September/October 2003

Battery Charger Q&A

I’d be willing to bet that if I asked any number of you out there, most of you would agree that next to golf car batteries, battery chargers are probably the least understood component of any electric golf car. I know you get questions about them because I get questions about them…constantly! For those of you whose business includes providing sales and service to a large number of private owners, you know exactly what I mean! Let’s take a look at a few I’ve been asked over the past few years. They may answer some of the questions you’ve surely been asked that maybe you didn’t have a ready answer for.

“My golf car is about three years old. After the battery charger has been plugged in for a couple of hours, it starts making a loud chattering sound. The charger never did that when it was new. What causes that and will it cause any damage to the charger or my golf car?”

Well, this is one that I hear quite often, and it’s a good question. Battery charger transformers are dipped in a varnish-like substance after they’re assembled to insulate and seal the windings and laminations. This process prevents noise coming from the transformer as it operates. After a period of time, this material loses some of its ability to suppress this sound due to the thermal expansion and contraction of the varnish as the transformer heats and cools. The chattering won’t cause any damage to the unit or the golf car but sometimes can be aggravating to listen to. I suggest that you take it to your servicing dealer for inspection. Tightening any loose mounting hardware and readjusting shims can often quiet the chatter.

“I keep my golf car in my garage when I’m not using it and also charge the batteries while it’s in there. I’ve had the circuit breaker in the panel box trip several times when the charger switches on. My neighbor told me I’m overloading the circuit. How’s that possible?”

Your neighbor may be right on the money. First of all, you need to make certain that the circuit your charger is on is protected by at least a 15-amp circuit breaker. Next, be sure that there’s no other electrical appliances sharing that circuit while the charger is operating. Something like an extra refrigerator or ventilation fan that you may have in your garage that’s switching on, or using a large power tool all on the same circuit while trying to recharge your batteries can trip the breaker with an overload. Your best bet is to provide your charger with a dedicated circuit that’s all its own. Do this, and with the appropriate size circuit breaker, your problem will go away.

“The receptacle I plug my battery charger into is several feet away from where I have to park my car. The AC cord on the charger is too short to reach it, so I have to use an extension cord. That extension cord gets so hot that I can’t touch it after charging the car. In fact, it even started to melt the little plug at the end that goes into the receptacle. I think there’s something wrong with that charger or maybe the batteries.”

Get rid of that extension cord now! Using a light-gauge, household extension cord on a golf car battery charger is inviting disaster! Don’t do it! So far, you’ve been lucky. Others who have made the mistake of doing this haven’t been as fortunate. Call a qualified electrician immediately and have him relocate the receptacle closer to your car, or install an additional one. The cost is pocket change compared to the expense of replacing your home.

“I’ve been told that removing the DC plug from my car while the charger’s still running isn’t good for it. I don’t see anything wrong with doing it. What’s the big deal?”

Well, for starters, you should always let the charger run a full charge cycle before disconnecting it. It knows when the batteries are at a state of full charge and will shut itself off at the appropriate time. You will always achieve maximum service life from your batteries by doing this. Next, and depending what model golf car you own, disconnecting the plug from the charger receptacle while the charger is still on can causing electrical arcing inside the receptacle and on the blades of the charger plug. This shortens the service life of these components and leads to battery problems later on. Some manufacturers have built-in electric circuitry that prevents this from happening should someone disconnect the charger from the car prematurely, but not all makes and models have this feature. If you’re forced to disconnect the charger before its had time to provide a full charge and shut down, switch off the AC power to the charger first by flipping the circuit breaker off. Now you can safely remove the plug from the car’s receptacle. Oh yeah, don’t forget to reset the circuit breaker before that next battery charge!

“Every time I recharge the batteries in my car, my garage smells like rotten eggs. What’s wrong, or is that normal?”

The odor you smell after recharging is caused by the formation of hydrogen gas, a by-product of charging lead-acid batteries, and is a normal occurrence. On the other hand, if the odor is extremely strong or overpowering, you probably have inadequate ventilation in your garage. You should never charge golf car batteries in a closed space. Always provide fresh air ventilation to exchange the air in your garage enough times during the recharge to sufficiently keep the odor at a minimum. Fleet owners have to be very careful about keeping their storage facilities properly ventilated. So should you.

“We have 75 new electric cars at our course. We use practically every one everyday during our busy season, so if one or more goes down, it’s a real hassle. It looks like we already have some bad chargers or maybe some bad batteries because we’re having problems with dead batteries and cars dropping out on the course. Any ideas?”

My friends, here’s the winner of the number one question award. Yeah, I’ve got some ideas. Don’t be so quick to blame the equipment! If your fleet’s relatively new and has been getting proper battery preventive maintenance, and sudden reliability problems appear, look first at your charging practices. Are all the cars being plugged in at the end of the day? I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve visited a storage facility with problems and found six or eight cars that chargers hadn’t even been plugged into the night before. Also, when your staff places each car on charge, do they look at the charger to see if it actually switches on? It does no good to plug it in if there’s a tripped circuit breaker in the panel or in the charger. Simply looking at the ammeter on the charger when it’s plugged in will tell you if it’s operating. If it didn’t move, it isn’t charging. Make it a habit to inspect charging equipment routinely to see that it’s still in operating condition. That includes the DC cords too. Running over them can damage them and hanging them up on canopies as cars are moved in and out can ruin them and cause serious internal damage to the battery charger as well. If this is a problem at your facility, contact your manufacturer and see if they offer an overhead charger cord retractor reel to get the cords off the floor and out of the way of canopies. And here’s one more tip. If your course is located in an area that has frequent storms producing lightning, seriously consider investing in lightning suppression equipment. It can save your charging equipment, your cars, and prevent lost revenue.

These are just a few of the many questions that we all hear day to day. As I’ve said before, your customers look to you as the expert when it comes to answering questions, giving advice about maintaining their private cars and their fleets and providing good service. Keep ‘em going in the right direction. And remember, no one speaks more highly about your business than a satisfied customer.