# Anyone understand golf cart batteries?



## raymilosh (Jan 12, 2005)

Here's the story. I got a golf cart for my elderly neighbor...surprise gift for her so she can drive all around the farm. It had sat uncharged for a year. It has six 6 volt car sized bateries hooked in series (so it's 36 volts). I filled all batteries with distilled water where necessary, made sure all electrical connections were good and replaced corroded ones, then I charged the batteries and drove it around for many hours over the course of a week or so and they were fine. Amazing, really. A few months later, the anodes in the charger died and it blew a fuse. She thought it was being charged each time she plugged it in, so it was driven until the batteries died. 
I fixed the charger and charged up the batteries. Now the batteries simply won't charge up enough to get the golf cart to move for more than about 5 mninutes and after a few days, the batteries barely light up the headlights, nevermind moving the cart. 
I'm used to car batteries dying slowly over a long time, so these batteries going from fine to not working so quickly makes me wonder if there is something I don't know about batteries or about batteries in series, etc...
Is there any way to bring dead batteries back to life? Can anyone help me out or direct me to a place where I can read up onm such things? A set of new ones will cost $400. Yikes.
Thanks in advance.
Ray


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Look inside of the water area, if there is a whitish coating on the plates, its money time. Any bubbling when a load is applied indicates a dead cell. As far as a restoration product I have no knowledge.


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## idahodave (Jan 20, 2005)

I think you mean the diodes in the charger died.

I wonder if the charger is really fixed? Battery voltage should come up to about 43 volts when charging. After charging use a voltmeter and measure voltage of each battery. Then measure them with the light turned on. They all should measure the same. It could be only one bad battery. It's possible the charger fried the batteries before the fuse blew, but I'd think even a bad set of batteries should light a small bulb.


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## kbshorts (Dec 6, 2005)

I am with Idahodave. One bad battery will drop the string. Disconnect and check each battery with a load tester.
KB


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## WayneR (Mar 26, 2007)

In the links sticky in Alt. Energy there is information concerning battery desulfation.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

a battery setting dead for even over night can hurt it, and if it sets for days it probly ruined, and will not recharge to it full amount,

it sulfates and the sulfate is a form of an insulator, and coats the plates in the battery, and when a battery is sulfated, it will not take a charge,

there are some who say they can rejuvenate a battery, some times if you have a good battery charger you can "over charge" them boil them good, it may help, (on battery banks that is called equalizing them). and helps to bring up low batteries to nearer the stronger batteries in the group, 

some people say you can use some chemicals and clean the plates, and then dump the battery and wash it with demineralized water, and then add acid and water back to the battery, and it will have limited success.
[ame]http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&rls=GGIH,GGIH:2007-02,GGIH:en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=rejuvenate+batteries+lead+acid&spell=1[/ame]

There is also a special battery charger that uses pulses of electricity and many claim they will break down the sulfates, I have heard it used with some success.

IMO you simply you need to replace the batteries, 

batteries should never be allowed to go dead, or even low, with out immediately being recharged.
more good information, 
http://www.rpc.com.au/products/batteries/car-deepcycle/carfaq16.htm

http://www.rpc.com.au/products/batteries/car-deepcycle/carfaq16.htm


> People kill more deep cycle batteries with poor charging practices, than die of old age!
> 
> During the normal discharge process, soft lead sulfate crystals are formed in the pores and on the surfaces of the positive and negative plates inside a lead-acid battery. When a battery is left in a discharged condition, continually undercharged, or the electrolyte level is below the top of the plates, some of the soft lead sulfate re-crystallizes into hard lead sulfate. It cannot be reconverted during subsequent recharging. This creation of hard crystals is commonly called permanent "sulfation". It accounts for approximately 85% of the deep cycle lead-acid battery failures. The longer sulfation occurs, the larger and harder the lead sulfate crystals become. The positive plates will be light brown and the negative plates will be dull, off white. These crystals lessen a battery's capacity and ability to be recharged. This is because deep cycle batteries are typically used for short periods, vacations, weekend trips, etc, and then are stored the rest of the year to slowly self discharge. Car batteries are normally used several times a month, so sulfation rarely becomes a problem.


more information on Battery Desulfation, 
[ame]http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGIH,GGIH:2007-02,GGIH:en&q=Lead+Acid+Battery+Desulfation+Pulse+charger[/ame]


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## raymilosh (Jan 12, 2005)

Wow, thanks everyone. This information is exactly what I was hoping to learn. I'll look at the plates to see if they have sulfate crystals and I'll read all the links and maybe I'll try some of the tricks to see if they can be brought back to life. I'll also test each battery to see if one of them is the problem.
Then, I'll likely go buy a set of new batteries...

Oh and yes, diodes not anodes, I guess. I don't really know enough about these things to know the difference. The fellow at the golf cart repair shop tested the charger had me put in a fuse, then we blew the fuse, then he gave me the parts to put in along with the new fuse and I did it and that's about what I know.


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## FreightTrain (Nov 5, 2005)

check each cell of each battery with a hydrometer....might just be a bad cell or two or battery or two... tho these are deep cycle batteries they should never be allowed to drop below 80% of full charge.. they are the same used in solar systems so a question on Alt energy forum might help.
A charger that will EqualizE THE BATTERIES is prolly what is needed... equalizing over charges by a few volts and boils the accumulated sulfites off of the plates... this should be done from time to time depending on several factors.

once every year you should also add a few drops of sulfuric acid to each cell in all the batteries. properly cared for these batteries can last 20 years or more!


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## bqz (Jan 26, 2007)

Here,s a question for you ,can you put three 12 volt batteries in it ?
Or do you think there would be a charging problem? 
Still 36volts :shrug: was able to do it on a tractor with two sixes(put in one 12).
But not sure about golf cart.Something to think on.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

bqz said:


> Here,s a question for you ,can you put three 12 volt batteries in it ?
> Or do you think there would be a charging problem?
> Still 36volts :shrug: was able to do it on a tractor with two sixes(put in one 12).
> But not sure about golf cart.Something to think on.


We got a 1965 model out of the dump and have run it on 3 12V trolling motor batteries for several years. At first we ran it on one, slowly, and then two. Two weren't bad if you didn't want to go fast, but we finally added the third for 36V and it runs like a new one. It is for home use, hauling feed and water. I don't know if it would make it all the way around a golf course, but it runs several days on a charge.


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