WINTER SHORT JOURNEY SYNDROME

As winter approaches so do the dark, cold mornings and evenings, as a result your vehicles electrical consumption increases.

This can cause problems for those who use their vehicles for short journey’s into work and the reverse journey home.

Problems occur because your consumption starting the engine along with the use of other equipment, lighting, heating etc is more than your alternator is able to replace and over a period of a fortnight (unless a journey of some distance occurs) will see your battery discharged.

This is not a battery fault, it will occur regardless of the age and condition of the battery.

If your battery is new or fairly new the problem is easily remedied by simply taking your vehicle on a journey long enough to recharge the battery or by checking and recharging your battery, off the vehicle on a weekly/fortnightly basis.

If your battery is old this occurrence could quite possibly render your battery useless and a replacement will be necessary.

Having replaced your old battery please don’t forget that the new battery is still vulnerable to winter short journey syndrome and should be checked on a weekly/fortnightly basis.

It is a myth that leaving your engine on tick over for a couple of hours will recharge your battery, this only causes unnecessary wear and tear to your engine, unnecessary damage to the environment and with the price of fuel these days unnecessary costs.   Take the battery off the vehicle and recharge it.

Golfers and their golf trolleys can be the proverbial pain in the wotsit for a battery supplier. Golf shops up and down the country are largely to blame by advertising their batteries as 18 holers and 36 holers, regardless of the battery make up. Anything to make that sale, when the battery fails the golf shop will return it to his supplier complaining that the battery is faulty. In actual fact the battery is not faulty, just spent because the wrong battery for the job was supplied.

When choosing a battery for your golf trolley meteorological  and geographical  factors must be taken into account. If conditions are wet and soggy your trolley will unavoidably slip and free spin causing discharge as if the trolley was moving, over a period of 18 holes this can become quite some distance, perhaps in some cases a further 9 holes. By choosing the largest capacity battery possible to fit into your battery compartment your chances of making the full course in adverse weather are increased.

Terrain is another problem. Each course has its own individual geographical features, some quite flat and some hilly. Problems occur when a golfer switches courses from his home course which maybe fairly flat and his batteries cope comfortably to an unfamiliar course which may be a little hillier and longer, take his handicap on this new course into account and your batteries that, under normal circumstances, on home ground work for the full course may fail because they have surpassed their capacity.

Another problem is what kind of battery to choose. There are 2 types on the market, sealed lead acid and gel.

We strongly recommend the gel type, in fact we never sell s.l.a batteries in our shop if we know they are for a golf trolley, if the customer insists on one we do not offer a guarantee, this normally persuades him to buy the gel type which for the sake of  a few pounds gives us and the customer genuine peace of mind. We know only through our experience that the s.l.a type, which have got a deep cyclic capability but also have an engine start capability, do not stand up to the job as a gel type, which has only a cyclic capability therefore designed specifically for this kind of work. Having said this some manufacturers do offer a deep cycle only s.l.a which will do the same job as gel type but it is reflected in the price.

Our recommended range for golf trolleys are as follows.

HZY12-18 (Gel 12v 18ah)   dimensions  L:181 x W: 76 x H:167

HZY12-26 (Gel 12v 26ah)   dimensions  L: 168 x W: 178 x H: 124

HZY12-33 (Gel 12v 33ah)   dimensions  L: 196 x W: 131 x H: 160

HZY12-44 (Gel 12v 44ah)   dimensions  L: 198 x W: 167 x H: 157

HZY12-55 (Gel 12v 55ah)   dimensions  L: 229 x W: 138 x H: 213

It is important to fully charge your battery before use, using a battery charger with an output of a minimum of 10% of the batteries capacity- i.e. (80ah battery requires a minimum of 8amp battery charger). This will ensure the battery will be charged from a 50% discharge state to 100% within 12 hours (overnight).

If using a lesser output charger, i.e. 4amps the charging time will be significantly increased, depending on the state of discharge, anything up to 48 hrs.

A battery is fully charged when all cells are freely gassing. Use a hydrometer to check the specific gravity (sg) of each cell.

After resting for a few hours the battery voltage should read between 12.60 and 12.75 volts using a calibrated digital volt meter.

Restricting a batteries discharge to 50% will ensure an easy cyclic turnaround and significantly improve service life.

