Battery Auto-fill Systems

[cartboy]

I think you will find that the use of the Flow Rite system is being re-evaluated at this time.

It came on the US Battery batteries, and since they are no longer being used, in favor of Trojan, it seems logical that the Trojan Hydrolink system will be used.

[cartboy]

Originally Posted by cartboy

I think you will find that the use of the Flow Rite system is being re-evaluated at this time.

It came on the US Battery batteries, and since they are no longer being used, in favor of Trojan, it seems logical that the Trojan Hydrolink system will be used.

http://www.trojanbattery.com/product...tering-system/

I think I said earlier that one of these had been put on a set of US Battery batteries by our "new" tech, but when our "regular" tech saw that, he moved it to a cart with Trojan batteries, and moved the Flow Rite one to the US Battery cart.

Does anyone here have a new E Z Go cart, with Trojan Batteries and an auto-fill? What kind?

[cartboy]

I have kept records of every valve that failed to close . . . every cell that overfilled . . . every time I watered our batteries . . . and we are into the third year with this fleet.

Yesterday our Tech replaced 120 valves that have failed. There were more than that, but 120 was the number he was allowed to replace at this time.

A few of them did not have floats on them, so there's no way they could ever close, and according to my records there are cells that have overfilled every time.

He is sending the old valves in. He showed them to me, pointing out an accumulation of stuff on them, saying it came from the batteries.

I try to keep our ice maker working, and although you would think it would be similar, there is a float switch on it which is crucial, and the shaft has to be cleaned periodically to get the accumulation of stuff off of it.

[cartboy]

Samsung's LIB Lithium Ion Battery system.

I had one of the new E Z Go Elite RXV's with the Samsung Lithium Ion Battery pack yesterday. It had been used for 36 holes of golf and the "fuel gauge" was still on 1/2!!!! Very solid cart!

Good for 54 holes.

No battery maintenance.

5 year, unlimited amp-hour warranty.

Charge in half the time.

Don't "cycle".

Weigh 49# v. over 300#.
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If it is what it claims to be, it should mean the end of lead-acid batteries.

[cartboy]

Originally Posted by cartboy

I have kept records of every valve that failed to close . . . every cell that overfilled . . . every time I watered our batteries . . . and we are into the third year with this fleet.

Yesterday our Tech replaced 120 valves that have failed. There were more than that, but 120 was the number he was allowed to replace at this time.

A few of them did not have floats on them, so there's no way they could ever close, and according to my records there are cells that have overfilled every time.

He is sending the old valves in. He showed them to me, pointing out an accumulation of stuff on them, saying it came from the batteries.

I try to keep our ice maker working, and although you would think it would be similar, there is a float switch on it which is crucial, and the shaft has to be cleaned periodically to get the accumulation of stuff off of it.

Yesterday I watered our batteries for the first time since 118 (actually) valves were replaced.

The last time I watered them before the replacement, 42 valves failed. This time, 13 did. It was a remarkable difference, having the filler shut off properly most of the time.

We have 65 carts. If over time the valves become less functional, and should be replaced, it would take 1560 of them.

[cartboy]

Originally Posted by cartboy

Yesterday I watered our batteries for the first time since 118 (actually) valves were replaced.

The last time I watered them before the replacement, 42 valves failed. This time, 13 did. It was a remarkable difference, having the filler shut off properly most of the time.

We have 65 carts. If over time the valves become less functional, and should be replaced, it would take 1560 of them.

I am "seasonal", and watered the batteries for the first time this season yesterday.

The auto-fill valve failures were much less, but with a strange result>>>As our US Battery batteries fail, they are being replaced with Trojans. All four get replaced. Yesterday 10 of the 18 carts with Trojan batteries, meaning someone has put the auto-fill system on them locally, had a valve that failed, while only 4 of the 47 carts that still have the original US Batteries (but have had failed valves replaced) had a valve that failed.

A couple of the Trojan carts have the Trojan Hydrolink auto-fills on them (http://www.trojanbattery.com/product...tering-system/), and the rest of them have the Flow-rites that were taken off the US Battery batteries (https://flow-rite.com/battery-watering/pro-fill). Both set-ups had valve failures.

I have been dealing with auto-fill valve failures since 2009, the first time I ever used one, on three fleets of EZ Go and one fleet of Club Cars, and with a variety of watering systems. All have had failures every monthly battery watering for almost ten years, so I don't anticipate anything being done about it.

That is a major attraction of the Samsung LIBs, no maintenance required.

[bbriggs]

I water batteries in only 2 carts, a Turf-2 Carryall and a Carryall 550. These carts have 8-6v batteries (CR-225 Crown in Turf-2 and T-145 Trojan in 550) where a number of the fill caps are located below support members between the seat and the bed. Difficult to see the liquid level and difficult to access. The Carryall 550, a 2016 made in January of that year, has the factory fill system apparently made by Flow-rite. It works perfectly (at the moment). I installed a Flow-rite system on the Turf-2. Works perfectly. These systems are relatively young, so perhaps they will fail with time. But, wow, this really makes a difference. I watered the 16 batteries today in under 5 minutes where about 4 minutes were consumed grabbing the water and hose and then returning them to their storage location. They only drank a quart for all 48 cells which were last watered in February. But the carts were only charged a few dozen times each in that 2 month period. I very much like these systems...at the moment.

