Re: golf carts(again)
 

The following is taken out of a website that talks about proper battery watering. I was told to water my batteries in the morning after they have been fully charged to make sure they are not overfilled.


Adding water to a battery is not like adding gasoline to an engine. It's more complicated and has the potential to kill the industrial vehicle—or at least the power source—if not done correctly.

It's tough to talk about battery maintenance without getting into the science of these complicated electro-chemical beasts. Properly maintained, industrial batteries are cost-effective workhorses that should last as long as five years. Electrolyte level in a battery rises and falls—much like the tides—in response to the state of its charge. If a battery is overfilled, then charged, electrolyte will rise to dangerous levels. Batteries on chargers produce hydrogen and oxygen gases as a byproduct of the electrolysis process. For overfilled batteries, explosions can happen, along with acid spray.

"When you're using the battery," explains Harold Vanasse, senior vice president, Philadelphia Scientific (Philadelphia), a battery accessory and component supplier, "the electrolyte level is at its lowest because acid has moved into the plates. As you charge the battery, gas is produced on the plates and drives the acid out, causing the electrolyte level to slowly rise."

The message here is to not to fill a battery to the top. When a battery is put on the charger, the expanding acid-laden water can overflow. The industry term is "boil over." Boil over puts sulfuric acid onto the case of the battery as well as the lift truck, floors, racks and people if they are near by.

"The other thing about boil over that's important to know," says Vanasse, "is that some of the sulfates are washed out each time there is boil over. You need sulfates to maintain the capacity of the battery."

Vanasse estimates that for every boil over, the battery loses three percent of its capacity. Those boil overs can add up and impact the running time of the battery.

Battery maintenance experts recom-mend watering batteries on a fixed schedule, depending on the age of the battery. Watering is done typically once a week. The key is to monitor the electrolyte level. It's still not uncommon to find companies filling the batteries when they remember to do it—in spite of what all the battery manufacturers tell them. Hand-watering procedures in some plants (an estimated 70% of the batteries are filled by hand), might consist of an employee with a flashlight looking at water levels, then replenishing with water from a hose or a soda bottle, says Vanasse.

Re: golf carts(again)
 

After 2-3 weeks of looking at golf carts (our 1st after 4 yrs in TV), we bought last Friday. When we started looking, I asked for comments on TOTV (another thread) and got some input. We were open minded to both gas and electric although we were leaning toward gas a little more because of added range. We wanted a 4 seater and we don't play golf (sorry) and don't think we will ever take it up. We were also considering "Street Legal." But more on that later.

Looked at Club Car and were not impressed by dealer, area to test drive in, or the cart itself.

Checked out EZ-Go and had a few issues. EZ-Go cart (both gas and electric) seems pretty well put together. Didn't care for the standard bench seat in the back as it was like sitting on a 4x4. They do have an upgrade to a "Suite Seat" which is pretty good. The gas model was about what you can expect for a gas unit but couldn't take it for a long enough ride to see if it would quiet down at top speed. Electric had good pickup but again to short of a test area to see how it really acts. Salesperson gave me some pricing sheet and left us on our own to figure out what it would cost. One small issue was the closeness of the "go" pedal to the seat. I'm not tall anymore (use to be 6ft, now 5'9" and still have long legs) and there was little room to put my left foot when the "go" pedal was not depressed. Also little to no room to put my right foot as the break pedal was very close to the outside edge of the cart. Maybe that is why I see some many people driving with their left foot hanging outside the cart. A friend that maintains EZ-Go told me that if you spend a little more for Mid/HI grade gas, you will reduce noise and smell on the gas carts.

I looked at The Villages and their Yamaha gas and electric. Drove both a considerable distance and was able to see how they would act on hills (not the bridge over 441 but Stillwater up to Odell). Electric faded some with two in the cart and most likely will fade more with 4 people. Gas had a slight fade with 2 people but felt that it wouldn't be much different with 4 people. Quality seemed OK. What turned me off was being told that I had to buy certain options in order to get other things I wanted, i.e. you can't get Tier 3 without getting both Tier 1 & 2 add-ons. Remember, I don't golf. I hate being told I have to buy something I didn't want. Sales person, who owned a gas cart told me also to use higher grade gas to get rid of smell and reduce noise.

I looked at Tombolin electric "Street Legal" Only difference between "Street Legal" and Non-Street Legal is the speed setting for the controller. Looks and drove like a pretty nice unit. Good standard equipment. Several draw backs from my point of view. This is a new startup operation and it will be some time before they get established or fail. This may not bother other people but it gave me some concerns. Other concern was pricing and which accessories were included or added to the bottom line. It wasn't totally clear. But considering all factors, this would most likely was my second choice.

I looked at ParCar. I this point I was leaning slightly toward gas although not much since Ez-go, Yamaha, and Par Car all claim 50+ miles range on their electric carts. Par had only sold one gas unit in the last year but luckily they were able to give me a test drive in a gas cart which was in the process of being sold. The salesmen and the shop supervisor at the factory both told me that they didn't think I'd like it. They were right. The cart was great, but they are using a Briggs & Stratton engine. If they could only put the EZ-Go gas engine in there, it would be a great unit. They actually use sound deading material to bury the noise. Novel idea! I moved on to the electric and for the few dollars difference in price, selected the "Street Legal." Salesperson was great to work with. After spending a lot of time going over the carts and their differences, he walked us through pricing. He made several good suggestions on things we should get (options) and what was a waste of money. Even swapped out some "standard" items we didn't want for options we wanted. Even with all of that, we weren't too far above the base price. What a pleasure to do business with. As you can probably tell by now. We bought the "Street Legal" ParCar.

