Charging - too often?

[Volt_Ampere]

Look at it this way. Your car battery is continuously being charged when you drive. That is good for Lead Acid batteries. You can't charge too often as long as you keep the water at proper levels. You will use more water if you charge more often.

[JohnnieB]

CG, I think codetoad's comment (I agree, long trips are the best trips.) referred back to my attempt at humor (Drive only 1/2 mile a day gets boring, driving further is more fun. ) rather than referring to how much the batteries get discharged, but most definitely agree with everything else in your post.

Some people only drive their cart a short distance each day while others drive 20 miles or more each day, but most people's cart use is someplace between those two extremes. The net result is that there is no single answer to questions about the best batteries to buy and the best way to maintain them. However, in general terms, the best batteries to buy tends to be the highest AH batteries you can afford at the lowest price that can be found locally and to recharge them after each use.

It is entirely possible to overcharge batteries, but with a charger that shuts off automatically, either when the pack voltage reaches a pre-selected voltage of via dV/dT technology, you have to do it intentionally. Initiating a charge cycle every day without the cart having been moved, might do it, but if the cart is driven several hundred yards before the charge cycle is initiated, I don't believe harmful overcharging will occur. On the other hand, I try to avoid recharging after a very short trip whenever possible and practical to do so.

I wanted to use my cart to transport my wife and me to our favorite shooting range a couple times a week during the summer months, so I installed seven 245AH batteries to get a 30+ mile range while staying above 50% SoC, however the local ordinances changed and we can no longer drive a cart on some of the roads between here and there. Now the longest trip I typically make is about 15 miles round trip, so I have about twice the storage capacity I need and from the battery discharge standpoint, that means my short trips are shorter than they are for people with standard capacity battery packs.

Fortunately, I have a steep hill fairly close to my place and I usually climb it before putting my cart away after taking a short trip around the yard to pick up fallen branches and other debris. Or I'll make a quick trip to the highway on the road in from of my house, which is nearly two miles round trip. Of course, if i don't have time, I just put the cart on charge. Like I said, I try to avoid recharging nearly fully charged batteries.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

Look at it this way. Your car battery is continuously being charged when you drive. That is good for Lead Acid batteries. You can't charge too often as long as you keep the water at proper levels. You will use more water if you charge more often.

Yes, but the battery charger (alternator) has a regulator to prevent overcharging. Once the Amps drawn from the car's battery during engine start have been returned to the battery, the regulator only allows the alternator to produce a number of Amps the car's electrical systems are drawing while driving. Basically, it more or less goes into a float charge mode and tries to maintain the battery voltage at 13.4V, or something in that neighborhood.

On the other hand, a golf cart battery charger will put out its maximum amps for a period of time before the battery pack voltage reaches the charger cutoff criteria, even if the battery is fully charged to start with, so overcharging can occur. Fortunately, if the cart is moved at all, or the batteries have set for several hours after being fully charged, the batteries are no longer fully charged and the danger of overcharging hardly exists.

In a nutshell, recharge after each use, but if the trip is very short, try to lengthen the trip when possible and practical. Of course, that is just my opinion.

For example: I have to back my cart out of the garage to get the riding mower out. I let the cart sit while I mow the lawn (2-3 hours) and if there is time and weather permitting (I stop mowing when it rains ), I take the cart up the nearby hill or to the end of the street, before putting it back in the garage and on charge.

[Cruise Master]

Originally Posted by scottyb

For the same reason lying on the beach all day every day isn't good for you

Sometimes I go surf fishing.



Shout out to JohnnieB for the explanation. Makes perfect sense now.