LEARN
FLOODED LEAD ACID
Trojan 6V batteries
What Are They?
Flooded lead acid batteries are what most people think of when they think of electric golf car batteries. They are rated to last 4-5 years if properly cared for, although we had a customer bring in their 10-year-old batteries that were just starting to quit on them - they received a standing ovation from the service techs.
Flooded lead acid electric cars come in 36V or 48V configurations, with newer cars using 48V. This means six 6V or 8V batteries in the car. They typically run 120 minutes on one charge, depending on terrain and usage.
Care
Unlike the battery in your car or truck, which uses an alternator to recharge, flooded lead acid batteries use chemical reactions to produce power (it’s science). They need water added regularly to work, with each battery cell being filled to the fill line.
When charging, the water boils and evaporates, needing to be refilled when it gets below the top of the plates. REGULARLY CHECK YOUR WATER LEVELS. If the water gets below the top of the plates, it could cause irreparable harm to your batteries.
However, keep in mind that the batteries are filled with acid, and if a battery is overfilled, it will spill over and eat the concrete of your garage or driveway. DO NOT OVERFILL YOUR BATTERIES.
To recap:
Underfilling your batteries=bad
Overfilling your batteries=also bad
So how do you add the perfect amount of water?
Photo Credit: Phil Goodwin via Unsplash
You have two options to fill your batteries:
OPTION 1: Fill each and every cell by hand, making sure you get it exactly to the fill line without going over. This is the cheapest option, and also potentially the messiest.
OPTION 2: Purchase a watering system that connects to each cell and handpump the water into all cells at the same time until the handpump is firm. This is quick and easy with 0% risk of overfilling or underfilling.
If you want to go with Option 2, contact the parts department at your local Clear Creek Golf Car to get more info and pricing on a watering system and handpump.
Regardless of whether you use a watering system or do it by hand, make sure to use DISTILLED WATER. Tap water and well water will slowly cause harm to your batteries and reduce their lifespan.
Charging
When you charge your car, you may hear the batteries boiling. This is normal. You may smell something; this is also normal. There is a sciency explanation, but in short, these are signs your batteries are charging.
Similar to watering your batteries, there are best practices for charging your car.
Undercharging happens when the battery is not fully charged after use. Doing this a couple of times isn’t bad, but continued undercharging will diminish the life of your battery. We recommend fully recharging the battery after use and before storing.
Overcharging a battery isn’t possible anymore because golf cars come with onboard computers that prevent it. Yay!
If you store your golf car for the winter, the most important thing to know is the charger does not continue to charge the car forever. Depending on the age of your golf car, it will continuously charge for 7-21 days, after which it will shut off. If a golf car sits too long, even if plugged in, the batteries will drain to the point of not being able to kick the charger on. Avoid this by CHECKING YOUR WATER LEVELS EVERY 2-3 WEEKS, THEN UNPLUGGING AND PLUGGING THE CHARGER BACK IN. This is critical and needs to be done throughout any period of time you are not using your car. If you won’t be around your car for weeks at a time, ask a trusted friend or neighbor to do this for you.
Every spring we have customers bring their golf cars in with dead batteries and we have to tell them their year-old batteries are shot. It's not fun for them to hear or for us to say. If you want your batteries to last longer than a year, CHECK YOUR WATER LEVELS EVERY 2-3 WEEKS, THEN UNPLUG AND PLUG YOUR CHARGER BACK IN.
Brands
Trojan brand batteries are the top-of-the-line batteries for golf cars and are rated to last 4-5 years if properly cared for.
Duracell makes great batteries for toys, remotes, and smoke detectors, but not great golf car batteries. They are cheaper than Trojan, but they’re also cheaper. The Duracell’s that are properly cared for typically last 2-3 years; the only time we will sell them is if there is a battery shortage or the Trojan factory burns down (luckily that hasn’t happened). There are other brands of batteries, but they aren’t worth mentioning.*
*If you have another brand of battery in your flooded lead acid car, please, please, please let us change it to a Trojan battery. Please.
FAQ’s
- Can I just change out one or two batteries at a time?
- No. Like a weak link in a chain or the Raiders' offense, the new batteries will only be as strong as the weakest battery (granted, even replacing the entire Raiders team won’t help them much). In the long run, it is more cost effective to change out every battery at the same time (and for Raiders fans to pick a new football team).
- My golf car isn’t charging. What’s up?
- There are several potential reasons, but the biggest one we see, especially in the spring, is that the batteries’ voltage dropped too low. If this happens, they won’t communicate with the charger and need a hot charge to bring them back to life. Usually this happens when someone did not unplug and plug their car in over the winter. PLEASE UNPLUG AND PLUG YOUR CAR IN EVERY 2-3 WEEKS IF NOT BEING USED. If your battery needs a hot charge, give us a call or bring your golf car in and we'll juice it up.
- If my car is a 36V, can I put 8V batteries in it?
- No. Nope. Not possible because of math. Sorry.
LITHIUM
Club Car Onward High Performance Lithium golf car
What Are They?
Lithium powered golf cars are awesome. They have as much or more power than gas golf cars and run as quietly as flooded lead acid cars. One charge will get you approximately 60 minutes of continuous run time but will recharge in half the time as a flooded lead acid car.
Club Car lithium batteries require no maintenance and have a 6 YEAR WARRANTY. After 6 years, they will still have up to 80% of their capacity. You can build your own here.
Care
Club Car claims their lithium batteries need zero maintenance, and we have seen that to be the case. However, with any technology, there will be exceptions to the rule. Some customers experience M-Cor issues, which is basically the gas pedal sensor going bad (but that doesn’t have anything to do with the battery). If you are an accessories fanatic, lithium’s are limited on what they are compatible with. If you want to put LED whip lights and a cappuccino maker in your car, consider going with a flooded lead acid golf car (and if you figure out how to put a cappuccino maker in your golf car, we definitely want to hang out with you).
Charging
Lithium batteries recharge quickly, but make sure not to let them run down to 0%. This is a classic blunder of lithium golf car ownership.
Meme courtesy of the Princess Bride
If they run all the way down and have no charge left, they are toast and will have to be replaced. There's no hot charge in the world that can bring them back to life.
Brands
Club Car uses their own brand of lithium batteries. Other battery-specialist companies have begun manufacturing drop-in lithium batteries to convert flooded lead acid cars to lithium, but as of yet, we haven’t found any that we trust to be both safe and high quality. We’re hopeful we’ll find some in the near future.
FAQ’s - Can I change my flooded lead acid golf car to a lithium?
- Not yet. We are close to finding a drop-in lithium battery that we trust, but we're not quite there yet.
- If lithium's are so awesome, why doesn't everyone buy them?
- Great question.
- How does driving a lithium golf car make you feel?
- You know how Elsa feels as she's singing Let It Go and making her ice palace? Yeah, kind of like that.
COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, CONCERNS?
If you have any questions about electric golf cars, give your local Clear Creek Golf Car location a call. If you have a question about golf car maintenance or upkeep that you'd like covered in a future newsletter, reply to this email and we'll work on it.
CLEAR CREEK GOLF CAR LOCATIONS
Springfield 417-865-3773
Rogers 479-621-9494
Lamar 417-660-5600
Osage Beach 573-693-9002
West Plains 417-204-4898
Little Rock 501-834-1900
Oklahoma City 405-634-0571 Tulsa 918-663-0571 |
