Battery Question

[Sergio]

Originally Posted by yawood

OK, this is not a complete solution to your problem but the following site has some interesting sensors:
https://alpinepowersystems.com/motiv...el-indicators/

Someone as smart as Sergio might me able to take the output from one of the last three sensors on that page and feed it to a module which will phone a warning to a pre-set number when the water level indicator is triggered. That would be an interesting project.

If You wanted to do something like that, I have a few ideas in mind.

If you already have a home automation hub like smartthings, one of these sensors would work for that purpose:

https://shop.homeseer.com/products/z...r-light-sensor

If You don't have an automation hub, a Kumo tag setup using IFTTT would work as well, you just need to have a place within a few hundred feet of the cart for a hard-patch Ethernet.

https://store.wirelesstag.net/products/wireless-tag-als

A simple repeating calendar reminder on your phone would work as well and does not cost anything.


I never had an issue with low water, but then again I don't follow, or understand the reasoning behind, keeping the electrolyte level barely above the plates.

Batteries are designed with a "huge" expansion area above the cell wells for gasses to build up.

Even the 1/8" below the bottom of the well is not a do or die (I do try to stay below the bottom when adding water), if the water beads up on the bottom of the well is OK as long as the entire slot on the bottom of the well is not covered by water.

That slot allows over-pressured gasses from the expansion chamber on the top of the battery case to vent without turning the cell well into a bubbler which could saturate the cap filtering passages and allow electrolyte vapor to escape.

My batteries turned 6 years old this past summer and I never once has an issue with acid, the original US batteries that came with the cart were a POS and leaked all over regardless of how much you filled the battery.

What I observed then and again on a friends cart with acid build up is that improper battery maintenance led to the bottom rubber seals on the "quick caps" to be damaged by likely closing when debris were present.

Without the caps properly sealing the cell openings, vapor would escape from the bottom of the caps without passing through the precipitation chambers on the caps and that would allow electrolyte vapors out of the battery.

Always add water after a full charge and the electrolyte level will never rise above the level where you stopped.

As always, follow the battery manufactures recommendation if different.