Golf cart batteries are not the same type of battery that is in your automobile. If you own your own golf cart you will soon learn the ins and outs of golf cart battery maintenance and care. Depending on the size and make of your golf cart you may have between 4 and 8 golf cart batteries in your golf cart. Golf cart batteries are designed to be deep cycle batteries this means that they can be discharged to a lower voltage without damage to their cores. Golf cart batteries require special care.
All golf cart batteries come in 6 volts but are designed to work in either a 12 or 24 volt system. Connecting two 6 volt batteries in series will provide 12 volts that can be used in a 12 volt system. A golf cart batteries power is not measured in volts but in amps. The more the amps a battery can provide in a given amount of time, usually in hours, the more powerful the battery. If your golf cart uses 50 amps per hour at half speed and your combined battery amperage is 400 amp hours you theoretically could run the golf cart for 8 hours before the battery was totally discharged. However golf cart batteries will not provide the full amount of power (amperage) that they are rated for. This is because as you use the batteries power its voltage level drops below the 12 volts that is required by the golf carts motors. Once this happens, golf cart performance declines until the motors will not respond. Then you will have to recharge your golf cart battery.
A golf cart battery is charged by using a battery charger that changes the chemical composition within the battery. This charging process is not efficient and as such with each charging cycle the battery will hold less of a charge. In addition golf cart batteries that are deeply discharged have a shorter life span then batteries that experience only shallow discharge cycles. Quality golf cart batteries will have higher number of discharge cycles available then the cheaper models. The larger number of cycles the longer the battery life. Golf cart batteries must be charged correctly to achieve top battery efficiency. A good battery charger will automatically charge the battery to a high voltage for a prolonged period to return the golf carts batteries to the proper chemistry. This is very important to prolonging the life of your golf cart battery.
Properly maintaining your golf cart batteries will also prolong their life. Probably the number one problem that the golf cart owner will have with their golf cart batteries is not maintaining proper water levels in each battery cell. As you charge your battery it will begin to boil out water (hydrogen gas) as part of reversing the sulfide process. This water will need to be replaced on a regular basis with distilled water. Failure to keep battery fluids at optimum levels will shorten the life of your battery significantly. Basically the more you charge your battery the more often you need to add water to your golf cart batteries.
Keeping your golf cart batteries terminals clean is also very important. Clean terminals will allow the efficient flow of current from your golf cart batteries to your golf cart motors which will help them operate efficiently. Even more importantly it will allow the battery charger to correctly measure the condition of the battery so that a proper charging cycle can be applied. Again a properly maintained golf cart battery will last longer.
A properly maintianed golf cart battery will last you considerably longer than one that is neglected. Nothing is worse than climbing into your golf cart ready to play good round of golf and finding your golf cart batteries are dead. Take care of your golf cart batteries and they will take care of you.
