Battery Question

[Displaced Canadian]

At work we have an electric golf cart and it doesn't hold a charge. One of the guys mentioned that about 2 months ago it wasn't working right and they added a "lot" of water to the batteries because most of them looked dry. I bought a battery tester that looks like an antifreeze tester and the readings are all over the map. My question is, if the batteries were ran very low on water could some of the acid boiled out so the batteries won't hold a charge and what is the easiest / best way to test them? The batteries have been going down hill for a few months now so this didn't happen all of a sudden. Any help is appreciated.

 

[PenMan1]

Christopher:
It sounds bad! I know, first hand, those batteries cost way over $100 each!

I would go to the local boat or motorcycle shop and get them to sell me a gallon of battery acid. Then I would fill each cell in each battery with the acid. Leave the covers off of the acid holes and then recharge the system.

If this doesn't work, it may be time for new batteries as a 36 or 48 volt system is almost impossible to desulfate without very expensive equipment. These are 6 volt high amp batteries and a regular battery charger will not charge or desulfate these batteries, even when you take the out of the series connection.

This has worked for me. Good luck!

 

[PenMan1]

One other thing to try is to buy a $10 HF load tester. TEST EACH BATTERY INDIVIDUALLY. If you have one battery in the series that doesn't hold a load, that battery will sap the energy from the entire system.

It could be as simple as replacing one battery.

 

[Smitty37]

Try

Testing each battery individually is good advice. You might want to check at a local seller - there is usually someone selling them locally if you have any retirement communities or resort communities nearby. They might be better able to advise you.

 

[hdtran]

If they've been discharged too long, they may not be good any more. Adding sulfuric acid may or may not help; typically, the water either electrolyses or evaporates, and the sulfur sulfates (if that's a verb) the lead, so the liquid that you want to add is (distilled) water.

Pulse charging may restore some capacity.

Lead-acid batteries, even deep discharge types, have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles in their life. Call it 500-1000 cycles for a deep discharge type (2-5 yrs?).

 

[Tuba707]

One other thing to try is to buy a $10 HF load tester. TEST EACH BATTERY INDIVIDUALLY. If you have one battery in the series that doesn't hold a load, that battery will sap the energy from the entire system.

It could be as simple as replacing one battery.

+1

Load testing is a must as a bad battery can have adequate voltage readings on a multimeter but completely bottom out when a load is applied.

 

[Papa Bear]

Load testing is the best way to check a battery,a bad cell will boil,all should bubble but a bad one will boil!You need to be careful when checking,when a battery is charging or discharging it puts off hydrogen gas and any spark will cause it to explode!I worked in a battery shop for 3 years and had this happen twice,no fun!!