GOLF CART BATTERIES

[Txjaybird]

DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH, OR KNOWLEDGE OF USING GOLF CART BATTERIES WITH A SOLAR SET UP FOR A VAN OR TRAVEL TRAILOR?  I'M UNSURE AT THIS TIME OF HOW MANY WATTS I'LL END UP WITH.   100 OR 200 WATTS TO START IS WHAT I'M THINKING.

OR INFORMATION ON JACKERY, YETI, OR GOAL ZERO POWER SOURCES WHAT-CHA-MA-CALL-ITS?
    ^^^^^^^^I'LL ADMIT TO MY IGNORANCE ABOUT THESE^^^^^^^   AT LEAST I AINT STOOPID!

THANKS FOLKS

JEWELL ANN AND QUEENIE, THE QUEEN OF MY POP UP TRAILER

 

[DLTooley]

There’s definitely a bit of learning curve for electricity, even low voltage. Battery university is one good on line source for basics. Don’t know if they have anything on the Jackery but I believe they do on the chemistry.

Watts and amps can be confusing, most lead acid batteries use amp hours, but thats meaningless with different voltages. A 200 amp hour ish golf cart battery setup will get you 1200 ish watt hours. That’s a solid basic system.

A comparable watt hour system like a k
Jackery is still not a good deal. The smaller all in one models are a good choice for a smaller starter system and will also serve as a supplement if you upgrade.

 

[Weight]

The best bank for your buck are two six volt golf cart batteries in series for 12 volts. Duracell EGC-2 from East Penn Manufacturing. Then two pair in parallel for 460 amp hours at 12 volts. You need to match the solar to the energy you use. Watts.

 

[Rabbit]

Between a home "hobby" setup and a cargo trailer conversion, I own 14 of the 6-volt Duracells described above. They're only about 6 months to a nearly a year old-- I bought them in two batches. But for what it's worth I've been entirely satisfied to date-- no problems at all, and they were the cheapest thing on the market at the time. We'll see how they hold up in the long run. I'm really hoping that lithium prices will be down by the time these give up the ghost, but if not I'll probably buy these exact same ones again based on what I've seen so far.

I should add that this forum was a fantastic resource in setting this all up; I'm not sure I could've done without the help of several good people here. I remain very grateful.

 

[Wabbit]

I bought 2 of these(see link) about 2 1/2 years ago. They both still going strong. There is a $10 off coupon if you buy them online, at least it pops up for me. That makes em $90 a pop. Although there is a $27 per core charge, be worth it to bring in 2 batteries to save that $54.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/battery/rv/na/6/sligc110

 

[Txjaybird]

THANK YOU  ALL FOR THE INFO.  IF USED FOR A 12v SYSTEM WHICH WOULD BE BEST A SINGLE 12v BATTERY OR 2 x 6v ?  wouldn't 2 be  2x weight and cost?

tjb

 

[Weight]

Two golf cart batteries are the best. They are true deep cycle batteries made to hold up bouncing around in a cart, run down, and charged back many times. 12 volt batteries do not pack the punch of the GC2. The weight of batteries is related to the amount of lead. More lead is bettter. More lead weighs more. My EGC2 weighs <70 pounds times two is 230 amp hours at <140 pounds.

 

[Rabbit]

THANK YOU  ALL FOR THE INFO.  IF USED FOR A 12v SYSTEM WHICH WOULD BE BEST A SINGLE 12v BATTERY OR 2 x 6v ?  wouldn't 2 be  2x weight and cost?

tjb

With two six-volts, you get the same effective power capacity as two similar size/weight 12-volts once the 6-volts are properly coupled together. (I'm not going to go into that here, but it's easy.) The only way you'd end up with extra weight/cost is if you only needed one battery (since the 6-volters must be used in pairs), and most people seem to need more than one anyway. I'd encourage you to measure the capacities of the batteries you're looking at in "watt-hours", which is often to be found only in the fine print. It's a good way to measure a battery's "real" capacity, automatically taking the voltage difference into account. This is a subject that gets very complicated very quickly, I'll warn you in advance. It's also one I freely admit that I haven't entirely mastered myself, and hope never to have to. But comparing watt-hours works well for me, and gives a pretty good idea of what you're really buying. I presume you already know that if you drain a lead-acid battery down more than 50% or so, the battery becomes damaged. One time won't ruin it, or two or three times (unless you go to real extremes). But the damage is cumulative, and very real. So when you do your figuring regarding how many watt-hours you need, make sure to buy twice as much lead-acid battery as they're rated for. If you choose lithium-ion-- extremely expensive, but long-lasting, less maintenance and lighter-- you can figure on using 100% of the rated wattage, or at least very near to it.

I've read elsewhere on this forum-- I assume it's true, because it gets repeated a lot by people whose opinions I've come to respect-- that as a rule of thumb the heavier a lead-acid battery is for a given capacity, the better it's quality tends to be. So for my own situation I chose not to worry as much about weight as I might otherwise have.

 

[Trebor English]

They make a single 12 volt battery that is the size and weight of 2 golf cart batteries.  Search for "8D" size batteries.  

I have replaced the batteries in golf carts.  At 65 pounds it is awkward to pick them up and lower them into their confined place.  They are manageable.  At twice the weight and size 8D batteries are more than I can manage.

 

[Weight]

What Trebor said. I rather lift 70 pounds twice than 130 pound once.

 

[jimindenver]

130? I should be so lucky. My 8-D's weigh 157 pounds each.

Now then. My 8-D's can run a microwave with just one of them. Show me a pair of 6 volts that can do it with a pair. In advance I can tell you that they won't because the thicker plates give too much resistance to allow that kind of energy to be released all at once.

 

[Weight]

The weight is just a low guess. I don't have time to research other's problems. My EGC2 weigh 67.6 pounds soaking wet.
Any battery will be limited by how much current can be pulled for how long. My 690 amp hour bank can run my 1000W microwave for 10 to 15 minutes a day. Make a pot of Mr Coffee, and two slices of toast. Then be recharged 100% with one sunshiny day using 400 watts of solar.
How many 8-ds do you have? You could, maybe, compare two GC2 battery to one 8D battery. But I think the two GC2 will win.

 

[jimindenver]

I have 3 Lifeline 225 Ah 8-D's for 675 Ah total. These are 8 years old and showing their age so I am considering replacing them this year. A new set will be 765 Ah but I have a year or so to see what happens in the battery world before I decide.

You are correct. All batteries have resistance to charging/discharging. Even Lithium's can only handle so much discharge and charging rates. (100-150a for each battery) This is where Lifelines really shine as their charge rate is 500 amps per 100 Ah of battery. Since there is no way I can produce that kind of amperage even with my solar peaking at 80 amps and the two chargers at 116 amps, I never have to worry about cooking them.

A pair of 6 volts will give the most cycles and more amp hours than the pair of group 24 12 volt batteries that have the same footprint. Four of them will spread the load across them enough to run a microwave.