Battery life and Warranty

[cartboy]

As I have explained in detail in another thread, we have had serious battery problems in both our 2008 and 2012 RXV fleets, Trojans in the 2008s and US Batterys in the 2012s.

That battery warranty on that cart, with battery autofills, is 4 years or 25000 AH, whichever comes first.

It is the whichever comes first part that I will a address here.

We're almost to the day at the end of our third year, so you can do the math as to how many AH a year fleet carts at a seasonal golf course will do. We have 7-8 active months.

After three years, the carts with the fewest AH has 13,900 and the cart with the most AH has 23.9.

Of course, just divide by 3 for the average annual AH, then figure out if they would make 4 years.

Out of 64 carts, here's the breakdown.

13,900-19,900 AH: 13 Carts

20,000-20,900 AH: 13 Carts

21,000-21,900 AH: 25 Carts

22,000-22,900 AH: 8 Carts

23,000-23,900 AH: 5 Carts

I you throw out the highs and lows, on average the annual AH is 6666-7333, with the "mode" being 7000-7333.

[Swan]

And the point is ..,,, other then the battery warranty people have it figured out in there favor

Sent with the newest version of Crap~A~Talk

[cartboy]

Not everything has to have a point.

Some things are just curious minutiae.

But, OTOH, if there are any course cart barn people looking in, this may give them the idea of taking some readings and segregating their carts based how close carts are to being out of warranty.

I have.

[yurtle]

Do newer carts have hour meters? Otherwise, how would they know other than years of use?

[HiTechRedNeck]

Yurtle..

RXV's have a computerized controller.
The controller monitors and logs AH used among other factors.

(trouble codes,operating time,miles driven ect)

[cartboy]

Originally Posted by HiTechRedNeck

Yurtle..

RXV's have a computerized controller.
The controller monitors and logs AH used among other factors.

(trouble codes,operating time,miles driven ect)

What he said.

[cartboy]

Actually, you hook up the diagnostic tool, make the selection on the menu, and it tells you total amp-hours.

Our 2015s arrived mid-season last year, and I checked a dozen or so a couple weeks ago. So after maybe 15 months use.

The lowest was 6900 AH and the highest was 8200 AH.

In a perfect world, a cartbarn would be set up so that every cart gets equal usage. I've seen barn layouts like that, where each cart has it's own parking space, and each day you start off where you left off the day before.

Ours is not like that, parking order is random.

Most of our staff is experienced, and makes an effort to start the day with carts that did not go out the day before, if that's the case, but you can only get so much from your staff when you pay minimum wage.
- - - - - -
Regarding the diagnostic tool, it's not rocket science, but see my last sentence.

So, if a cart has a problem, it gets parked in Time Out, and whoever thinks something's wrong with it puts a vague note on the scorecard pad.

Then, next time I'm working, I pull the codes, or drive it, or check the batteries, or whatever.

If it's something beyond me, I report it to our tech, so he knows what to bring.

That's been a good system for the last three years.

[sltintexas]

does this 4 year warranty apply to all uses? Can Joe Blow get new batteries, note his Ah and then have his batteries warrantied if they fail?

Do they have to have autofill? Most people say those don't work

[cgtech]

The warranty on new replacement batteries is generally 18 months. The 3-4 year warranty is a special deal between the battery manufacturer & the cart manufacturer, and only applies to a new set of batteries sold in a new cart. I can't prove hint of a single situation where a auto fill system extended the life of a battery compared to another maintained battery without a fill system. BUT I have seen many, many batteries that were killed by a fill system whose float stuck in the full position starving the cell of water & destroying the battery, while leaving the user to believe everything was fine because the float indicator was up. That doesn't even cover the many leaks, plus the risks involved in linking the vented gasses between all cells in the event of a shorted battery.