rotate your batteries?

[reb0957]

I have been helping take care of this cart for a few years. My grandfather told me every few months to rotate the batteries. By rotate he meant move every battery in the pack one spot clock wise. I set up the clockwise rotation so I would remember. The reasoning was that batteries get a different type of load and or wear depending on the position in the pack.

Since joining about a week ago I have read **** near every battery thread on here and have never seen this mentioned. He got this information from a golf pro.

What do you think of this logic?
TIA

[JohnnieB]

Using the same logic, should we get tips on how to play golf from a professional golf cart technician?

The batteries are connected in series, so the exact same current passes through each of them on while being discharged and while being charged.

Unless the battery pack is been tapped for 12V accessories, there should be little , if any, need to rotate the batteries. Even if the battery pack is tapped, which causes and unequal discharge, switching the wires for the tap is far easier than physically moving the battery locations. (It is best to use a separate 12V battery for accessories, or use a DC to DC converter or Voltage Reducer for accessories, so the batteries are discharged equally.)

If the batteries connected in series are not very closely matched in storage capacity, the battery pack will become imbalanced over time, but an occasional equalization charge is usually all that is needed to keep them reasonably well balanced. I use a resting voltage variation of 0.1V between batteries as a trigger point to initiate equalization charging.

Physically rotating the batteries may be a good cardiovascular exercise, but other than that, it is not something that needs to be done.

[Volt_Ampere]

Also - please change the air in your tires monthly! :-)

The only advantage to rotating your batteries is that you will build up your arm muscles.

[reb0957]

So, it wasn't the golf pro. It was the guy who does the cart maintenance. Regardless, I am sure the rumor was handed down from one guy to the next. Like I said I never noticed that posted here so had to ask.
It didn't really bug me because I took them out quarterly +/- a week or two to completely clean the cart and battery tray.

[scottyb]

If there is a power reducer in the cart which draws 12v from part of the pack then this tactic would have some value. Otherwise it's an old wives tale like 'run your pack down to nothing for their health' no - batteries of this type have no memory and don't like being run down low... Stick around we got the right answers

[cgtech]

I agree. As stated above, unless you have 12v accessories (like headlights) "tapped in" that draw from 2 of your 6 batteries, it has zero basis on real battery life. Its a "old wives tale".