Do you know, untimely and frequent replacement of “Battery pack” in your golf cars has the most significant negative impact on the cost of ownership and return on your investment in Golf Car fleet.
Unfortunately, poor maintenance of batteries continues to be the main cause of concern leading to premature failure of batteries and un-necessary costs to keep your fleet running.
Good news is you can optimize and extend the service life of your batteries by as much as 50% by following these simple maintenance tips and turn your golf car operation into a profit center for your Club.
Regular Inspection
- Keep the Battery and Battery Terminals Clean. Use Water and Baking Soda Solution (100 : 3) to clean Batteries
- Inspect Battery Cables for damage, break, insulation damage etc. Replace damaged / Frayed Cables
- Keep Battery Terminals Tight. Tighten the Terminal Nuts to a torque of 80 to 89 Ft Lbs
- Apply Terminal Protectants / Petroleum Jelly to Battery Terminals
- Check the Charger Receptacle and Battery Charger Contacts for any damage / corrosion / Clean / Repair / Replace any damaged electrical parts
Electrolyte
- Check Battery Electrolyte Level and Top Up with Distilled Water. Never use common tap water /water
- Don’t allow Battery Plates to become exposed to air. This leads to sulphation, and will damage B plates.
- Prior to Charging, ensure Electrolyte Level is just enough to cover the battery plates. Electrolyte during discharge and rise during charging. Don’t over fill.
- After fully charging the batteries, add distilled water to the correct level of 1/8” (0.125” or 3.17 m the bottom of the fill well.
- Don’t over fill the electrolyte. This will cause the battery electrolyte to overflow which will capacity loss and corrosion
“Tips” on Battery Charging
- Batteries should be fully charged before using it for the rst time. The initial charging will prolong the battery
- Charge the Batteries frequently. Charge the Batteries immediately after use while the electrolyte temperature is high from us
- Don’t leave the Batteries in discharged state. When idle, wet lead acid batteries self discharge. Ex discharge can cause polarity reversal of individual cells and complete battery failure
- Charge Batteries fully before they are put on storage. Periodic Charging is necessary to keep the healthy when the batteries are on storage for extended duration
Equalization
Equalizing is an overcharge performed on flooded lead acid batteries after they have been fully ch reverses the buildup of negative chemical effects like stratification, a condition where acid concentration is greater at the bottom of the battery than at the top. Equalizing also helps to remove sulfate crystals might have built up on the plates. If left unchecked, this condition, called sulfation, will reduce the capacity of the battery.
Trojan recommends equalizing when low or wide ranging specific gravity (>0.030) are detected bet after fully charging a battery.
Step-By-Step Equalizing
- Remove all loads from the batteries
- Connect battery charger. If the charger does not have an equalization mode, you can unplug the and re-plug it back in. This also will conduct the equalization charge
- Start charging batteries
- Batteries will begin gassing and bubbling vigorously
- Take specific gravity readings every hour
- Equalization is complete when specific gravity values no longer rise during the gassing stage
Note: CAUTION! Battery Electrolyte contains Sulfuric acid and is poisonous. Avoid bodily contact electrolyte as it can cause severe burns or permanent eye injury. Always follow safety precautions while handling Batteries and Electrolyte.
Trojan Battery Company has been manufacturing Deep Cycle, Flooded batteries for more than 3 generations. Trojan applies rigorous industry battery testing procedures in compliance with BCI an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) test standards.
We, at Yamaha GOLF CAR, highly recommend you to follow these guidelines ! GO GREEN, GO YAMAHA GOLFCAR with TROJAN BATTERIES.