Battery issue question, replacement?

[outatime]

Hi All

I have a 06 Precedent and a set of 4x 12v crown batteries which must be about 5 years old now, they have been beaten pretty good , run dry by accident several times and cracked on the plastic around the terminal and they still take a charge but I am getting worried.

After about 7 months of not using the cart I refill the water..maybe a little too much and I have a Summit2 charger after my original one died and the on board charger controller wouldn't allow for charging.

But also I have had issues with my cables contacting the batteries over heating and melting the plastic, about ten years ago I upgraded to a purple plum motor I think it's called as I needed faster speed to make it street legal.

It's also super strong smell when charging right now too, it's always been strong but I had trouble breathing around it today and had to move away (it's charging outside).

Two questions, first if it's time for a new set of batteries what size should I be looking for and also as I have not used it for so long is all this smell just because it's restarting charging again after so long? Am I being too hasty trying to upgrade batteries? Sorry should also mention we don't go far on the cart just haul trash to the road and drive around our 6 acre lot.

Hope someone can advise, thank you very much.

Stu

[RNajarian]

I am still relatively new to the Golf Cart World, and I look forward to hearing the wisdom of the more learned members of the forum to help you address your questions.

I do want to share something that I learned here that I found VERY helpful when I was trying to figure out how old my batteries were.

All (most) regular 12v car batteries have stickers on them denoting the month and year of manufacture. 7/20 for example, would indicate July 2020 date of manufacture.

I was told to check for a date stamp on my deep cycle battery that consisted of a letter and number. Sure enough I found D8. Starting January as “A” and ending “L” in December will tell you the month, the following number will tell you the year. My battery stamped D8 was manufactured August 2018. (I’m assuming 2018 and NOT 2008 because the batteries hold a solid 8.7 volt charge.)

That tidbit of info was very helpful in helping me resolve a battery issue I had.

Now let’s hear from the experts. . .