Batteries are bone dry

[Barbersham]

Trojan t105 e2 stamped. Got the golf cart from a friend. Sat for the last year and batteries have no water in them. When you put it in reverse you can hear the reverse buzzer so it has some juice. Question I have is can I add water and charge them up? I know the batteries need to be replaced I just want to make sure nothing else is wrong before I put new batteries in and lock myself in for a major wallet shock. It’s a mpt800. Are there any dangers to putting water in and charging them? Do I let the water sit for a while after adding before I try charging them?

[NCPW]

Just to test it out; Yes, try adding water and charging the batteries 2 at a time on a 12v car battery charger to get the voltage up, then connect it to the 36v golf cart charger. Maybe it'll have enough juice to test it out.

[Brob1969]

In the state they are currently in, you will want to add DISTILLED water; just enough to cover the plates. At that point you can go ahead and charge them. Make sure the charger is capable of a high amperage bulk charge. After the charger has run its course, check the water again and make sure the plates are covered. Then hit it with another charge.

[Barbersham]

I’m told trying to do this results in explosions and at best I would get a 5 minute battery pack

[yurtle]

Since it was a friend's can you ask whether it worked before the batteries were neglected? Might help decide whether it's worth the expense if you can't get enough charge to see if it goes.

[bronsonj]

The explosions are when you have an automatic watering system. As the batteries "boil" they release hydrogen. Normally the hydrogen floats off into the ether. In an "automatic watering system" the tubes hold the hydrogen waiting for a spark.

If you are worried about it, do it outside with the seat cover off and not near an open flame or lit ciggy.

But yes, distilled water and charge with your 36v charger. If the charger won't kick on you'll have to use the 12v charger trick.

Once the 36v kicks on and charges, let it finish. Could be 20 hours later. disconnect and check the water levels and refill with distilled as needed. Then start another round of charging.

You may get a 5 minute pack, you may get a 35 minute pack. Back to Back charges seem to help abused packs but the max is indeed limited based on how much abuse the pack has had.

Do not try to drive the cart with the batteries in their current, dry and abused state.

[Barbersham]

Trying to find somewhere on here that shows how to check batteries. I am not too familiar with batteries. So I filled with water and charged with 12v then plugged in charger and charged it. It runs around the block but you can tell instantly that it has no power. I drove it 3 blocks downhill then turned around and drive it up the slight grade back and it was half speed. Friend told me that you can sometimes restore the batteries if you trickle charge each set for 24 hours a couple times after draining them so I’m messing around with them. I have a multimeter and after charging one set and waiting a couple hours one shows 6.32v one shows 6.25v. The batteries I haven’t charged show 6.08-6.18v. Does this mean anything? Like if it’s showing over 6v does that mean there are no bad cells? What else can I do to the batteries to try and charge batteries more and find out if one battery is junk or something?

I know the batteries will never just be good again. I’m simply trying to extend the life and try the cart out around the house to see if I want to keep it or just sell it as is. It is an mpt800

[JohnnieB]

Attached is a SoC (State of Charge) chart for Trojan brand deep-cycle batteries, like the May-2012 dated T-105's you have. To get a reasonable SoC estimate from the chart, the batteries need to sit for about 12 hours after the charger is disconnected.

Don't drive cart any more until all 6 batteries have been charged. In the unbalanced state they are in, it would be easy to irreversibly damage the plates of the batteries with lower voltage.

Add enough distilled water to cover plates and using a 12V charger, charge them in pairs until they all have about the same voltage after sitting, then connect the 36V charger and let them charge until charger shuts off. Then wait about 30 minutes and start another complete charge cycle. Repeat at least twice.

Between charge cycles, add enough water to cover plates as needed.

Charge in a well ventilated place with seat raised, they are very likely to gas a lot.


Hopefully, you might be able to resurrect them enough to verify the cart's operation, but getting much more than that is iffy with a set of 7 year old batteries that have sit in a discharged state for months.

[Barbersham]

Actually drives pretty good for 5 minutes. I was just wondering if they all had 6.33 volt after charge and sitting if they were good or that doesn’t matter because they discharge fast.

[Mooncarter]

You will have to do as JohnnieB says to find out. Do the charges.