How come my car's 12 volt battery is kept fully charged, yet I am told not to charge golf cart battery every night? I am told that I should only charge it when it gets low.
Hi, Ken - You were right the first time, and that's good logic, comparing it with your car's battery. Simply put, what you've been told about your golf cart batteries was wrong.
It's a common misconception - even among golf experts - that discharging fully will lengthen lead acid battery life, but the folks at Battery University say that the exact opposite is true.
Deep discharges shorten battery life. They don't suffer from frequent top-ups. A top-up does NOT count as a full cycle when calculating cycle life.
Unless your golf cart has nickel-based batteries, like nickel cadmium (NiCad) or nickel metal hydride (NiMH), it IS better to keep them charged up, charging them every night.
Here's a Battery University table which outlines how and when to charge for different battery chemistries.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...
Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?
Click on the HTML link code below.
Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment,
your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
If you're just starting your electric vehicle conversion journey, you might be saying to yourself: “You know what I need? Some videos!” Here are some of my favorites.
I own a '19 VW E-golf and would love to transplant the electric powertrain into an old beetle or possibly a Thing (if I can find one cheap enough). Would
On this upcoming Saturday, November 9th, a transport truck and trailer will roll into Kingman, Arizona from Los Angeles, California to pickup our very rare circa 1959-1960 Henney Kilowatt with only 40…