Battery life and Warranty

[cgtech]

We are talking about 2 different things here. The "ezgo factory warranty" , and the warranty issued to a new set of batteries purchased from a authorized Trojan dealer to replace your "out of factory warranty" worn out batteries. Say you take the 2011 cart to the dealer due to range issues, cart is no longer covered under factory warranty. Buy a new set of batteries. These new batteries are not covered by any ezgo warranty, just the Trojan battery warranty. That's not 4 years, or any 20-25,000 ah warranty. Only 18 months for failure to meet "60 minutes" discharge test on Lester discharge machine. The local battery dealer may decide to warranty, or not, but they don't even read "amp hour" readings like ezgo does for warranty purposes.

[cartboy]

yup

& E Z Go uses the discharge test to determine whether a battery needs to be replaced.

[azTony]

So the average life of batteries is around 4 years? Is that what I am reading?

I have a set of Trojan Ranger 160's that are less than 2 months away from 4 years and I am having problems with the retaining water. I live in Arizona and use the cart every day for local transportation and to golf. I live in a retirement community and it is much easier to take the cart to the club house, take the dogs to the lake for a walk or go to the store than take the car or truck. I use the cart year round and I am assuming I have got my monies worth out of them to last 4 years.

[usgicollector]

The average number is 5 but some get 4 and others get 6. I have seen 8 year old batteries also. So probably 95% of us fall into the 4 to 6 years category.

[teecro]

Originally Posted by azTony

So the average life of batteries is around 4 years? Is that what I am reading?

I have a set of Trojan Ranger 160's that are less than 2 months away from 4 years and I am having problems with the retaining water. I live in Arizona and use the cart every day for local transportation and to golf. I live in a retirement community and it is much easier to take the cart to the club house, take the dogs to the lake for a walk or go to the store than take the car or truck. I use the cart year round and I am assuming I have got my monies worth out of them to last 4 years.

That is correct Tony while some batteries may last for many years without a specific known reason 4 to 5 years is considered the norm. Is that a reason to go out and buy new ones? NO... If they are still performing to an acceptable level for you then by all means keep going status quo... When you say you're having trouble with retaining water are they leaking or gassing out while charging? You might try charging more frequently so as to lesson the discharge and thus lessen the extent of the charge process. BUT older batteries do require more frequent watering and at that age they should be checked at least every 2 weeks...

[azTony]

New batteries are on order, they have a lot of build up between the plates

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by azTony

So the average life of batteries is around 4 years? Is that what I am reading?

I have a set of Trojan Ranger 160's that are less than 2 months away from 4 years and I am having problems with the retaining water. I live in Arizona and use the cart every day for local transportation and to golf. I live in a retirement community and it is much easier to take the cart to the club house, take the dogs to the lake for a walk or go to the store than take the car or truck. I use the cart year round and I am assuming I have got my monies worth out of them to last 4 years.

Considering the hot/dry climate, you did okay by getting 4 years out of them.

Attached are a couple charts showing battery life vs temperature.

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FWIW: My cart came from the fleet at Coyote Lakes Golf Club and the T-105 batteries were only 18 months old, but would only charge to 85% SoC.

It's a 2008 and I got it in 2011, so it was on its second set of batteries in three years. Of course, part of the short battery life was probably due to them not being as well maintained as your batteries were.

[cartboy]

4 years would have been really nice in the two fleets of RXVs (2008 & 2012) I've managed.

Without trying to pass judgment as to why, ours did not make three years, let alone four.

Our (late) 2008s were struggling when I took them over in 2009, and they went downhill from there. (play on words?) When it got to the point that about half the fleet went out only if they absolutely had to, management got them replaced a year early, by "2012s" in 2011.

Since I had the 2012s from the beginning, I know more about them. Batteries were failing in 2013, about 15000 hours (4 year/25000 warranty), and I eventually segregated the carts by battery hours, and tried to use those with fewer hours more, so we would not have to pay for batteries being replaced. More than half the batteries in the fleet were replaced.

That is a long way of saying that on 125 carts, none of them made it to 4 years/25000 hours, because we were forced to switch out both fleets before the end of the 4-year lease.

We got our 2015s in early summer 2015, and we have changed the way we water the batteries since the beginning with them. I took readings on a sampling this past Fall (2016), and the batteries were at an average of 7500 hours.

So far, so good with them.

[cartboy]

Samsung's LIB Lithium Ion Battery system.

I had one of the new E Z Go Elite RXV's with the Samsung Lithium Ion Battery pack yesterday. It had been used for 36 holes of golf and the "fuel gauge" was still on 1/2!!!! Very solid cart!

Good for 54 holes.

No battery maintenance.

5 year, unlimited amp-hour warranty.

Charge in half the time.

Don't "cycle".

Weigh 49# v. over 300#.
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If it is what it claims to be, it should mean the end of lead-acid batteries.

[ThreeCW]

Originally Posted by cartboy

I had one of the new E Z Go Elite RXV's with the Samsung Lithium Ion Battery pack yesterday. It had been used for 36 holes of golf and the "fuel gauge" was still on 1/2!!!! Very solid cart! Good for 54 holes.
- - - - - -
If it is what it claims to be, it should mean the end of lead-acid batteries.

Thanks for the update on the lithium powered Elite!
Do you know what the amp-hr rating of the lithium battery pack is?
I had a look on the E-Z-GO site and could not find much on the Samsung battery specifications other than "up to 120 amp-hr".