Following on from my other battery thread, i now have 2 batteries so I can alternate them, so, the question is, as I'm new to electric trolleys & batteries, is, once charged how long do they hold their charge? If I've charged my batteries now after my 36 holes yesterday, will they be ok if I don't play until this coming Friday?
Battery charging
- Thread starter Fish
- Start date
hovis
Tour Winner
My pp makes forklift truck batteries so can only comment on lead acid batteries.
The newer the battery the longer it will hold its charge. I know this doesn't answer your question fish. My battery is 6 months old and it keeps its charge for a least a month.
Things my pp said to do to help prolong the life of the battery
Charge it after use asap
Try not to partial charge
Try not to run flat
If leaving for long periods "Say over winter " then give it a top up charge every few weeks.
The newer the battery the longer it will hold its charge. I know this doesn't answer your question fish. My battery is 6 months old and it keeps its charge for a least a month.
Things my pp said to do to help prolong the life of the battery
Charge it after use asap
Try not to partial charge
Try not to run flat
If leaving for long periods "Say over winter " then give it a top up charge every few weeks.
cleanstrike
Assistant Pro
Why not buy an intelligent trickle charger unit then you can plug it in and leave it until you're ready to use it again. I've got an Oxford model to keep my motorcycle battery up through the winter so they'll easily cope with what you need them to do. Do a search on Amazon; there's plenty to choose from.
MegaSteve
Tour Winner
Others will advise different...
But I've always used a float/intelligent charger on slow charge setting... Don't know why but also always unscrewed the cell caps when charging possibly something Dad told me to do back in the day... Keep an eye on acid levels topping up as necessary... Avoid storing battery in a cold outbuilding over winter or conservatory/greenhouse in summer...
But I've always used a float/intelligent charger on slow charge setting... Don't know why but also always unscrewed the cell caps when charging possibly something Dad told me to do back in the day... Keep an eye on acid levels topping up as necessary... Avoid storing battery in a cold outbuilding over winter or conservatory/greenhouse in summer...
Jacko_G
Blackballed
I think its down to the manufacturers own instructions.
My old lead acid battery was recommended to be kept on "trickle charge". I upgraded my trolley last month to a 36 hole lithium number and it recommends after charging is complete that you disconnect the battery!
My old lead acid battery was recommended to be kept on "trickle charge". I upgraded my trolley last month to a 36 hole lithium number and it recommends after charging is complete that you disconnect the battery!
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
Most of these batteries are completely sealed gel matt lead acid construction so I don't know what you are topping them up with or how!
They are also valve regulated constant charge units and won't respond well to intelligent or smart battery chargers trying to pump in more than the controlled amps or volts.
If they are loosing voltage over a couple of weeks they probably need replacing - generally trickle charging is pretty pointless for such units and most manufactures do not recommend leaving connected (as much as any hung the chargers aren't really up to it).
And yes, like many things batteries don't appreciate wide ranging ambient temperatures especially low ones.
I'm a little confused now 
After my 36 holes on Saturday I placed my 2 brand new batteries on charge one after the other, the Motocaddy charger has a traffic light indicator and both were initially red, then orange then went green, at that time I unplugged them and asked the question in my OP.
Due to me travelling to Cooden tomorrow I though I'd just plug 1 of them in to make sure all is OK and the light was immediately orange, I thought OK its lost a little power, but its been orange now for nearly 4 hours
After my 36 holes on Saturday I placed my 2 brand new batteries on charge one after the other, the Motocaddy charger has a traffic light indicator and both were initially red, then orange then went green, at that time I unplugged them and asked the question in my OP.
Due to me travelling to Cooden tomorrow I though I'd just plug 1 of them in to make sure all is OK and the light was immediately orange, I thought OK its lost a little power, but its been orange now for nearly 4 hours
Region3
Ryder Cup Winner
I think some chargers are intelligent and the light colour is based on how much juice is actually in the battery, and some just leave the light on for a set amount of time.
I'm sure my last lead acid battery charger did that.
I'm sure my last lead acid battery charger did that.
Well its still orange some 5hrs on after it was clearly green on Sunday, I've just switched the charger over to the other battery which was also green on Sunday and is now red!
Edit; its now gone orange within a minute.
Edit; its now gone orange within a minute.
williamalex1
Money List Winner
Give Motocaddy a call ask for the technical dept, they were very helpful when i called.
