How to Maintain Golf Cart Batteries in Winter

The winter is here, but have you stored your golf cart battery properly? If not, then there can be a considerable risk for your pockets to get empty. Go and pull out the battery from your golf cart and store it inside your garage.

But it won’t be as easy as I have stated. Why? Because the battery needs continuous maintenance and a perfect storing environment. Do not worry about it as you are already here. I will lead the path and tell you how you can maintain the golf cart battery and how to efficiently store it so you can use it in the next season.

Should we get started? Or should I first tell you that if you missed even a single step, you could do nothing to repair your damaged battery? So be careful and follow my lead.

Maintaining your Golf Cart Battery

One of the essential things that you should take care of is Maintaining your golf cart battery. Because the battery is healthy and fine, you can ride your golf cart in the next season or else be ready to spend some bucks. Let’s discuss a few things to keep your battery healthy and safe in winters.

1. Find an Appropriate Storage Place

The first thing that you need to do is find an appropriate storage place for your battery. This place needs to be a bit warmer than the outside temperature. You can keep it inside your garage or any storage room.

It is done to ensure that the battery doesn’t stay long in frigid weather. It may damage the battery and will lose all its efficiency.

2. Take out and Clean the Battery Thoroughly

Once you have found a perfect storage place, plug out the battery from the golf cart and take it out but away from the cold. Now clean the terminals and battery thoroughly. If you see any corrosion, clean it asap. This rust on the terminals can block the current flow, so cleaning it is an important step.

3. Check the Fluid level

Now the battery is clean and placed at an optimum temperature and place, check the battery’s water level. If it is low, fill it with distilled water and keep an eye on the water and keep it topped up for high efficiency.

4. Fully charge the Battery

Attach the cables to the terminals properly and double-check the terminals and cables so that they don’t short circuit. Now plug the charger in the socket and let it charge completely.

Some batteries take less time to charge, but some take more than 8 hours to charge completely. So be patient and let the battery show the green sign once it is done. Now plug the charger out and let the battery rest.

5. Keep a close eye on the charge

You need to keep the charge of the battery in check. If it gets discharged, the fluid inside it can freeze and damage the battery even after doing so much to prevent it. Whenever you see it is discharging, charge it again to 100%.

6. Replacing the Battery

If, after all the maintenance and storing, your battery dies or freezes. Then you have to buy a new one and replace the old one. There is no way that you can restore or repair that damage because it is irreparable damage. So make sure you take some special care and precautions while maintaining and storing your golf cart battery.

7. Don’t stack the batteries

It is significant to know that you don’t stack the batteries on top of each other. Many people stack the batteries on top. It causes permanent damage on the most bottom battery due to pressure being exerted from the batteries on top.

In the end, make sure when you attach the battery back to the golf cart, the battery is firmly held in its place because unnecessary vibrations or movements can cause a great deal of damage to the battery.

The temperature at which the battery freezes

The cold weather tends to increase the discharge and charge rate. The fluid inside a regular lead-acid battery has a freezing point of 20°F while it is fully discharged. But the good news is that the freezing point of a fully charged battery is -80°F that makes it less likely to freeze.

Due to this reason, people keep their batteries fully charged throughout the season. You may need to check the charge now and then because they can discharge even if they are not being used. So keep an eye on the charge of the battery so that it doesn’t wear out.

Effect of cold on the Battery

The effects that the cold weather has on the battery of a golf cart or a car are:

1. Freezing Electrolyte

In cold weather, the electrolyte inside the battery starts to freeze, but there’s a catch in it. There is a significant difference between a discharged and a charged battery as the discharged battery has a lower freezing point than a charged one. Experts always recommend that you keep the battery fully charged so you won’t have to face the issue of electrolytes being frozen.

2. Expanding Electrolyte

The only problem is not the freezing of electrolytes. When the fluid inside the battery freezes, it starts to expand. As a result, the plates and walls of the battery begin to break due to pressure being exerted by the expanding fluid.

If it happens, you won’t repair the battery as there is no method to restore a damaged battery. You can install the plates inside a new battery box, but it is better to buy a new one instead.

3. Less Efficiency

In cold weather, the battery tends to work less efficiently than the warm weather. The fluid inside the battery allows it to work extraordinarily in hot weather, but it causes an opposite reaction in the cold weather and slows down the activities.

Taking care of the battery in cold weather

To take proper care of your battery in the cold weather, you need to follow these tips.

1. Purchase compatible equipment

You should buy a compatible battery charger that you can use, so recharge the battery every time it seems discharged. It is more cost-efficient as compared to purchasing a new battery every year. You should go for an automatic one as it stops the charging as soon as it is complete and saves it from overcharging.

2. Battery Inspection

Now you have to inspect the battery correctly. Check the terminals and cables of the battery. If you see any dust or corrosion, clean it up. And if any part of the battery is old or damaged, replace it, so it doesn’t cause any problems in the future. You can also add some grease onto the terminals to make them more efficient.

3. Charging the battery

Now that the inspection is done connect the terminals properly and carefully and start the charging process. Ensure that no light is on that may drain the battery even before it is completely charged up. Let it charge and once it’s done, remove the charger and keep a close eye on it if it needs charging afterward.

4. Storing the battery inside the garage ( Optional )

Also, You can remove the battery and place it in your garage, away from the cold. It won’t cause any problems as the plastic casing being used on modern batteries is not affected by moisture on the floor.

Conclusion

So, in the end, I would suggest that you follow the tips and knowledge that I have wholeheartedly provided you. I have been using them to save my batteries from cold weather, and undoubtedly, they work perfectly. I don’t have to replace the battery and use the same one all over the following season.

Now go and implement these onto your golf cart battery before they die out in the cold.