DPI charger with end of life batteries

[mkswanner]

I have a DPI Accusense Gen 3 charger that I'm using on Trojan T875 batteries that will be 5 yrs. old this February. I leave the charger hooked up at my beach house when I'm gone for a month or two in the winter to take advantage of the float mode of the charger.

However, the batteries are starting to use a lot of water, so I'm wondering about leaving them hooked to the charger since I'm not there to add water. The longest I'm gone may be Jan- Mar. It's in Myrtle Beach so the temps don't get extremely cold, but sometimes fall at or below freezing for a day or two.

What do you guys think? I don't want to boil out the batteries, but that's why I have the DPI. Will it be safe for several months or should I unplug it and take a chance on freezing? I filled the batteries before I left and they took 3/4 gallon.

The cart sits outside with a permanent Storage cover on it.

Up until this year I've left it hooked up with no issues. I come back and it's ready to go.

[JohnnieB]

The float charge voltage is above the normal at-rest voltage and below the gassing voltage, so there should be very little water usage during float charge even though water usage is very high during the absorption and finish stages of the regular charging cycles.

Also, 8V batteries typically contain from 6 to 7 quarts of electrolyte, for a total of 36 to 42 quarts in a 6 x 8V pack. You only added 0.75 Gallons of water (3 quarts), or somewhere between about 7% and about 8% of the total volume, so the plates were most likely still covered in all 24 cells before adding the water.

Water usage during three months of float charging shouldn't an issue.

[mkswanner]

Thanks, Johnnieb - appreciate the quick response. You've always been the go-to guy here so i really respect your opinion!

[Volt_Ampere]

If your charger doesn't do a trickle charge to maintain the full charge, I would buy a dedicated trickle charger. I use them on my cars that sit for any length of time. The ones I use are "Battery Tender" and they work great. They are designed to maintain full charge on FLA batteries. They make one for 48V carts. I have a couple 12V ones for cars.

[SBIRD!]

FWIW I've got the same charger. Last spring when my T1275's where shot I couldn't leave them on the charger because they would just continue to boil, never made it to float stage. First time I noticed the problem was when the seat was hot.
The DPI works fine with the new batteries and stays plugged in when not in use.

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

If your charger doesn't do a trickle charge to maintain the full charge, I would buy a dedicated trickle charger. I use them on my cars that sit for any length of time. The ones I use are "Battery Tender" and they work great. They are designed to maintain full charge on FLA batteries. They make one for 48V carts. I have a couple 12V ones for cars.

I have the DPI Gen IV (does not maintain) and started having issues with my Duracell 8v batteries using alot of water this past summer, (spoke to Johnnieb) After 5 yrs and over 600 rounds of golf I have 1 battery that is slowly bringing the rest of the pack down and wondering if purchasing the 8v battery tender is worth trying to revive the 1 battery?
https://www.batterytender.com/Batter...oaAqEFEALw_wcB