[Bay Kid]

Originally Posted by MorTech

That's not how you "condition" a lead-acid battery...That's how you ruin them...No wonder people are only getting 3 years from their batteries. Your charger will automatically run an Equalize charge when necessary or about every month that should help clean the lead-sulfate crystals off the battery plates. The charger ramps up the voltage for about 4-5 hours in an attempt to "boil" the plates clean. You may smell a bit of sulfur in the garage when Equalizing occurs and it is perfectly normal.

Believe me - Your Yamaha smart charger is smarter than your salesman

If I leave for several months it is ok to leave the cart hooked to the charger? Will the water be fine, if topped off, after 7 months of leaving this on the charger? Thanks.

[MorTech]

Originally Posted by Hacker1

MorTech, your description of charger function appears to indicate that a battery minder is unnecessary. Battery minder is sold as a sort of "trickle charger" & battery desulfator. If the charger actually performs as you describe, then that would seem to render the battery minder useless. Is this correct?

Yes...The newest carts with the latest smart chargers will take care of "minding" automatically by periodically running a charge cycle and equalize charges. If your charger doesn't have this capability, I personally would invest in a programmable smart charger like Delta-q QuiQ that can be programmed for all battery types (including lithium/AGM/GEL) and manufactures. You can find them on the internet for a couple hundred bucks.

One drawback of lead-acid is that it internally self-dischages at a rapid rate. after 2 weeks of just sitting, it will be at about 90%. If you remove the filler caps and look down each hole, it should be a dark grey or brownish color on the plates. If it is light grey or white then you will need to desulfate...which doesn't work very well and puts a serious hit on your remaining charge cycles. Minders, tricklers, and desulfators can do more harm than good. Prevention of lead-sulfate is key!

[MorTech]

Originally Posted by Bay Kid

If I leave for several months it is ok to leave the cart hooked to the charger? Will the water be fine, if topped off, after 7 months of leaving this on the charger? Thanks.

Yes...You can leave for several YEARS and your water level will be just fine. A Yamaha smart charger will run every 2 weeks which brings the charge level back to 100% from about 90%...Keeping your battery plates squeaky clean from that ruinous lead-sulfate. Always use distilled water...You want to use squeaky clean water as well.

[MorTech]

Another thing...Each battery has a birth date code stamped on the top. When you go to replace your battery set, make sure each of the batteries are not more than 4-5 months old. Trojan batteries have a 2-character date code: "A7" would be Jan 2017 birthdate - "B6" would be Feb 2016 birthdate. "K7" is coming off the factory line today (November 2017). This also holds true for your automobile batteries. You want fresh batteries like you want fresh bread...only bread is cheap.

Heck, if Im shelling out $750 for a new battery set, I don't want them to be more than a month old.

[TechGC]

Some of the recommendations, I wouldn't recommend. I personally have seen a set of batteries destroyed in 18 months by the "plug it in every time you use it"

If you drive it down the street and back, don't plug it in, your doing more harm than good. Put some run time on the batteries before you charge it. 15 minutes of true run time is what we would like to see before you plug it in. Everyday we hear all kinds of ways to charge your batteries, most wrong.
If you charge your batteries on a regular basis, you don't have sulfation, its as simple as that.
As I have stated before, everyone is a battery expert. If they were on a diesel mechanic, on a sub in the navy, saw a golf cart going down the street, they are a battery expert.
The debate will never end on this either, and people will do what they think is correct.

[MorTech]

"Some of the recommendations, I wouldn't recommend. I personally have seen a set of batteries destroyed in 18 months by the "plug it in every time you use it""

Destroyed by what? ...1000 other carts used the exact same way never see this failure. Are you saying in these failure instances the charger failed and destroyed the batteries?


"If you drive it down the street and back, don't plug it in, your doing more harm than good"

How exactly does it harm it?


If you charge your batteries on a regular basis, you don't have sulfation, its as simple as that

Define "Regular Basis". That term is meaningless.
Sulfation occurs as a natural chemical process when a lead-acid battery is discharged. To reverse sulfation, you have to charge your batteries full.


The debate will never end because of nonscientific notions espoused by those who are just plain wrong. There is really no debate...there is just exact science and math. Lead-acid batteries have been around for 160 years and to be an expert on them is not that difficult. Wikipedia "lead-acid battery" if you want to jog your high school math and chemistry.

[Bay Kid]

Originally Posted by MorTech

Yes...You can leave for several YEARS and your water level will be just fine. A Yamaha smart charger will run every 2 weeks which brings the charge level back to 100% from about 90%...Keeping your battery plates squeaky clean from that ruinous lead-sulfate. Always use distilled water...You want to use squeaky clean water as well.

This cart is a 2011. Wouldn't this be a smart charger?

[MorTech]

Originally Posted by Bay Kid

This cart is a 2011. Wouldn't this be a smart charger?

