scare me, but that's what happens when you know how stuff works sometimes

Well its good to know why. I never would have figured they could cause the damage that was posted here. I am new to golf carts. learning as I go. The only other person I know near me who has a golf cart I would not ask advice from.

[general01]

Ok I will take this as a lesson learnt not to use a auto fill system on any electric cart(owned or customized to sale)

I don't want what happened in the second pic to happen to me ever.

Be safe fellas.

[PipeMajor]

REALLY good to know! I will now remove the Hydrolink system from my Trojan battery purchase that I am about to make. Thanks.

[rabbitreborn]

Ok, in all honesty, I am not a fan of the BFS or the Hydrolink systems, however........

On the RXV carts, if you are installing Trojan T1275 batteries, it is almost impossible to monitor and fill the rear battery in the cart due to the configuration of the battery.

When the cart was designed, they built it based on the T1260 battery and those were accessible for filling. US battery has recently released a new 12V that is also accessible without needing the fill system, but they are still a PITA to monitor/fill.

[gornoman]

Originally Posted by rabbitreborn

On the RXV carts, if you are installing Trojan T1275 batteries, it is almost impossible to monitor and fill the rear battery in the cart due to the configuration of the battery.

Difficult, yes, but not almost impossible. It's just harder to do than the other three.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Sorry we are not so useful the 500th time around. Hydrogen gas is a byproduct of bulk charging wet cell batteries. It collects in the easy fill tubes and ignites as only hydrogen gas can with the smallest of electrical sparks - I hope that is more useful

More correctly, both Hydrogen and Oxygen gases are produced when charging.

The Hydrogen collects on the battery's negative plates and the Oxygen collects on the positive plates, but after they bubble to the surface they form a gas mixture of 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen in the expansion space above the electrolyte level. (see attachement-1) This is an explosive mixture that only needs heat (IE: A spark) to set it off.

Normally, the explosive gas mixture is vented to the atmosphere via the vent caps and is diluted to a harmless concentration, but if the vent caps are connected to a watering system, the explosive gas mix fills the watering system tubing, which effectively becomes detcord (fast burning fuse) connecting the cells in the battery pack together, so several batteries will explode instead of just one.

Here are a couple more pictures of exploded battery packs.

No make or model of wet cell lead acid is immune to collecting an explosive gas mixture above the electrolyte and no make or model of watering system is immune to creating a chain-fire situation.

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by rabbitreborn

Ok, in all honesty, I am not a fan of the BFS or the Hydrolink systems, however........

On the RXV carts, if you are installing Trojan T1275 batteries, it is almost impossible to monitor and fill the rear battery in the cart due to the configuration of the battery.

When the cart was designed, they built it based on the T1260 battery and those were accessible for filling. US battery has recently released a new 12V that is also accessible without needing the fill system, but they are still a PITA to monitor/fill.

in my opinion, the rxv fill system causes the back battery to spew acid, because its lowest battery in the system.

[vonjet]

Maybe I could just mod the hydrolink and only install it on the back battery to make filling that one easier.