kwaggs
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Post by kwaggs on Mar 16, 2014 5:36:14 GMT -8
So a co-worker of mine has used Interstate deep cycle 6 volt golf cart batteries that he will sell me. They are a couple years old and were used in a floor scrubber. Is it worth purchasing these for A LOT less then new ones and setting up a battery bank with these or should I just purchase new ones? Im not sure of how many times these were discharged completely and then recharged and I dont really know about the cycle life of 6v batteries. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Post by bigbill on Mar 16, 2014 8:19:10 GMT -8
The only way to get a fair answer for your question would be to load test the batteries with something like a vat tester, anything else would be a guess at best.
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kwaggs
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Post by kwaggs on Mar 16, 2014 19:18:22 GMT -8
Thanks Bill. Im trying to save some dollars but I dont want to waste my time and any more cash having to repurchase new batteries.
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Post by bigbill on Mar 17, 2014 5:23:47 GMT -8
The batteries could be worn out or they could be just in need of a good charge. The a mfg date should be stamped on the side near the top may be a code but a battery shop should be able to tell you date. My sister in law has a golf cart that her husband bought but he past away last summer so it sat till last month without being charged, she plugged it in and it would not charge so she took the charger to the shop to have it tested. It was fine got back home plugged back in still wouldn't charge so they told her she needed all new batteries. I went over with a volt meter and they were showing about a volt and a half, Many systems won't charge a battery that low so I put a jumper battery on each pair of batteries then turned the charger on. after about 15 minutes I removed the jumpers and we let it continue to charge. The next day it was showing a full charge so she took it for a ride, after using it all day she put it away and plugged in the charger it charged as it should. Much cheaper than $1000.00 set of batteries. Leaves me wondering how many good golf cart batteries are out there, that are still good. After a little investigating I discovered that most cart chargers won't charge if total voltage is less than 30 volts.
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kwaggs
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Post by kwaggs on Mar 19, 2014 9:28:23 GMT -8
Thanks Bill I appreciate the insight. Can you tell me about the wiring and can you use 12v lighting and what about the charging system from your cars alternator charging a 6v battery bank? I'm kind not really familiar with electrical dos and dont's or cants.
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Post by bigbill on Mar 19, 2014 10:21:40 GMT -8
If you take two 6 volt batteries and run a cable from the negative post on one to the positive post on the other you now have a 12 volt system, So you now connect the trailer/charger/lights to the remaining two post just as you would a single 12 volt battery. Golf carts run six 6 volt batteries wired in the same manor giving then 36 volts to operate on. A single cell in a battery will produce 2 volts so a six volt battery has 3 cells tied together to make a six volt battery a 12 volt has 6 cells and so on. When you hook batteries together positive to negative you create a higher voltage. If you hook them together positive to positive and negative to negative your voltage stays the same (6 volts in this case) but your storage capacity increases. We are talking about wet lead acid batteries in this example. Hope this helps.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Mar 21, 2014 13:29:14 GMT -8
When I first bought my trailer, a friend in the solar business gave me two old 8L-16 6v batteries that had been used in a solar-powered cottage for years and years, which was empty and unheated every winter. Like this: www.google.com/search?q=deka+8l-16&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=RawsU4f8FsHTkQfW4YHYBA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1920&bih=1017#facrc=_&imgrc=FPatXHyt84c3gM%253A%3BXvZlYVto9SqU1M%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fsolarconduit.com%252Fshop%252Fmedia%252Fcatalog%252Fproduct%252Fcache%252F1%252Fimage%252F450x%252F9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%252F8%252Fl%252F8l16-deka.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fsolarconduit.com%252Fshop%252Fbatteries%252Fmk-battery%252Fmk-battery-flooded-wet-solar-battery-6-volt-370-amp-hour-8l16-deka-ltp-post-t975.html%3B450%3B450 . Originally I believe their capacity was 370ah (they weighed 115lbs each). Even though they were at least ten years old (probably closer to 20) and had been dropped off a forklift, shifting the lead plates up enough to force the terminals up out of the cases making air leaks, I used them for two years with no problems, even though they were probably only half the capacity that they were when new. They never "failed", I was still using them the day I bought the new ones. My new ones, by the way, are 230ah, weigh half what the old ones did and only cost $225 at Sam's Club. I'd have to know how much he's asking to say if it's a great deal or not, but I wouldn't be afraid of using them if they're only a couple of years old, and come from a place where they care for their tools properly. I'd check the water levels as an indication of whether they've been properly maintained or not. Are they filthy? Companies tend to only replace batteries when absolutely necessary, so these could be really needing to be replaced, in which case they might not hold much of a charge. |
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