Industrial 835 04-07 owners guide - E-Z-GO Textron - #39

automatic battery chargers contain an electronic module that may not activate and the battery charger will not function. Automatic chargers will determine the correct duration of charge to the battery set and will shut off when the battery set is fully charged. Always refer to the instructions of the specific charger used.

Before charging, the following should be observed:

may result in a vehicle that runs slowly or in a vehicle that is unable to operate for the time required.

A new battery must mature before it will develop its max­imum capacity. Maturing may take up to 100 charge/dis­charge cycles. After the maturing phase, the older a battery gets, the lower the capacity. The only way to determine the capacity of a battery is to perform a load test using a discharge machine following manufacturer's recommendations.

A cost effective way to identify a poorly performing bat­tery is to use a hydrometer to identify a battery in a set with a lower than normal specific gravity. Once the partic­ular cell or cells that are the problem are identified, the suspect battery can be removed and replaced. At this point there is nothing that can be done to salvage the battery; however, the individual battery should be replaced with a good battery of the same brand, type and approximate age.

A hydrometer (P/N 50900-G1) is used to test the state of charge of a battery cell (Ref Fig. 29 on page 23). This is performed by measuring the density of the electrolyte, which is accomplished by measuring the specific gravity of the electrolyte. The greater the concentration of sulfu-ric acid, the more dense the electrolyte becomes. The higher the density, the higher the state of charge.

Specific gravity is the measurement of a liquid that is compared to a baseline. The baseline is water which is assigned a base number of 1.000. The concentration of sulfuric acid to water in a new golf car battery is 1.280 which means that the electrolyte weighs 1.280 times the weight of the same volume of water. A fully charged bat­tery will test at 1.275 - 1.280 while a discharged battery will read in the 1.140 range.

Do not overfill batteries. The charging cycle will expel electrolyte and result in

component damage.

• The electrolyte level in all cells must be at the rec­ommended level and cover the plates.

• The charging must take place in an area that is well ventilated and capable of removing the hydro­gen gas that is generated by the charging pro­cess. A minimum of five air exchanges per hour is recommended.

• The charging connector components are in good condition and free from dirt or debris.

• The charger connector is fully inserted into the vehicle receptacle.

• The charger connector/cord set is protected from damage and is located in an area to prevent injury that may result from personnel running over or tripping over the cord set.

• The charger is automatically turned off during the connect/disconnect cycle and therefore no electri­cal arc is generated at the DC plug/receptacle contacts.

Battery charger output is directly related to the input volt­age. If multiple vehicles are receiving an incomplete charge in a normally adequate time period, low AC volt­age could be the cause and the power company should be consulted.

In general, troubleshooting will be done for two distinct reasons. First, a battery that performs poorly and is out­side of the manufacturers specification should be identi­fied in order to replace it under the terms of the manufacturer's warranty. Different manufacturers have different requirements. Consult the battery manufacturer or a service representative for specific requirements.

The second reason is to determine why a particular vehi­cle does not perform adequately. Performance problems

The temperature of the electrolyte is important since the hydrometer reading must be corrected to 80° F (27° C). High quality hydrometers are equipped with an internal