Battery charging Winter Texan away several months

[erocs]

Originally Posted by kgsc

You could look into one of those battery filling systems that auto stop when they reach the correct level in the battery and maybe put a couple gallon reservoir on it ?? Not sure if it would work but a thought

kgsc...thank you, yes that is a thought, and I will do some research in that regard.

[erocs]

Well folks, thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth as time to leave is running short.

Dear Jim:

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Technical - Charger.

Based on your comments below:

I have 6 T875 Trojan Batteries which are only a month old. I have the original Club Car charger. I am a winter texan, so the batteries and cart will be unattended and not run from April until beginning of December. I have no one to check the cart or batteries when I am gone. I would like to know, whether it will be better for the batteries to leave the charger connected, in the manual it says it will come on every 7 days during storage periods....or....charge the batteries fully...disconnect the charger...until I return? which one would be best? Thank you

Below is Trojan Battery's response:

It would be best for the batteries to be recharged periodically while they are being stored. If the charger will come on as described, this would be a good option. Have a good day.

If you have additional comments or questions, please contact me at the information below.

Sincerely,

Stacey Delzeit
Product Engineer
Trojan Battery Company
sdelzeit@trojanbattery.com
678-518-7378

the only issue is the water level as was mentioned earlier...

from what I have read, the water levels drop due to charging...not so much straight evaporation...so with charging which basically amounts to trickle maintenence, I hope they will be alright.

So for now, I am leaning towards leaving them plugged in to the charger, and hope the water levels do not drop below the plate level. I will still see if I can find another solution for the water levels, if anyone has any other suggestions in that regard...fire away please.

[jakesnake27]

Originally Posted by erocs

Well folks, thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth as time to leave is running short.



the only issue is the water level as was mentioned earlier...

from what I have read, the water levels drop due to charging...not so much straight evaporation...so with charging which basically amounts to trickle maintenence, I hope they will be alright.

So for now, I am leaning towards leaving them plugged in to the charger, and hope the water levels do not drop below the plate level. I will still see if I can find another solution for the water levels, if anyone has any other suggestions in that regard...fire away please.

Honestly, leaving any vehicle for that amount of time is simply not good for it...
It seems that your best possible situation would be to make sure the water levels are full when you leave, and keep the charger plugged in to the cart while you are away.
Now if you can find someone to check the water levels for you, that would be a bonus

[erocs]

Originally Posted by jakesnake27

Honestly, leaving any vehicle for that amount of time is simply not good for it...
It seems that your best possible situation would be to make sure the water levels are full when you leave, and keep the charger plugged in to the cart while you are away.
Now if you can find someone to check the water levels for you, that would be a bonus

Yes totally agree...and I will see if I can find a year around resident who lives in our park who might give it a look once a month or so...and who I could trust to not overfill.

[jdunmyer]

Erocs,
If you can't find anyone to check the water and are worried about leaving the charger plugged in all summer, there's one more alternative:

Just leave it sit. But, I'd take a few precautions:

Make sure the pack is fully charged. After charging, fill the water to the "max" level, about 1/8" below bottom of the tube. After leaving it sit overnight, put the charger on it again to mix the electrolyte.
Wash and dry the tops of the batteries, they must be CLEAN.
Disconnect one of the jumper cables between the individual batteries to be certain that there's no external draw.

Obviously, this isn't the best course of action, but if you must leave it, give it the best possible chance...

[erocs]

Originally Posted by jdunmyer

Erocs,
If you can't find anyone to check the water and are worried about leaving the charger plugged in all summer, there's one more alternative:

Just leave it sit. But, I'd take a few precautions:

Make sure the pack is fully charged. After charging, fill the water to the "max" level, about 1/8" below bottom of the tube. After leaving it sit overnight, put the charger on it again to mix the electrolyte.
Wash and dry the tops of the batteries, they must be CLEAN.
Disconnect one of the jumper cables between the individual batteries to be certain that there's no external draw.

Obviously, this isn't the best course of action, but if you must leave it, give it the best possible chance...

jdunmyer...thanks for the feedback...that is exactly what I'll do if I decide not to leave it plugged in.

[carguy]

We leave our Precedent in the garage in Phoenix over the summer. I have a neighbor come over and plug it in, charge it, and then unplug it. She checks the battery levels every time. We pay her $15 for each visit, and she comes over every 3-4 weeks. I leave a gallon of distilled water for her, and a small funnel.

I don't like leaving it pluged in all the time. There have been a couple of garage fires in our HOA that were caused by carts being plug into the chargers, and left for the summer.

i also have have a battery desulfator on the battery string. It's called a "Power Pulse", and is available in different voltages.

I also put a couple of pieces of carpet under each tire, and pump the tires up to 40 lbs.

Around here (Sun Lakes, AZ) there are several golf cart dealers that will come to your home over the summer and check on peoples carts. Got no idea what they charge.

My .02 cents worth.

Have fun, Dave

[erocs]

thanks crguy for the post. My buddy is having a neighbor come over once a month and plug it in, then unplug it again. Not as generous as you, he is paying him $20 for the whole time

Looked at the Power Pulse, didn't even know it existed, learn something every day, guess one would need two...says it is good for 2 or 3 batteries in parallel.

The cart will be under the open carport, so not as concerned about fire, but nevertheless it is always a consideration with chargers.

Just talked to my buddy again, a friend of his, left his plugged in one summer, and said the batteries did not have a full charge when he came back. He said he unplugged it, left it for an hour or so, then plugged it back in, and then it fully charged. He also said he did not lose any water for the months he left it plugged in and charging occasionally by the charger internal electronics.

Seems to me the absolute best scenario is if there was someone you could trust not to overfill if required, and would charge every month, that would be the best.

and the saga continues...any more opinions? experiences?

[lockman1]

Originally Posted by Fishing Dude

For winter months up here I disconnect my batteries with a full charge and then charge first thing when taking out of hybernation never had a problem. Would think the same thing would work in Texas.

I did this exact same thing!
Mostly because it was "unattended" for 5 to 6 months, and had no one to check it for me!

No power outages, no voltage spikes, no water evaporating, and no fires!
The batteries lasted 5 years before the cart was sold, and still going strong then too!

My .02

[carguy]

Looked at the Power Pulse, didn't even know it existed, learn something every day, guess one would need two...says it is good for 2 or 3 batteries in parallel.


I don't know about your '95 cart, but on our '05, all 6 batteries are wired in series, so I bought one 48 volt Power Pulse, and hooked it across the string
( + 48 v. and - 48 .)