According to Yamaha parts list, it is model# JW2-H2107-03-00.

Yes it is.

I don't know if it is the latest tech 3-stage type (It probably is) but it is "smart".

[MorTech]

Consider the lead-acid battery in your automobile. You start the car and drive at least 10 minutes before shutting off almost all the time. You discharge the battery with the starter for 5 seconds and then the alternator kicks in and charges your battery full for the next 10 minutes. Your car battery should last about 6-7 years under these conditions if you keep the car out of the sun (Summer heat diminishes the battery) and use your car everyday to keep charge level at 100%. This charge cycle is no different than driving your fully charged golf cart one mile to the mailbox and then plugging in when you get home. I do this a few times a week (1.2 miles round trip to my mailbox) and my charger runs for maybe 15 minutes after I plug in. If you drive your automobile only a couple times a month, your battery will be in a constant state of discharge (maybe 80%) due to background electronics draw and the natural self-discharge of the battery. Under these conditions you will find your automobile battery lasting only about 3-4 years. It is critical for lead-acid battery longevity to keep them fully charged.

[biker1]

I have lived in the south for 25 years and car batteries don't typically last 6-7 years in the hotter climates. While it may be possible that some high cost batteries such as Optimas and certain AGMs will go longer, 3-4 years is pretty typical. My personal record is nearly 10 year for an AGM but typical no-maintenance flooded batteries last 3-4 years in the south.

Originally Posted by MorTech

Consider the lead-acid battery in your automobile. You start the car and drive at least 10 minutes before shutting off almost all the time. You discharge the battery with the starter for 5 seconds and then the alternator kicks in and charges your battery full for the next 10 minutes. Your car battery should last about 6-7 years under these conditions if you keep the car out of the sun (Summer heat diminishes the battery) and use your car everyday to keep charge level at 100%. This charge cycle is no different than driving your fully charged golf cart one mile to the mailbox and then plugging in when you get home. I do this a few times a week (1.2 miles round trip to my mailbox) and my charger runs for maybe 15 minutes after I plug in. If you drive your automobile only a couple times a month, your battery will be in a constant state of discharge (maybe 80%) due to background electronics draw and the natural self-discharge of the battery. Under these conditions you will find your automobile battery lasting only about 3-4 years. It is critical for lead-acid battery longevity to keep them fully charged.

[TechGC]

A golf cart battery and your automotive battery are two totally different styles of battery. The golf cart battery is deep cycle, it is meant to be discharged, an automotive battery is a starting battery, and as stated, used for a few seconds and the car system takes over. You cant compare the two. Florida heat does kill batteries no matter what type they are. 7 years out of a golf cart battery or an automotive battery is not the norm, no matter how you use it or charge it.

The biggest killer of a golf cart battery is " depth of discharge". When a battery is new and has full capacity, a 20 mile trip may only be a 50 percent discharge, but at 3 years that same 20 mile trip could equal 80 percent discharge. A 48 volt pack, at full discharge is 42 volts underload, the problem is the cart will run normal so people just keep driving, thus damaging the batteries.
I'm not sure what everyones experience is or how many golf cars a day everyone works on, but I see it everyday and hear every which way on how to charge a set of batteries. I can only give out info of what I know has worked for too many years to count, and the info can be taken for what its worth. Doesn't hurt my feelings if its not followed.

[MorTech]

Yes the two batteries are built differently but they have the same chemistry...The lead-acid chemistry is the point. In fact, the deep cycle plates are more robust.

According to Trojan white papers, max capacity takes about 50 charge cycles to achieve, and holds steady thru the life of the battery and then drops off pretty abruptly the last few months of life. You will notice your battery gauge dropping rapidly over about the final 2 months or so. It isn't that hard to miss and the chances of someone being stranded by this are near zero (If you do get stranded and have a cell phone and credit card, call one of the many cart battery suppliers and they will come out to you and install a new set of batteries, clean everything up, and take the old batteries away in just a few hours and you will be good to ho for another 6 years. While they work, you can walk thru the villages and chat with people. heck, it is highly likely that someone will even offer you a beer! There is no problem with being stranded for a few hours). At 30% depth of discharge, you should see 2500 charge cycles..30% is about 25 miles on a Yamaha AC. I doubt many people drive that far per day (I do go on long joyrides but the joy leaves me after 30 miles on a golf cart). Take into account some longer than 25 mile distances traveled per day and the 90F+ summer heat (keep in mind with an electric cart, there is no hot engine and the battery compartment has a nice seat cushion to block the sun's heat so you don't see smoldering temperature like you do in an automobile/gas cart engine compartment (I doubt the electric cart's battery compartment temperature is ever much above ambient) that takes away charge cycles, and you should see 6 years easily on the batteries. I have never seen or heard of more than 7 years on a lead-acid battery set though...So maybe 2500 charge cycles or 7 years whichever come first is more like it.