Golf Cart Batteries

[Derek Rowell]

I have just installed 4 Trojan T105 golf-cart Batteries to replace the 2 4-D's in the house bank. The 4-D's, although rated as deep-cycle, only lasted two seasons.I have a Statpower (now Xantrex) TrueCharge 40 , which I leave on at the dock to let the refrigerator run through the week. Last weekend I was reading the charger manual, and to my surprise it stated that some wet cells, particularly golf-cart, do not like a three-stage charger left in float mode, and that doing so can lead to premature battery failure. They recommend that you use a two-stage setting (bulk and absorption) and let the charger turn itself off. That made me wonder if I had ruined the 4D's by leaving the charger in float mode all the time. (I don't think the refigerator ever kicks the charger out of float mode.)Does anybody have any experience with this. I don't want to ruin the T105's!Derek

 

[Don]

Can't find reference

DerekYou definitely got my attention - just put new GCs in last year and have the same charger. I didn't recall seeing that warning in my manual and just checked the Xantrex web site version of the manual to see if it's been updated but can't find the warning you mentioned there either. I definitely don't want to replace these guys too often. Can you point me in the right direction where to look in the book?Don

 

[Derek Rowell]

Yep - I looked at the web site

Hi Don,I just looked at the Xantrex site. The manual there is different from the one that came with my charger. The only reference to the problem that I could see there is at the bottom of page B-4 where they say that some manufacturers recommend against float mode.It is much more explicit in my manual (which is on the boat), and which I think is an earlier manual. Maybe its not such a problem if they dropped the reference???

 

[Jeff Bacon]

My manual agrees with Derek....

It definitly says the 2 stage mode is better under certain circumstances. My memory may be bad, but I thought that reference was to batteries that remain unused for the bulk of the week at the dock. Mine has been in 2 stage mode for 3 years now. I'll check when at the boat tomorrow.....Jeff

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Men, check your voltage.

A safe float is in the mid to lower 13s. But I'm with Don, never heard of such a thing.