Can you cook a battery?
The reason I ask is, it seems that once the green light comes on its obviously telling me its charged, should I then unplug it even though I'm not playing for another 2,3,4 days and then give it a blast the night before, or can I just leave it on?
Our club has some garages where we can leave (hang) our trolleys up and plug in our batteries, but what if I don't play for a week, will the battery be OK left on charge all that time?
This electric battery trolley lark is becoming a pain! but I do enjoy not pushing or dragging my trolley now :smirk:
The reason I ask is, it seems that once the green light comes on its obviously telling me its charged, should I then unplug it even though I'm not playing for another 2,3,4 days and then give it a blast the night before, or can I just leave it on?
Our club has some garages where we can leave (hang) our trolleys up and plug in our batteries, but what if I don't play for a week, will the battery be OK left on charge all that time?
This electric battery trolley lark is becoming a pain! but I do enjoy not pushing or dragging my trolley now :smirk:
full_throttle
Tour Winner
motocaddy recommend unplugging a fully charged battery, as it should hold it's charge for up to 6 weeks. Wouldn't it be more practical to just move the battery around and leave the trolley at the club?
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
It's probably doing more harm to these chargers than the battery!
Once the battery is charged they drop to a very low trickle current (which means the charger is doing more work to rectify the input current).
As already posted by others - get it on charge quickly, don't kill it in use (run it until it dies) and store in dry conditions with a minimum of temperature fluctuations.
The more cycles it completes the less it will hold its charge; especially the last few %.
After a round of 18 holes I've been bringing it home into the hall and putting it on charge, overnight the light turns to green indicating to me its fully charged, I then turn the charger off and take the battery with me on my next visit to the golf club say in 4-days time, I've then noticed that close to the end of my round the battery is very weak, to the extent that it won't operate at a full 9 on the LED display and I have to help it up the steep hill towards our 17th tee on a maximum of 6 or it cuts out!
This is not isolated to 1 battery, its the same with 2 different brand new batteries, it gives me the impression that once turned off the battery loses quite a lot of charge, hence my earlier questions in the thread and my last question about leaving it on!
Its starting to become more trouble than there worth
That clearly isn't happening.
upsidedown
Tour Winner
After a round of 18 holes I've been bringing it home into the hall and putting it on charge, overnight the light turns to green indicating to me its fully charged, I then turn the charger off and take the battery with me on my next visit to the golf club say in 4-days time, I've then noticed that close to the end of my round the battery is very weak, to the extent that it won't operate at a full 9 on the LED display and I have to help it up the steep hill towards our 17th tee on a maximum of 6 or it cuts out!
This is not isolated to 1 battery, its the same with 2 different brand new batteries, it gives me the impression that once turned off the battery loses quite a lot of charge, hence my earlier questions in the thread and my last question about leaving it on!
Its starting to become more trouble than there worth
This is what my battery was doing after 8 months , took battery back to pro and now have new replacement one, charger also checked over to make sure that wasn't the problem
duncan mackie
Money List Winner
After a round of 18 holes I've been bringing it home into the hall and putting it on charge, overnight the light turns to green indicating to me its fully charged, I then turn the charger off and take the battery with me on my next visit to the golf club say in 4-days time, I've then noticed that close to the end of my round the battery is very weak, to the extent that it won't operate at a full 9 on the LED display and I have to help it up the steep hill towards our 17th tee on a maximum of 6 or it cuts out!
This is not isolated to 1 battery, its the same with 2 different brand new batteries, it gives me the impression that once turned off the battery loses quite a lot of charge, hence my earlier questions in the thread and my last question about leaving it on!
Its starting to become more trouble than there worth
As a very rough and ready check you should leave it to hare overnight
..
Disconnect and check voltage
Re check voltage 1h later.
Now leave a few days - up to 10 for a good condition battery shouldn't make any difference. Re check voltage which shouldn't be noticable lower than the 1h reading.
This is a no load test, but will indicate a problem. I would expect a motocaddy 18 hole lead acid battery to indicate about 13.15v and hold all of it for 10 days.
Retest after 18 holes as well.
Li will be higher - they aren't built on lead acid cell structures! Probably more like 14.25v
Cheers, I'll get myself a cheap voltage checker...
