To charge, or not to charge

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Greetings first post. I recently got my first cart ever, a 98 ezgo txt 36v. Our typical ride will be about 20-30 min once a week. Don't have a battery gauge yet and want to prolong battery life which are supposed to be about a year old.

After how long of a ride should I charge.

[jdunmyer]

Standard wisdom here is "Park it, Plug it". IOW: charge it every time you use the cart. The only time I don't follow that advice is if the usage was VERY short, less than 5 minutes or so.

Also, you want the cart to be fully charged if it's going to sit for very long.

[csport]

I second, third and forth what Jdunmyer said- I had relatives ruin a newer set of batteries by not charging enough- they died way before their time

Best habit you will ever develop and add distilled water AFTER charging

clean posts once a month
keep fitting snug

[jdunmyer]

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CSport has good advice also. NEVER, EVER operate your cart with a connection that's loose and/or getting hot. Fix it immediately.

He's also correct about adding water, with the only exception being if the plates are exposed. If that's the case, add just enough water to barely cover the plates, then charge. Add more water after charging, if necessary.

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Thanks for the replies, just to clarify. I was under the impression that charging too soon created a shorter memory cycle if I'm referring to it correctly that would actually cause more damage in the long run.

And lastly I was told only distilled water but just over the plates. Am I missing something with distilled water after every charge.

Thanks again and I'm sorry for the entry level questions just making sure

you are thinking cell phone battery memory
deep cycle batteries do not get a memory

fill to 1/4" ~ 1/2" over plates after charging as needed , not every time .. only use distilled water

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by crash test dummy

you are thinking cell phone battery memory
deep cycle batteries do not get a memory

My first cell phone had lead/acid batteries.

It was more of a bag-o-phone, than a portable phone.

They've since gone through NiCD, which did have memory, NMH, and are now Lithium ion.

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How about not a complete charge cycle. for example, spend a few hours riding around. Park and charge for an hour then take off again for a while. The return and park and charge again and so on.

While this will not be typicall behavior I can foresee this happening for a few days while camping at fort wilderness in Disney. Those are long days and nights riding around

yes you can give it a quick charge , the charger will not let it over charge

[jdunmyer]

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You're describing "opportunity charging", which is fine. A L-A battery that is discharged to any degree will take a heavy charge at first; the current will taper off as the voltage rises. That means that a "low" battery will accept a bunch of juice rather quickly. It does take a long time to fully replenish the charge, typically on the order of 10-12 hours if the battery was run down a ways.

If your batteries become more than a little warm during either discharge or charge, you really should allow the pack to cool down. This will take quite a while, as there's lots of lead involved.