Refilling a Wet Cell Battery
- With one end of the hose in the water, suck on the other end to siphon out the water into the hose.
- Fill each individual cell with water using the hose end.
- Once you've filled each of the individual cells on the battery, replace the plugs you removed in Step 1 and you're all done!
A golf cart battery is supposed to charge and discharge and recharge again in that cycle while it last. Leaving your golf cart plugged all the time is not an ideal maintenance practice for the longevity of your battery. The minimum maintenance for a battery is recharging it soon after use; unplug it when fully charged.
General Watering Instructions:DO NOT OVERWATER. For fully charged standard deep-cycle batteries, add water to the level of 1/8 below bottom of vent well (see diagram A below)
A battery with low battery fluid levels also gives signs you shouldn't ignore. Slow crank/no crank starting condition, dimming lights, alternator or battery light flickering on, other electrical problems or even the Check Engine Light illuminating can point to battery problems.
The most common type of water used in batteries is distilled water. Other types are deionized water and water from reverse osmosis. Ordinary tap water should not be used because it may contain an excessive amount of impurities that will degrade battery performance.
You should just let it evaporate and go down as normal. You really don't want to change the acid quantity in the cell. The water evaporates and leaves the same amount of acid in the cell.
During charge, discharge and recharge cycles of batteries, the water decreases. With more charges, the water gets lower and lower. Especially in summer, when it's all hot, the water in the battery evaporates. If you don't check and maintain the batteries regularly, you risk the water level getting low.
At least 20-25 volts across the set will be required for a 36 volt golf cart. At least 30-35 volts across the set will be required for a 48 volt golf cart. Please see above for charging dead batteries.
A 6V battery is actually fully charged when it reads slightly over 6V on a multimeter. A 6 volt charger is typically designed to produce about 7 volts so that it can attain a full charge.
For example: a 36v battery pack will read 38.2v fully charged. Maximum drop under load should not be more than 6v below 38.2v equal to 32 volts or less.
For an 8 volt battery this is 9.2 volts for a fully charged 8 volt battery.
Charge your batteries for 8 to 10 hours with the proper style of golf cart battery charger. The best practice is to charge overnight after you are done using your cart for the day. Even if you only used the cart for 5 minutes, you'll want to give the golf cart batteries a good charge.
For deep cycle application if the battery holds under load for a few seconds then voltage starts to steadily drop this would indicate a problem with the battery. If the voltage instantly drops to 0 volts, that is also a problem.
Always add water to a charged battery. If you fill before you charge, it may overflow when you charge it and make a big mess on your garage floor. If you can see the plates in your battery, fill it just above the plates before you charge it, then top it off after the charge is completed.
