Golf Carts operate on 6-volt or 8-volt deep cycle batteries. These carts will often come with their own charger, which makes it easy to keep the machine functioning.
Charging your 8 volt golf cart batteries is very easy, especially if you understand the voltage and amperage and battery pack system. Although there are lots of technicalities, it can still be done.
How to Charge 8-volt Golf Cart Battery
There is no difficulty at all in charging your golf cart battery. All you need to do is connect the charger to the corresponding post on the battery. If the battery is dead, there are a couple of options. You can get a charger for 12-volt batteries to boost the battery.
If that is not available, you may have tried connecting the clip on the charger on the positive and negative terminal on the batteries to give them a bit of charge.
If they don’t come up, you can test each one with a voltmeter to see the defaulting one. However, you’ll usually have to replace all.
How Long to Charge the Battery?
The time to charge an 8-volt battery is relative to the power output of the charger. That is to say, the higher the output, the faster it is to charge it. Why it’s key to charge them fully, you should remember not to overcharge them. This can reduce their effectiveness.
Can an 8-volt Battery be Charged With a 12-volt Charger?
Yes, you can use a 12-volt charger to charge an 8-volt battery. Usually, the 12-volt charger will come with more output power than the 8v battery itself.
Can I Charge Golf Cart Batteries with a Regular Charger?
Your golf cart batteries should have their own charger. However, for one reason or the other, you may not have access to one. So, you can resort to using your car charger. But, the procedure can be quite cumbersome.
The reason is that golf carts run on a high volt system. The minimum is 24 and the maximum pegged at 48v, which are all wired in series. As a result, you may need to change the wiring in the battery.
Even if you’re able to, it might be slow and frustrating. Finally, I’ll recommend getting a charger to avoid all the stress.
Is There Such a Thing as an 8-volt Battery Charger?
Golf batteries can come in 6, 8, or 12 volts with varying power capacities. Each of these will have dedicated chargers that you can them with. But, you don’t have to wait till you get a dedicated charger before you can charge your battery.
You can use a 12 volt charger to charge your 8 volt battery.
You can as well charge a 6-volt battery with an 8 volt battery charger. It’s also possible to use a 6v charger for an 8v battery provided that the output voltage on the charger is higher. However, this is not recommended in order to be on the safer side.
How Many amps Does an 8-volt Battery Have?
Usually, the 8v battery should have anything from 1020 to 1800 total amps on it. The amperage is just like the gas tank in the car. This will in turn determine how much a single charge your cart can hold and how far you can go with it.
This is represented by the battery pack. So that the more amperage you have in the battery pack, the further you can travel before plugging it back in.
Remember, it’s important to always plug in your golf cart after every use, no matter the distance covered in each session. Doing this will prolong the lifetime of the batteries.
Will a Golf Cart Work with one Bad Battery?
A golf cart usually comes with 4 to 6 batteries. One of them can go bad at any time. This is why regular checkup is important. Additionally, checking the battery compartment when your golf cart is malfunctioning is a good step.
It makes sense to want to keep or change just the bad one especially if you only need to use the cart on the weekends or save money.
You could be looking at close to a thousand dollars for replacing all, so it’s easy to see why anyone may want to replace just one. Technically, changing the battery that has gone bad alone is okay.
It’s not advisable to leave a battery that has gone bad in your golf cart. If one of the batteries has gone bad, change it immediately. It’s even better to change all the batteries to avoid any possible problems that may arise from the defaulting battery.
Leaving the bad one might result in charging issues or battery imbalance which can eventually lead to poor battery life. Replacing them all might cause you in the short term. In the long run, your cart will run smoother and breakdowns will be less frequent.