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Battery Maintenance - Fact or Fiction? continued
by Rick Farris - Manager of Technical Reliability at Club Car, Inc.
"I've got more cars than I really need during our slow season, so I'm going to use only half the fleet and let the rest sit in the back of the barn to save on wear and tear."
If you do this, you'll pay a steep price for "saving" half that fleet. You should always rotate play among every car in your storage facility. Don't let one group of cars sit idle while the remainder of the fleet does the work. If you don't rotate all the cars, the batteries in the ones not used will sulfate, fail prematurely and require replacement. That's a hefty price to pay for saving on wear and tear.
"You don't have to charge batteries as often during the summer because there is no danger of them freezing like in cold weather."
This one kills a lot of batteries every year. Hot summer weather actually causes golf car batteries to self-discharge at a much higher rate than in cold weather. For example, a healthy, fully charged set of batteries will go from 100% capacity to 50% capacity in just 9 weeks if left sitting idle at a temperature of 86°F. Image what happens at 95 or 100 degrees. Batteries are most vulnerable to sulfation when they are sitting idle and partially discharged.
'I have 36-volt golf cars at my club that are needing new batteries. I can buy the 6-volt batteries I need at a local auto parts store much cheaper than I can from my dealer, I think he's trying to rip me off!"
He's not ripping you off. he's trying to sell you the deep cycle golf car batteries specified for your cars. Automotive batteries are made differently and will not perform the same as those specifically designed for golf cars and other electric vehicles. Don't buy the auto parts store brand or you'll be quickly disappointed.
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