Batteries not getting to 100%

[Rangerdaniel]

I have a 36 volt 95 medalist. I installed one of Scotty B's digital volt meters and have been taking good care of my batteries (never going below 75%).
The batteries are Trojans andd were purchased in May of this year.
Well I am a football coach and when the season rolled around I didnt use the cart a whole lot, so I didnt charge it a lot. However, I continued to keep an eye on the meter.
Well now I have more time on my hands to drive it around and I am getting a little bit concerned about the readings I am getting on my meter. After a full charge instead of it reading 38.2 it only gets up to he high 37's (37.9-37.6). Then it drops a lot quicker than before. What can I do to get it back where it was before?

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by Rangerdaniel

I have a 36 volt 95 medalist. I installed one of Scotty B's digital volt meters and have been taking good care of my batteries (never going below 75%).
The batteries are Trojans andd were purchased in May of this year.
Well I am a football coach and when the season rolled around I didnt use the cart a whole lot, so I didnt charge it a lot. However, I continued to keep an eye on the meter.
Well now I have more time on my hands to drive it around and I am getting a little bit concerned about the readings I am getting on my meter. After a full charge instead of it reading 38.2 it only gets up to he high 37's (37.9-37.6). Then it drops a lot quicker than before. What can I do to get it back where it was before?

Charge charge charge....... The batteries should have been recharged every month while not in use....letting them sit has done a little damage. Shallow use and recharge is what I recommend. Recharge them daily for awhile.

[Rangerdaniel]

Daily charge ok, good advice. Doe it matter the amount I run the cart?
And should I charge it daily until the % starts coming back up?
They were charged at least once a month (I remember seeing that on your website when I bought the meter)

[JohnnieB]

You will probably never get them back to 100%, but you might get them back into the high 90's.

It would be beneficial to recharge those batteries several times without discharging them at all.
When the charger shuts off, just unplug it from the cart and immediately plug it back in.

Put it on charge after each use.

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The once every 30 days is a minimum. It assumes the battery's self discharge is only 1% per day, which would keep the State of Charge above 70% (Below which major and irreversible sulfation of the plates occurs)
Older batteries self-discharge faster then 1% per day.

A shorter time between charges while in storage might be needed.
Perhaps keeping them above 37.5V (80%) would be a better goal?
Of course, a battery charger that has a float charge mode, would be best.