Our decision was based on what we liked/disliked about the various manufacturer's quality, the experiences we had in test driving the carts, and the sales people we had to deal with ( a possible indication of how the service department would treat me). Our choice between gas vs electric is still the same. Both have their pro's and con's and if ParCar had a decent gas unit, we may have bought that. Going "Street Legal" was only for the little added ump to get up hills. Last comment, if you fill your batteries "after" charging and get the one-fill system (offerred by EZ-Go, Yamaha, and ParCar), you greatly reduce the chance of boil over. Unless of course your controller malfunctions. But then, you can also spill gas all over..........

Re: golf carts(again)
 

Gas carts stink, vibrate, pollute and are noisy.

DC

Re: golf carts(again)
 

WLAN56,
very nice summary, thanks for all that info

Re: golf carts(again)
 

:agree: WLAN56.

Downeaster - Why waste words huh? There are probably people on other forums in the world that are starving :joke:

Re: golf carts(again)
 

Got to make up your own mind,I preferr the gas cause I can fill it myself and not worry about "spots" on my garage floor or whether I plugged it in right or spend $$$$ for 6 new batteries! Yes, gas should be kept tuned up just like your car, but only once a year. Also with the villages getting bigger and bigger you can not to my knowledge go golfing at one end of the villages and then expect to travel my farther then home before you are in the "danger zone" of no juice. MY friend comes to my house with his electric cart and we go golfing in my gas! :joke:

Re: golf carts(again)
 

Downeaster says it all, in few words! :agree:

Re: golf carts(again)
 

One day I set out to see how far we could travel in our electric golf cart on a charge. We set out with a GPS and from Belleair we went to the Historic side, Spanish Springs, Sumter Landing, south of 466A via Buena Vista, Colony Square, back to Sumter Landing, Laurel Manor, then home. It was performing well so after dinner I tooled around the neighborhood 'til after dark just to run up some more miles. I finally quit at 42 plus miles. That is equivalent to Ocala and back. It is also way too many miles in a golf cart in one day.

DC

Re: golf carts(again)
 

And that's great for the cart owner who has distance limits and will never go further than their mapped out mileage, but we've never had to take our cart out to see how far we can go, we can just go and not worry about the distance. If one has health problems, that is a great piece of mind. Good to know people are buying the mode of transportation that will work for them! crap (I'm not recommending a horse to get to the golf course). Rah for gas and electric carts, they are a great way to tour The Villages. :clap2:

Re: golf carts(again)
 

We basically "inherited" our 2001 (though new looking) electric Club Car from the people we bought our house from (who never used it; it still had the little rubber thingeys on the tires that we've now worn off...), knowing that within a year or so it will need batteries. Meantime it works fine.

We spent about $500 to convert it into a four-seater, and that has worked out well too.

So far range has not been an issue, and we have taken it a couple of good distances. Then again we're not golfers, which likely helps. I have no feelings one way or the other on gas versus electric (other than preferring the quiet of the electric which is not a major issue), but we have the electric and we're pretty content with it.

Re: golf carts(again)
 

:agree: There is no clear right or wrong in the choice of electric or gas golf carts. I had a gas Yamaha for 9 years and never failed to make it home. During that time, I helped many stranded residents with dead electric carts. Also, as someone else mentioned there have been several garage fires attributed to battery charging. With that in mind and the excellent service with my first gas cart, I recently bought a new Yamaha drive gas cart with a few more goodies. I had a speedometer installed so I can tell just how far I travel on any given day and I can now calculate my actual mpg ( 48mpg to date).

Re: golf carts(again)
 

48 mpg?
I can do better than that in my Prius. However, getting on those golf trails might be a bit of a challenge. 1rnfl

Re: golf carts(again)
 

I just found this Golf Carts forum so I will repeat a message I placed in the "New" member area.

My wife and I will be moving to TV in September. We have been looking around for a golf cart and are leaning toward an electric Club Car. We are not sure if we should buy a new or a re-manufactured one. What is the price difference between them? What accessories would you recommend? Anything else that may be pertinent to our new mode of transportation, for both the road and golf course.

We are really getting excited about our move to TV and look forward to meeting all the nice folks in our new retirement community :).

Re: golf carts(again)
 

Best cart on the market right now is the E-Z-GO RXV 48 volt. Unbelievable! 60 miles for sure, 4 year warranty bumper to bumper including full replacement value of the batteries. Star is a Chinese piece of junk. Had one, never again. No one will trade it in. Took me forever to sell it. I bought the RXV from the E-Z-GO Factory Store on 441 just past 42 heading north. See a guy name Dave, he knows everything about golf carts and is the most honest guy you will ever meet.

Re: golf carts(again)
 

Not that I distrust you DCartMan but just for full disclosure are you Dave the cart man that you recommend? Does look like a good product.