Battery meters

[WalterM6]

My advice would be to use a spray can battery cleaner that you buy at any auto store. Reason being that you will have baking soda residue all over your battery compartment that is almost impossible to get off w/o flooding it. But that's your choice.

[garysmith39555]

I use this with great results...

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...5023/7071019-P

[NoleFan4Ever]

Can't say that I have ever had any soda build up or issues with using baking soda. In fact, quite to the contrary, I have used it for years and years and it is plentiful, cheap, and allows me to clean the rest of the carts at the same time. One thing for sure, it is a tried-and-true method, but to each his own with what works best for their own application(s)....

[hunter99]

Originally Posted by scottyb

The old LED bar style meters have a fatal flaw in so much as they simply reset each time the charger was plugged in which assumed the batteries were healthy and the charger completed it's task. But in the case of older batteries and failing chargers, the bar meter read 100% at far less than that level. Case in point, an older cart I had years ago that kept running out of power while the bar meter read 100% led me to search for a true voltmeter I could apply to a golf cart. Once I learned the voltage value for full and empty - it became very easy to know exactly how fuel was left in the tank. The picture below shows the bar meter reading full and the digital voltmeter showing it is time to recharge.... We send this info with each meter we sell

I got Scotty's meter today and hooked it right up. Solved my problem. Sadly I had cut the dash for another meter that had a larger hole but I figured out that I could gut that one, file the inside opening, and the new one popped right in super snug. Can't tell. Anyway, mine is in the aftermarket dash kit above my steering column. That way I can look right down at it while driving with nothing in my way.

[jb2c]

Got mine and need to install it. The tech at the shop yesterday recc removing the stock yellow battery light and putting the meter in it's place. Thoughts on that?

He also recc not leaving the charger plugged in. He said it was extremely rare, but it has happened that they can catch fire. He said he had only actually seen one in his seven years working on golf carts. But has heard of others. I'm parking mine in the garage. Don't want to burn the house down! So do most of you leave it plugged in when not riding?

[dundeebarnbuggy]

Yes. [DPI charger] I do have mine on a surge protector though as it is in a steel shed that can be prone to lightning.

[ThreeCW]

Originally Posted by jb2c

The tech at the shop yesterday recc removing the stock yellow battery light and putting the meter in it's place. Thoughts on that?

Once you install your digital volt meter and know how to use it, you will have absolutely no use for the "yellow light". No sense cluttering up your dash ... I would replace it with the digital meter as long it is in a good viewable spot.

My digital meter quit working last week and I will replace it shortly. It feels like I am driving blind without it ... I am used to constantly referring to it ... especially since my batteries are getting near to the end of their useful life.

Dundee - I have Blue Sea 8248 amp / volt meter to replace it ... as per your recommendation!

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by jb2c

Got mine and need to install it. The tech at the shop yesterday recc removing the stock yellow battery light and putting the meter in it's place. Thoughts on that?

He also recc not leaving the charger plugged in. He said it was extremely rare, but it has happened that they can catch fire. He said he had only actually seen one in his seven years working on golf carts. But has heard of others. I'm parking mine in the garage. Don't want to burn the house down! So do most of you leave it plugged in when not riding?

If you do not want the light you can.

I have numerous carts and ALWAYS leave them plugged in. Especially the ones in at the camp and in another state. That way every 15 days it does a maintenance cycle to top the batteries off and take care of them for me.