What quality of batteries to buy

[Dsouthw524]

We have a used older EZGO Marathon 36v cart we bought for use in south Texas. I know the batteries are not in great shape. I plan to replace them this fall. Wee use the cart about 6-7 months around the park and etc. The cart is then stored in a shed for the hot south Texas summer with no electric available.

The big question is how good a battery pack to buy that can take the conditions and what life to expect if I keep them charged while possible?

I have planned to aquire Trojan 105s but have been told that the conditions described while be better served with cheaper batteries.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by Dsouthw524

We have a used older EZGO Marathon 36v cart we bought for use in south Texas. I know the batteries are not in great shape. I plan to replace them this fall. Wee use the cart about 6-7 months around the park and etc. The cart is then stored in a shed for the hot south Texas summer with no electric available.

The big question is how good a battery pack to buy that can take the conditions and what life to expect if I keep them charged while possible?

I have planned to aquire Trojan 105s but have been told that the conditions described while be better served with cheaper batteries.

The conditions you describe are less than ideal. Leaving a battery to sit idle for seven months will shorten its useful lifespan. I expect that you may get three seasons, each one with diminished performance. The advice that you're getting seems to be that since your batteries won't survive this type of use it's not worth buying a good battery. That's okay, so long as you realize the lesser battery may not hold up as well as a higher-quality, larger capacity battery and overall performance may be diminished.

A better solution would be to haul the cart to someplace where the batteries could be maintained. Perhaps you could loan it to a friend or local business who would be happy to use it and maintain the batteries during your off-season. This should give you a couple more years of use out of the pack.

[JohnnieB]

A solar powered trickle charger set up may be the answer.

It would only take three 12V panels that generated about 3W each, connected in series to offset the battery pack's self discharge rate of 1% SoC per day.

Of course, the hot climate will still reduce battery lifespan and sitting still for half the year will allow the electrolyte to stratify, further reducing lifespan, but trickle charging them while they sit would be better than just letting them sit and self discharge.

[Sir Nuke]

Dsouthw524, another option is after your seasonal usage, this is if you travel to your south texas property via car/truck..... remove the batteries from your cart, bring them home with you, set them up in your garage and connect them as you would in the cart (make up a charging port) and use your carts battery charger to keep them fresh for the down months. at least one of our members here has done exactly that and it worked well. You would just need to remember NOT to sit the batteries directly on a concrete floor....typically place a few 2x4's under them to both insulate them electrically and to give them air circulation.

[radioman]

I would not loan a friend an Electric Golf cart to use for seven months in exchange for maintaing it.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by radioman

I would not loan a friend an Electric Golf cart to use for seven months in exchange for maintaing it.

You need new friends

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by radioman

I would not loan a friend an Electric Golf cart to use for seven months in exchange for maintaing it.

Originally Posted by scottyb

You need new friends

in reality......if you can't trust them with your stuff and expect them to treat it as such, they are just an acquaintance, not a true friend.

[scottyb]

That's a can of worms.... the point I was trying to make was that the batteries would last longer being used than sitting. I have 2 carts out on loan, one going on 2 years, doing fine. Another recently returned was recently sold.

[radioman]

I do not believe modern day batteries will self discharge any faster on a concrete floor than on a wooden surface.

[stang99x]

Originally Posted by radioman

I do not believe modern day batteries will self discharge any faster on a concrete floor than on a wooden surface.

That is a myth. Concrete does nothing to the batteries. If the batteries had to be stored, the best option (which was explained to me by an industry insider who is involved in battery life satisfaction testing) would be to store them in a very cold place......this supposedly reduces the reactions that occur within and relieves some stress during non-use. The guy had buckets of data to support it, however it wasn't possible for me to get "a copy" since it was an ongoing study. In theory, I could see how that would work, though in practice I don't know what savings it would actually create