[cartboy]

Originally Posted by cartboy

I have kept records of every valve that failed to close . . . every cell that overfilled . . . every time I watered our batteries . . . and we are into the third year with this fleet.

Yesterday our Tech replaced 120 valves that have failed. There were more than that, but 120 was the number he was allowed to replace at this time.

A few of them did not have floats on them, so there's no way they could ever close, and according to my records there are cells that have overfilled every time.

He is sending the old valves in. He showed them to me, pointing out an accumulation of stuff on them, saying it came from the batteries.

I try to keep our ice maker working, and although you would think it would be similar, there is a float switch on it which is crucial, and the shaft has to be cleaned periodically to get the accumulation of stuff off of it.

We are now at the beginning of the fourth year with our 65 2015 RXVs. They came with US Battery batteries, and 19 of the carts have had those replaced with Trojans.

Yesterday was the monthly battery watering day. It's been hot, and I used 3 times the amount of distilled water as normal. The US Battery batteries (3 years old now) all took a whole lot of water.

41 of the 65 carts had at least one auto-fill valve fail, with that cell overflowing. (Keep in mind that is after our Tech replaced 120 faulty valves at the end of last season). The auto-fills on the Trojans are the worst culprits, meaning I suspect when those batteries replaced the originals, and the auto-fills were switched over, they were not all put in carefully.

(See Post 25)
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I should mention that I have experienced denial and stonewalling for the 10 years I have been using auto-fill systems, and I have been experiencing valve failures. I have had valve failures on every system I've had to work with, from 2008 until present, three fleets of EZ Go and one fleet of Club Cars, and every system of water delivery I've used, and every attempt to correct it from installing different-length valves stems, to pulling and cleaning valves, to replacing valves.

One argument is that our watering system does not meet the requirements of the manufacturer:

Operating Requirement of Pro-Fill SPW system:
Flow-Rate: 2-5 gallons per minute*
Pressure Range : 3-35 PSI (no flow, static)
Temp. Range: 32º - 150º F (0º - 65.5º C)

claiming the flow rate is too low.

Yet, our "Tech" documented our flow rate when he was requesting replacements for our auto-fills, and he also documented the flow rate for the "gravity" systems that the cart manufacturers provide with the carts. Needless to say, our electric-pump-operated watering system had a much high flow rate then the manufacturers "gravity" system and hand pump.

Instead of providing new auto-fill systems, out Tech was allowed to replace 120 valves. He is no longer around, and I am not pushing the issue any more . . . but still documenting it.

It's fleet lease renewal time, so . . .

It seems totally unfair that those Samsung LIBs are not on every golf cart now being made.

[cartboy]

Originally Posted by bbriggs

I water batteries in only 2 carts, a Turf-2 Carryall and a Carryall 550. These carts have 8-6v batteries (CR-225 Crown in Turf-2 and T-145 Trojan in 550) where a number of the fill caps are located below support members between the seat and the bed. Difficult to see the liquid level and difficult to access. The Carryall 550, a 2016 made in January of that year, has the factory fill system apparently made by Flow-rite. It works perfectly (at the moment). I installed a Flow-rite system on the Turf-2. Works perfectly. These systems are relatively young, so perhaps they will fail with time. But, wow, this really makes a difference. I watered the 16 batteries today in under 5 minutes where about 4 minutes were consumed grabbing the water and hose and then returning them to their storage location. They only drank a quart for all 48 cells which were last watered in February. But the carts were only charged a few dozen times each in that 2 month period. I very much like these systems...at the moment.

Just noticed this. Yeah, the system is nice for a private cart owner.

The failures of it become more apparent when dealing with 65 carts that get used every day and need battery watering once a month.

The inadequacy of auto-fills is seen once you have to deal with the bigger numbers.

Not that I doubt you when you say they are working, but are you sure? When I first started using them in 2009, I did not realise they were not all working because I did not know enough to know they were not working. When someone else services ours, like before I get back for the season, they have never noticed they were not working, even when they were not working, because some of them always do not work (the autofills and my co-workers ).

When I took over the fleet of Club Cars in Florida, the person who had been doing it before me never noted that they were not working. I knew it the first time I serviced the batteries. It took me three months to convince the dealer to take a look, and once they looked for what I told them to look for, they agreed.

I have never had any problem convincing our assortment of techs over the years, because they have all already knew they do not always work. They pulled enough valves to know why they do not work.

[Golf cart guy]

So I'll add from the all private owner repair standpoint, since that's what I do.
I wouldn't own a BFS, I can do it faster and better the old fashion way. I have seen way too many ruined batteries due to these systems.
The other thing that is not thought about is as the batteries get older, the batteries come up to full charge at a different rate, some charge up faster than others. Since the fills systems only know how to fil the batteries one way ( to the full level), as the older batteries charge, they boil the water out. Ive seen too many valves, that done fill, over fill or leak. I cant count how many I have pulled off cuz its ruined the owners batteries and threw them in the trash.