batteries and water

[alwann]

Answer me this: do batteries need water more often in hot weather? I have an electric cart with year-old Trojans and it seems like the batteries need topping off every few days. I don't drive it far or often. The cart has a watering system. I don't see leaks and the gravity flow is steady. It's needed a gallon of distilled in the course of two weeks.

Thoughts?

[Altavia]

Answer me this: do batteries need water more often in hot weather? I have an electric cart with year-old Trojans and it seems like the batteries need topping off every few days. I don't drive it far or often. The cart has a watering system. I don't see leaks and the gravity flow is steady. It's needed a gallon of distilled in the course of two weeks.

Thoughts?

Are you aware to only add water to fully charged batteries?

That typical means the batteries are approaching end of life.

[alwann]

Are you aware to only add water to fully charged batteries?

That typical means the batteries are approaching end of life.

Yes, I am aware. If these year-old batteries are dying, I need to call the boys and say WTF.

[villagetinker]

I would double check your charger also to make sure you are not overcharging the batteries. If you have or can borrow a digital voltmeter, you can check the voltage as the batteries are charging. I have seen tables for the typical voltages for at rest, charging, and fully charged.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Answer me this: do batteries need water more often in hot weather? I have an electric cart with year-old Trojans and it seems like the batteries need topping off every few days. I don't drive it far or often. The cart has a watering system. I don't see leaks and the gravity flow is steady. It's needed a gallon of distilled in the course of two weeks.

Thoughts?

Yes, our are the same and the heat does cause faster evaporation in the summer time. So much that last year we lost the batteries due to lack of watering in the summer for two months

[Altavia]

Were the batteries ever fully discharged before recharging?

[Topspinmo]

I would never add water unless you can see level gone down below plates. Then just enough to cover the plates. Get level too high and it will just boil water out making a mess.

[MrFlorida]

Yes, batteries don't like the heat.

[merrymini]

Every couple of days? Something is wrong. Even when my batteries went, we never had to do that.

[Wondering]

Check them once a month. It depends on how much usage they get. The more you charge them the more water they will need.

[OhioBuckeye]

It sounds like you have a electric cart. Also is your house charger a Fast Charger? If so they tend to overheat your battery because they charge so fast that they overheat your battery, also hot weather evaporates water faster. Go to where bought your cart & ask them they should know. This is exactly why EV’s catch fire, because when they put a charger in your home this is fast charger & why they catch fire they charge so fast that they overheat your battery & catch fire!

[jimjamuser]

Every couple of days? Something is wrong. Even when my batteries went, we never had to do that.
One test that you could do for the charger is to get an amp-meter that measures current not voltage. It has to be placed in series with one of the charging wires (NOT PARALLEL OR ACROSS THE BATTERY TERMINALS). Then find out if the AMPS are too high for normal battery charging.
........If you knew a neighbor with similar batteries and cart, you could ask them to charge your cart for a few days to see what the liquid does. Or maybe if you belonged to an E-golf Cart CLUB, you could get some INFORMED help. Note......if there is NOT such a club, there will be one soon!

[tovliteuser]

No way you should be using that amount of water during normal operation. My guess would be that the charger is not working properly. They are supposed to reduce the charging current once the batteries reach the fully charged state. It sounds like yours is not doing this. Excess charging means excess boiling off of the electrolyte. Instead of leaving the cart plugged in overnight, try charging it for 2 or 3 hours at a time and see what happens.

[rjm1cc]

For 10 years I have added distilled water once a month. Never let the water go below the plates. I did not see a difference between winter and summer but some months I might have added a little more than others and the same for each cell. I do it manually. Probably less than 15 miles a week. Sounds like you have a problem.
I might be able to go for several months without adding water and still have the plates covered but as I said I do it monthly.

[MorTech]

It will use more water when the batteries are warmer but yours is too much. Touch the top of the batteries after charging...They should be warm and not hot. I suspect the charger is defective...Or a bad battery.