Question for the Battery Guru's

[55BigBlock]

Originally Posted by 55BigBlock

I ordered one of these. I am going to hook it up as described in joesam's post. We will see how it works.

shopsaveabattery.com/48-VOLT-50-WATT-Vehicle-Battery-Charger-w-Auto-Pulse-2365-48.htm

Update!!!

I thought I would give a report on my experience with a battery maintainer. 3 weeks ago when I was at the coast I hooked up the battery maintainer to my 2010 Precedent. The cart is in an unheated garage. I turned the run/tow switch to tow and attached it.

I went back this weekend and after unhooking it and letting the batteries rest, the voltage reading was 50.7 volts. The most I ever had after a conventional over night charge after a rest period was 50.2 volts. I drove the cart about 4 miles and after a rest was around 85% charge. It was very cold, the temp was about 45 degrees. The cart was very responsive and felt as good or better as it did last summer.

I hooked it up again before I left. I will update on my next trip.

[joesam]

Cool - well I won't be able to update really, until spring. If I took my cart for a run right now, I'd need chains! Mine is just sitting there with the little maintainer light flashing (as its supposed to). Good to hear that keeping your cart at a maintainance voltage seems to be working. Did you check the water level?

Weather was great in Phoenix - got back about a week ago. My buddies cart in Phoenix is an EZ Go. Some of the club members there are replacing batteries after only mid way thru three years - but admitted leaving their carts in Arizona/hot garages all summer - off their chargers. Clearly the heat & self-discharge combo kills 'em fast!

[55BigBlock]

Yes, I checked the water and it was not down any. I may be the eternal optimist but maybe there is something to this calcification thing. As I said I have never had a rested pack voltage above 50.2 since I bought the cart in Feb '13. Batteries are dated June 2010. I also wonder what effect the outside temp has?

One more thing josam, How much trouble did you have mounting the receptacle for your maintainer?

[joesam]

Oh, no problem mounting it whatsoever, on my DS body. Its a round receptacle (about 1-1/4" socket/hole) 3 prong/twist by Marinco. Has a nice flange on the front, and a big plastic spin-nut on the back for tightening once the hole is drilled (plus two little tapping screws on the flange to keep it from spinning accidentally).

I used one of those Flat wood drill bits (spinning very slowly) to bore thru the plastic body (which took no time at all). Not sure how thick the Precedent plastic is; where it plugs in. I do know that the color panels for the Precedent are very thin - but I'm not sure what's backing it, where the power plug mounts.

[joesam]

Update - Battery Minder. For the past six weeks there has been no change to the float charge (or battery condition) on my golf cart, sitting in winter storage outside. The battery maintainer (computer controlled) showed a green light, plus a flashing green light - meaning battery condition "good" and float charge being maintained (even in temperatures around -5F).

But this morning our temperature plummeted to -20F. And unexpectedly the "Battery Weak" indicator is now lit! The charger manual says leave it alone for 72 hours then reboot the charger to increase charging amperage (if the battery condition light stays yellow).

I'm not worried - the batteries are due for replacement anyway - but it shows that my old battery pack cannot be sustained at the "higher temperature compensated (56.4v)" voltage when subjected to these brutally cold temperatures. The Battery Minder has a built-in temperature sensor **see chart from charger manual below**.

The moral of this story? If you live in a really cold place - batteries sitting at extremely low temperatures are definitely at risk. Leaving the charger unplugged (especially on a Club Car with its clever built-in recharge cycles) is probably a bad idea. FYI - The most common failure of batteries in the private carts where I live? Batteries which froze and cracked their plastic case, while in winter storage!

[Sergio]

First I hope I never have the opportunity to experience that kind of cold weather
I think the factory club car design, in theory, would work pretty well in that scenario though.
According to Trojan website, a fully charged battery will not freeze until -96F.
The self discharge of an FLA battery at those temperatures is almost none, it will take 6 months at 32F to reach 10%DOD (90%SOC).
When the OBC turns the charger on every 2 weeks, it runs at full current so you don't need to worry about a weak float charge.

[joesam]

Agreed - the Club Car PowerDrive chargers are a clever piece of design for cold climates. A few years back, I helped a couple buddies find some used Trojans to replace their frozen/broken ones. They both had Yamaha carts (about 2000 vintage) - so even though they were plugged in, their batteries froze; because there was no cycle-on feature in their chargers.

About a year ago, I did have another buddy with a frozen battery on his Precedent. It was in an unheated/unattached garage, but partially discharged and not plugged in (he's not good at maintaining his stuff).

Kinda says it all when dealing with our WICKED COLD.

[55BigBlock]

Update 12/23

I arrived at the coast yesterday and checked on my battery maintainer. It has been 3 weeks since my last visit. I had 50.7 volts after a 30 minute rest. I drove the cart about 4 or 5 miles and had 50.2 volts after 1 hour rest. There was no need to add water.

[joesam]

Sounds like your batteries are able to hold on to the higher voltage & capacity since you started using the maintainer. Exactly what you were hoping for.

[55BigBlock]

Originally Posted by joesam

Sounds like your batteries are able to hold on to the higher voltage & capacity since you started using the maintainer. Exactly what you were hoping for.

The cart seems more responsive. I drove it again yesterday about 5 miles. About a block from my house the police had one of these mobile radar speed reminder trailers set up. When I went through it at the beginning of my ride I noted the speed. After 5 miles I went through it again. The speed was the same. I am going to give this device a