battery charging

[JRS]

my buddy is going to sell me his electric golf cart for my wife and I to use at the race track. Unfortunately, with the race car, there is no more room in my garage to store the cart. I am going to have to store it inside my enclosed race car trailer at the storage lot. What is the easiest way for me to keep the batteries charged while I'm not using the cart? (We race about once a month, with three months off from October-November). Solar? I would hate to have to remove the batteries after every race and then reinstall them two weeks later. I have a hard enough time just keeping the race car ready. (and the tow rig)

 

[JTadra]

Every year I put my golf cart away from November to late March. Before winter storage, I check the battery water level and charge the batterys. The cart is in an uheated shed for the entire Michigan winter. The batteries are original ... ... ... ... . April 1994, 10 1/2 years old, and still going strong!

Also my cart has six, six volt batteries wired in series, so the charger is 36 volts. I have only seen 12 volt solar chargers.

Jim

 

[klenger]

I would suggest solar on top of the trailer also. Like JTadra said, the problem is that the golf cart is 36 volts. You can easily get the 36 volts from 3 solar panels in series, but I don't know if anyone makes a 36 volt solar controller.



Another option would be a 12 volt solar panel, controller, battery and a 115 volt inverter, but that seems very inefficient, and also would kill the 12v battery when the sun goes down.



You might want to check out http://www.solar-electric.com/