I assume your charger is a smart charger....No breaking in required. The charger will take care of any Equalize charging needed.

Always charge your lead-acid batteries full every night! If you leave your batteries in any state of discharge, you will lead-sulfate crystallize the plates and ruin the batteries over time. No wonder people are only getting 3 years from their batteries...Keep them charged full using a smart charger with the proper battery charge profile.

You should not run the batteries down less than 20% State of Charge (SoC). My cart controller shuts down when batteries are at 20%...at about 55 miles. I have a 6x8V Trojan T-875 setup.

If you go away for an extended time do you use a trickle charger?

I have used a batteryMinder for the past five years and the batteries still have plenty of life in them. Also, nice to come back to TV after a few months to a ready-to-go cart.

If your looking for longest life, you are building in your own safety factor.

They recommend never going below 80 percent discharge, however, in the villages, many do this and lower and it will diminish life of the battery pack.

Whoever told you that needs to stop selling batteries.

That is not good to let a deep cycle battery sit uncharged.

That's not conditioning batteries, that's helping to shorten there life.

The problem in this industry is everyone is a battery expert or a golf car expert. Ask 10 shops how to properly charge your batteries and youll get 10 different answers. Its difficult for us to properly educate the public on both batteries and even golf car repair.

If you are using that calculation, then you are depleting the batteries to 80% discharge

It is nice to see we have a couple of golf cart folks on TOTV again (including TechGC). I am just a DYI guy always trying to learn.

Will the CC Powerdrive charger from 2002 do this equalization charge?

Thanks

You already know way more on this topic than most of us, AJ :-)

All chargers have been designed to equalize the batteries. The final 4 hours (or so) is to bring all the batteries to the same shut off voltage. With the advent of new style chargers, its has changed a bit with the way batteries are charged now.

"Will the CC Powerdrive charger from 2002 do this equalization charge?"

I don't know but I doubt it does a proper Equalize but good enough, I reckon. I am pretty sure that all new electric carts of the last 5 years come with a proper smart charger now. The smart charger will automatically perform equalization and trickle charging. My Yamaha charger performs an Equalize charge about every month (I know when it occurs because I can smell a faint sulfur sent in the garage). It will send 63V to the 48V set for about 4 hours boiling off any crystals that may be on the plates. It will also perform a charge cycle automatically every 2 weeks when I'm away.

If you want a good smart charger, look into Delta-q QuiQ 1000...About $350 and is programmable for all battery types and profiles.

I hardly ever drive over 20 miles (about 70% SoC) between full charges. Trojan T2 batteries should last 2500 charge cycles at 30% depth of discharge((DoD) 70% SoC = 30% DoD)...Like 7 years.

Like with most appliances, you should check the manufacturer's recommendations. Your owner's manual should say how, or if, to break in a battery plus future operating instructions. If you no longer have your owners manual most manufacturers post them online.

Ohiobuckeye
 

I agree, if you're a snow bird, I would disconnect the batteries & use a trickle charge or make sure they're fully charged before you go home for the summer. Also & I know nobody would take 6 to 8 batteries out of a cart but if you would for some reason, DON'T SIT BATTERIES ON CEMENT, IT'LL RUIN THEM! TECHGC & yes 10 shops will tell you 10 different things. Also keep the battery post clean & the top of the batteries!

It depends on what type of battery the cart has installed. (AGM, L-ION, Lead Acid) Some have charge recommendations, others have none.

Is it ok to have the charger on the floor while charging? Lots of questions, but I want to do this right. Thank you all.