MAINTAINING YOUR GOLF CART BATTERIES
So you just purchased a brand new set of batteries for your golf cart. Your wallet is a little lighter and you want to know how to keep them from going bad on you. No problem I’m here to help. It’s pretty easy to do but requires consistency on your part to be effective. There are really only four things you need to do. Water your batteries, clean your batteries, charge your batteries, and USE your batteries.
Water your batteries
Sounds easy enough right? At least once a month you should be checking you water levels in your batteries. You should only check them after a full charge because the electrolyte (water) expands while charging. Pull the caps off one battery at a time, look into the cell (hole). The little plastic pieces that extend down the sides of the cell are your guide for filling. Your electrolyte (water) should be ¼ to ½ an inch below the plastic pieces. Too much electrolyte and you boil over and make a nasty mess on your garage floor. Too little and you run the risk of damaging your batteries. Also ther are battery fillers that will automatically stop the flow of water when your batteries are full. Check out the links at the end of this article.
Clean your batteries
I usually recommend to my customers a twice a month cleaning of the battery compartment and batteries alike. Park your cart somewhere you don’t mind a stain or dead grass. The runoff from your batteries contains sulfuric acid and will leave a trail wherever you wash them off. If you have any corrosion mix 1 cup baking soda to one gallon of water and pour onto and terminals of spots of corrosion and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then grab your hose and wash them off. You may want to think about protective gear such as rubber gloves, safety glasses or a face mask.
Charge your batteries
Deep cycle golf car batteries do not have a memory, meaning you can charge them at any time. You do not have to wait for them to be deeply discharged to charge them. As a matter of fact Trojan Batteries recommends you charge them whenever you are done using the cart whether it is a full round of golf or just going to the mailbox. It won’t hurt them.
Use your batteries
Deep cycle batteries don’t like to sit for long periods of time. So use your cart. Even if you have to bundle up like an Eskimo when it’s cold outside go drive for a mile or more, you will save yourself some cash if you just use your cart.
