Batteries blew up! - Charger recommendations

[tarmfield]

Batteries just blew up so springing for a new set of Trojans, on order, and was wondering should i look at a new charger - the cart is a 48v RXV and I will be going for the T1275+ batteries.

My current charger, for some reason, is a Yamaha scr481717 MAC charger and is supposedly a solid charger. I also have a 48v maintainer from Amazon that I use if away for a long period.

Question is should i look at a new charger or will the current one do fine, there are chargers with the maintenance mode available?

If I do get a new charger - which one - looked at the Lester Summit which seems to be about the best, or there is a MODZ Max48 that seems to have the same features but significantly less money - $199 vs $370 - is the Lester worth the extra?

Thanks in advance

[scottyb]

Batteries blew up?
Does the cart have auto watering system with single point fill?

[LabRat]

Man, I hope you are ok.... i had 2 over the years blow up...no fun
The SUMMITT II charger needs special program for ezgo 48v plug,

[tarmfield]

Scottyb - yes it does have the filling system, EZ GO one from Battery watering systems with the floats and level indicators, I also popped the filling system off every now and then to check manually as i am not sure i trust those completely. Water levels were OK - I had just got back from a 3.5 week trip but had it on a battery maintainer while I was away, I had also used it a couple of times since returning and it was OK but I guess it built up some gas!

The cart went out about 30 yards the other day then crunched to a halt, there was a strong smell of batteries as well, I could reverse it back to the house OK and parked it back up. About 15 minutes later i went out to check if it would drive and that's when the batteries went pop - blew the caps of a couple of the batteries.

The batteries have a stamp of A6 so i guess they are due replacing - they have been charging OK but were struggling on some of the local hills around here and new batteries were on my list - now they are top of the list!

Any suggestions on chargers, new vs the MAC one i have with a maintainer?

Thanks!
Toby

[tarmfield]

Batteries after the bang:

[cgtech]

So, ready to fill your own batteries yet? The charger didn't make this...

[Cobra,1]

To be clear battery caps popped off ,not batteries exploding/blowing up.
If so caps popping of could have been caused by clogged vent holes in battery cap? When batteries are charged or used they do need to vent gas.

Either way manual fill is way to go opposed to auto fill system.
They have been known to cause problems.

[cgtech]

Yes, every Flooded Lead Acid battery (lead battery with water/acid solution inside) must be able to vent during charge, and discharge, it will produce gas during both of those. And the BFS caps allow for venting, they don't attempt a 100% seal (like some batteries that try to recombine those hydrogen and oxygens before they leave. One or more cells popped, like it or not, that's what happened. (When I say "popped", I mean hydrogen/oxygen mix explosion, you know, like combustion type explosion, not the 'friendly' normal release of gas from electrolysis that wasn't an explosion). We can dance around this all we want, but that was still an explosion. I have had a single cell pop with only one individual white cap being affected, I've had a whole battery blow it's top, I've had all 6 batteries go off like a bomb. It still is what it is.

[scottyb]

Single fill point systems are designed for golf course staff faced with filling 6 batteries on 50 carts! For individual owners these systems have more drawbacks than benefits, like overfilling, diluting acid mix, collecting explosive gasses.

[tarmfield]

The cart came with the system on it and no other caps - now I guess i can leave it off when the new batteries arrive - I did manually check the water levels regularly as well as the indicators on the tops as I wasn't sure on how accurate those were, and until now it has been fine.

It seems like the earlier issue with the cart stopping and only reversing, then a strong smell of batteries caused the build up, I guess one of the batteries shorted and ignited it - will have to wait until the new batteries arrive on Tuesday to see if anything else blew up, but i was able to back it into the garage after the bang so I am hopeful that all is OK!

Would still like to know if the MAC / Yamaha charger i have will be good for the new batteries, or should I get a new charger - I have a 48v maintainer for long periods to keep them topped up thru the winter.

T