DO’S and DON’TS

Never leave your battery in a discharged condition, this will significantly decrease the battery service life and may, if left discharged for too long, become sulphated.

Always charge your battery at the end of the season and leave it in a cool, dry, frost free environment, preferably off the ground. Check the battery every 12 weeks and top the charge up if necessary.

Don’t constantly totally discharge your battery and then recharge, this will cause your battery to lose its capacity prematurely thus shortening the batteries life span.

Always use distilled water to top up your battery, never use sulphuric acid.

Never try to totally replace the electrolyte in your battery, it will not improve the performance. This has totally the opposite effect and will decrease the capacity significantly.

Remember, all batteries have a finite life span and if you follow these few simple rules, that life span will be longer.

A fully charged 12volt battery normally reads between 12.6 and 12.7 volts which when divided into cells equates to circa 2.1 volts per cell.

When a battery is discharged it may give the false impression that it has a faulty cell by the given voltage and when put under load a certain amount of activity in all cells.

If that given voltage is 10.6volts and the battery is showing activity under load, check the battery with a hydrometer, if all cells give a low reading the battery is merely dis-charged. In cases like this it is important to establish why the battery is dis-charged, changing the battery does NOT solve the problem.

The following are examples of a fully charged battery, a discharged (flat) battery and a battery with a faulty cell.

 1                                          Fully charged 12volt battery

                                cell 1       cell 2     cell 3     cell 4     cell 5     cell 6

  cell voltage           2.12         2.12     2.12        2.12       2.12        2.12  =  12.72volts

 2                                        Discharged 12volt battery

                                 cell 1       cell 2      cell 3     cell 4    cell 5     cell 6

 cell voltage            1.81         1.79        1.8          1.78      1.81      1.8   =   10.79volts

3                                        Fully charged 12 volt battery with a faulty cell                 

                                cell 1         cell 2     cell 3     cell 4     cell 5     cell 6    

  cell voltage           2.12           2.12       2.12       2.12       2.12       0.0   =   10.6volts

As you can see from the battery voltages in examples 2 and 3 it is easy to diagnose a faulty cell in error with just the use of a digital volt meter.

Using a high rate discharge tester on example 2 would show each cell lightly bubbling and gassing, using the high rate discharge tester on example 3 would show cells 1 to 5 with no significant activity and cell 6 gassing and bubbling violently.

Using a hydrometer on example 2 would show the float gently dropping into the discharged area in all cells, using the hydrometer on example 2 would show cells 1-5 all remaining in the charged area whilst cell 6 would plummet directly into the negative specific gravity area.

On today’s market there are plenty of ingenious inventions that claim to be able to diagnose battery problems (mention no names) but none are better nor cheaper than the tried and tested digital volt meter, high rate discharge tester and hydrometer, three inexpensive pieces of equipment that together with logic and common sense will answer all common battery problems.

Cause

Quite a common sight when lifting the bonnet of a car is the powdery blue white substance surrounding the positive terminal and in some cases the metal hold down clamps of a battery, this is most common in standard low maintenance batteries in which the vent caps are designed to release the gasses as they are produced. This gas in general is not vented away from under the bonnet and returns to its liquid state predominantly as a damp film on the lid of the battery, eventually this film is spread over the full battery case. This film is sulphuric acid which when in contact with metal is corrosive. As this film of acid loses specific gravity it evaporates and leaves the sulphur behind in its crystal form. The build up of these crystals are predominantly around the positive terminal and eventually act as an electrical resistor encrusting both terminal and cable which will eventually lead to battery malfunction.

Solution

Remove the battery from the vehicle disconnecting the negative terminal first. Wash down the affected areas with a solution of baking soda dissolved in water. The effects of this solution will be seen immediately but may have to be repeated depending on the severity of the build up.

Make sure all affected areas such as metal hold down clamps, battery leads and terminal adaptors are thoroughly cleaned.

Use a wire brush to clean terminals and terminal adaptors, replace any cable that has excessive corrosion.

Prevention

Smear both terminals of the battery with petroleum jelly and lightly smear battery hold clamps with the same, return the battery to its compartment and re-connect, connecting the positive terminal first.

Ensure the battery is topped up with de-mineralised water and re-greased at every service.