Battery charging/maintenance question

[LeonLem1]

Is it ok to leave my battery charger connected to the cart and plugged in for long periods of time. I have a hunting camp that is about 1 1/2 hrs from my house and the cart stays up there. Most of the times I use it every week, but sometimes it may be three weeks between uses.
Is it bad for the batteries to leave the charger plugged in for up to three weeks at a time? I have been told by some, that the charger shuts off, once the batteries reach full charge and only comes back on if you unplug it from the cart and then plug it back in.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by LeonLem1

Is it ok to leave my battery charger connected to the cart and plugged in for long periods of time. I have a hunting camp that is about 1 1/2 hrs from my house and the cart stays up there. Most of the times I use it every week, but sometimes it may be three weeks between uses.
Is it bad for the batteries to leave the charger plugged in for up to three weeks at a time? I have been told by some, that the charger shuts off, once the batteries reach full charge and only comes back on if you unplug it from the cart and then plug it back in.

depending on what charger you have.....the above statement is true.

after I have used my cart, I plug it in, as you should, and allow the batteries to get recharged. I never go in and unplug it.....as there is no need, and it will not hurt anything. to restart the charge cycle, you would need to unplug and re-plug in the charger.



oh and BTW...... Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to BGW. There is a BIG fridge on the back porch with anything you can think of in it...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. Make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom's, wive's, husbands, girlfirends and boyfriends here don't care....and take it easy.



oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!!

[JohnnieB]

It most likely doesn't hurt to leave the charger plugged into the cart, but it doesn't help either, unless you have a charger with a maintenance mode or a float charge mode.

Cart batteries typically self-discharge at about 1% per day and letting them sit in a partially discharged state sulfates the plates. Sulfated plates is part of the natural aging process, but they age faster when they are less than 100% charged and sit that way for a length of time. They only self-discharge about 7% in a week, so the increased aging rate isn't too bad, but at 3 weeks they are down by 21%, so the reduction in useable life may be significant. If they drop below 70% SoC (about four weeks) while sitting, the suflating gets even faster.

For maximum useable lifespan, given your situation, float charging the batteries while you are away from your cart, would be advisable.