Overwatering Golf Cart Batteries

Most of you are aware of the damage that underwatering can cause to your golf cart batteries. But did you know that overwatering can also cause damage to deep cycle batteries?

My neighbor recently discovered how his well intentioned overwatering led to not only lots of corrosive damage to his garage floor but to his battery box and metal frame. His cart is currently in the shop being repaired and he's spending lots of money to replace parts and to replace his deep cycle batteries with a lithium battery.

Here's what you need to know to protect your batteries and your garage floor from acid spill overs and corrosion.

Overwatering harms your batteries by:

1. Depleting the electrolyte so that the proper mixture of acid and water has been diluted. The electric golf cart batteries will not be able to perform at their optimal level.

2. Spilling corrosive acid on the battery box, battery cables and metal frame. The battery acid will corrode whatever it comes in contact with.

How NOT to Overwater Your Batteries

There are a couple of things to be aware of so that you don't overwater:

√ Fully charge your golf cart batteries before adding water.
If you add water to a discharged battery you'll probably overfill it. The liquid rises during the charging process. Only add a little bit of water before charging if the plates are exposed.

√ Do not fill with water all the way to the cap.
Add enough water to cover the plates. Some batteries will have a fill line to guide you. Use only distilled water. Use a golf cart battery filler with an auto shut off to prevent overfilling.

How often should you check your battery water levels? It depends. Check your water levels more frequently as your deep cycle batteries age. Heat will cause battery electrolyte levels to evaporate more quickly so you will need to check it more often in the summer. Some manuals even recommend weekly.

For more golf cart battery watering tips ...Golf Cart Battery Watering Do's and Don'ts

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Bill Degner

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