48v club car storage

[williep]

I have a 2002 48 volt Club Car (6ea 8 volt batteries) that I have to store for 5 months. It reads 52v across the batteries now but when I did this last year it took me about 5 days to get each battery charged enough, with an 8v charger, to trip on the 48v charger. One of the batteries actually read reverse voltage so I had to connect in parallel with a good battery until the voltage reversed to connect it to a charger. Anyway, I would like to avoid that next fall so a purchased a 48v Battery Minder. I would like to know the pros and cons of using it to maintain the batteries in storage. It is suppose to desulfate the batteries but I've heard people say that these will ruin your batteries. but I don't know why. Did anyone have any experience with these? Thanks, Bill

[Mosey]

Originally Posted by williep

I have a 2002 48 volt Club Car that I have to store for 5 months. It reads 52v across the batteries now but when I did this last year it took me about 5 days to get each battery charged enough, with an 8v charger, to trip on the 48v charger. One of the batteries actually read reverse voltage so I had to connect in parallel with a good battery until the voltage reversed to connect it to a charger. Anyway, I would like to avoid that next fall so a purchased a 48v Battery Minder. I would like to know the pros and cons of using it to maintain the batteries in storage. It is suppose to desulfate the batteries but I've heard people say that these will ruin your batteries. but I don't know why. Did anony have any experience with these? Thanks, Bill

I have a 2002 club car DS 48 volt system and before I bought my charger, I charged all the batteries individually with a 12 volt regular charger. (I have 4- 12 volt deep cell batteries). Just disconnect all the cables, and charge ech one separately until fully charged. They should read around the high 13's to 14 volts each, combined it would be around 53 volts. You should be good to go. Not sure about the charger you hve but I know my Club Car DS has a computer that requires a special charger that works with the computer to charge it. Once I got that, I had no problems keeping it charged. I would think you would only hve to charge them individually about 2- 3 times that way over the course of 5 months. The new chargers will automatically charge them every 16 days, you would be just doing it manually but you have to charge them separately... hope that helps. Don't know about the sulfate...

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[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by williep

I have a 2002 48 volt Club Car (6ea 8 volt batteries) that I have to store for 5 months. It reads 52v across the batteries now but when I did this last year it took me about 5 days to get each battery charged enough, with an 8v charger, to trip on the 48v charger. One of the batteries actually read reverse voltage so I had to connect in parallel with a good battery until the voltage reversed to connect it to a charger. Anyway, I would like to avoid that next fall so a purchased a 48v Battery Minder. I would like to know the pros and cons of using it to maintain the batteries in storage. It is suppose to desulfate the batteries but I've heard people say that these will ruin your batteries. but I don't know why. Did anyone have any experience with these? Thanks, Bill

Did you have your OEM charger (Powerdrive) hooked up? The OBC runs a maintenance cycle every ~15 days to prevent that.

The minder will supply a floating charge and if your batteries are not already sulfated to the max, it should not hurt them. It is only a trickle charge and the desulfation is very low. (some have problems where they are heavily sulfated and it does it too fast and causes the lower portion of the plates to build up with the crystallized material coming off. The correct way to do it is very slowly so it returns to solution and not drop crystals to the bottom of the battery plates.

[williep]

The OEM charger scares me being connected for long periods unattended. It is capable of putting out a large amount of current which could cook the batteries and I could return to a black hole where the house use to be. I think you are right about the sulfercation on the plates. It would not be good to build up crystals on the bottom of the plates which could short them out and greatly reduce the battery life.

[NoleFan4Ever]

Understand your concerns, but just to share my own experience with you, I have CC's with OBC's and Powerdrive chargers from Steinhatchee, Fl. to Walterboro S.C. and some sit for several months at a time and I have never had one fail me or a problem. (Now sure as I said this my ears are starting to burn so I will call everyone tonight and have them checked out! Lol!)

We just unplug them upon arrival or before use and plug them back in to top the charge back off. Granted, there are better (smart) chargers now, but in '95 and forward these made major differences in cart storage and battery maintenance...

[gkgeiger]

Not sure the OP got the answer he was looking for, so I'll ask this question. I bought a 48V 3 amp maintainer for my cart which is left alone for around 7 months. What I want to know is there any problem disconnecting the cables from the controller and connecting the charger to those battery terminals? Thanks in advance.

[NoleFan4Ever]

Why wouldn't you hook it right to the main pack negative and positive so it supply's the trickle charge to the entire pack without interrupting any of your cabling. If it is an IQ/Excel cart you can just place it in Tow mode if you don't want the controller to maintain power.

[gkgeiger]

Originally Posted by NoleFan4Ever

Why wouldn't you hook it right to the main pack negative and positive so it supply's the trickle charge to the entire pack without interrupting any of your cabling. If it is an IQ/Excel cart you can just place it in Tow mode if you don't want the controller to maintain power.

Maybe I didn't ask the question correctly. If I don't disconnect the cables and just connect my charger to the POs. and Neg. cables that go to the cart controller, will that work? I figured that if I put it in tow that I wouldn't get a complete circuit. School me! I'm not an idiot, but I'm not a CC expert either. Thanks again for your help.

[Golf cart guy]

Battery Minder will work for what your trying to do, all the other stuff they say it will do is hogwash.
Should still have someone come in and check the water a few times while it is in storage.

[gkgeiger]

Originally Posted by Golf cart guy

Battery Minder will work for what your trying to do, all the other stuff they say it will do is hogwash.
Should still have someone come in and check the water a few times while it is in storage.

Thanks very much for your reply. What you are suggesting is what I'm trying to avoid. We live in a community that is pretty much empty in the summer. So doing what you suggest would be hard. Do you really think 3 amps on 48 volts would empty the liquid in the batteries? I think I have only added water once in three years using the 15 amp charger for normal use. Thanks again.