Batteries are still good after 5 years ??

[noserider]

Originally Posted by noserider

Batteries on charger and still charging. Pack voltage is 63.2

1) 10.54 2016 battery. Installed yesterday and been through 2 charge cycles.

2) 10.84 2014 battery

3) 10.04 2011 battery. Came with cart.

4) 10.9 2011 battery. Came with cart.

5) 10.97 2016 battery. 6 months old approx.

6) 9.8 2011 battery. Came with cart.

I was not sure which battery was called number 1 but my #1 was the battery that the positive lead goes to the motor and my #6 is the negative that goes to ground if that matters.

What do you think??

[teecro]

Well if I were just looking at the charging voltage I would have concern over batteries 3 & 6 as they are showing quite a bit less voltage than the remaining batteries. But like Scotty said they are doing what you're asking of them and you are spreading your cost out over a long period of time and your standing rested voltage of 8.5 to 8.6 per battery is quite acceptable.... The long term question is will the remaining 5 year old batteries shorten the life of your newer batteries and by how much? The only other cravit I would throw in is a 2 to 3 mile run is not enough to tax the batteries for a real life idea on your "tank" size; my 2 year old batteries still show 100 plus SOC after a 2 to 3 mile run in our seriously rolling hills in TN...

[scottyb]

The old batteries are low enough to be a concern.
I see 3 batteries lower than the other 3. Let the pack settle for 12 hours.
Give another voltage reading for 1-6 (Keep the same # for each battery so we can compare on charge voltage to settled voltage) ... can you take SG readings ?

[jjance]

What do you think??

I'm think that by this morning that #6 battery has equalized. And you battery problems are over for a while.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by jjance

I'm think that by this morning that #6 battery has equalized. And you battery problems are over for a while.

Battery 6 is 1v lower than 3 others in the pack under charge. I think your battery problems are $300 from over

When I was servicing carts and selling battery installs. I would not support customers getting into this situation because ultimately the money spent on one new battery will be greatly diminished by mixing old and new. This is especially true when mixing new & 5 yr old batteries.

Replacing 1 or 2 batts in a pack is a cycle that is hard to end. You could do by replacing all 3 old batts now.

[teecro]

I'd say take the cart out for at least a 5 to 7 mile outing and read off some voltage stat's...

That 10.97 volts on # 5 while charging has got to be getting mighty close to being overcharged (?) with 10.8 being the max recommended finish charge...

[jjance]

quote from David Hicks

. People often call me and claim "My golf cart takes forever to charge, I think I need new batteries". I'll go pick the cart up and bring it back to the shop to perform a discharge test on it to find out that it's still got 90% capacity and the batteries are perfectly healthy. Then I have to explain to him that his cart is taking the normal 12-16 hours to charge because his batteries are in great shape and they're absorbing the energy the charger is putting into them until they can't absorb anymore. 4 years later, I'll install a new set.

[teecro]

Didn't see any mention of charging time? In my opinion it just seems prudent to not base an assessment of batteries on charging voltage or 3 mile putt-putt around the block... Put a load on them and drag their *** down and see where your voltage stands...

[scottyb]

We (should) all know SG is the only way to really tell the health of a battery

[Sergio]

I will just add that regardless of the final pack voltage, the SOC of a pack of batteries wired in series is the same as the lowest capacity battery in the pack.

Your run-time will be directly related to the capacity of a single old battery, regardless if all the other batteries are brand new.