How long does it take to charge a golf cart? Times by pack

A 48V cart that has been driven around a community for a day and run down to about half takes 6 to 8 hours to charge on the 13-amp charger most of them came with. Run it to near empty and it is 10 to 12. Put it on a 20-amp charger and knock a third off either number. A lithium pack is faster still and does not mind being left part charged.

This part of the golf cart battery guides covers the two things you can control: how long the charge takes and how the habit affects the life of the set. If you are shopping for a charger, the charger guide lists them by plug type, and the battery calculator will tell you what a set that gets charged properly is worth against one that does not.

1. Know your pack and your charger

Charge time is amp-hours to put back, plus about 15 percent for losses, divided by charger amps, plus an hour or so of taper at the end. Lift the seat and count the batteries: six 8V is about 170Ah, four 12V about 150Ah, eight 6V about 225Ah. Then look at the charger label for the output amps. A Club Car PowerDrive or Lester 48V charger is 13 to 17 amps; EZGO PowerWise 36V chargers are about 21 amps; most lithium packs ship with a 15 to 18 amp charger.

Pack	From about half	From near empty	On a 20A charger, from half
Six 8V, 170Ah, 13A charger	7 to 8 hours	11 to 12 hours	5 hours
Four 12V, 150Ah, 13A charger	6 to 7 hours	10 to 11 hours	4 to 5 hours
Eight 6V, 225Ah, 13A charger	9 to 10 hours	13 to 14 hours	6 to 7 hours
Six 6V (36V), 225Ah, 21A charger	6 to 7 hours	9 to 10 hours	about the same
Lithium 48V 105Ah, 15 to 18A charger	3 to 4 hours	5 to 7 hours	3 hours

Flooded batteries cannot be rushed. A 13-amp charger on a six-8V set is roughly a 7-amp charge per 100Ah, which is about the ceiling Trojan recommends for long life. A bigger charger finishes sooner and gives the plates a harder life; a 20-amp unit is fine, a 40-amp car charger is not.

2. Plug in, every time you park

Park on a flat spot, key off, lights and stereo off. Plug the charger into the cart first, then into the wall. Most chargers click, pause for a few seconds while they read the pack, then start; a Club Car with an on-board computer will not start until the OBC gives the go-ahead, which is normal.

Do this after every drive, not when the gauge gets low. A flooded battery starts forming sulfate crystals on its plates as soon as it sits below full, and the longer it sits the less of that sulfate the next charge removes. Running a set from full to half every day and recharging each night is about 1,000 cycles from a good set. Running it to empty twice a week and letting it sit in between is about a third of that. Lead-acid has no memory; a 20-minute top-up after a two-mile drive does no harm at all.

3. Let the charger finish on its own

A proper charge runs in stages. Bulk, where the charger pushes its full amps and the pack voltage climbs to about 58 to 60 volts on a 48V set. Absorption, where the voltage holds and the current tapers as the plates fill, which is the slow last two hours that make up most of the time difference between a half charge and a full one. Then shut-off, or a float on the better chargers.

Unplugging at the first green light or when the fan goes quiet cuts the absorption stage, and a set that is only ever charged to 90 percent sulfates almost as fast as one that sits half charged. Leave it. Unplug the wall end first when it is done.

Flooded batteries gas during absorption, which is the fizzing you hear and the smell. Charge with the seat up or in a space with some air. If you smell rotten eggs, stop and read the last section.

4. Check the water after charging

Flooded sets only. Electrolyte expands as it charges, so water goes in after the charge, not before, unless the plates are exposed. Lift each cap and look. The level should sit about a quarter inch below the bottom of the fill well. Top up with distilled water only; tap water minerals coat the plates. A six-battery set in summer uses about a gallon a month. The maintenance page covers the full monthly routine, including the equalize cycle a flooded set wants once a month.

If a plate is dry before you charge, add just enough to cover it, charge, and then fill to the line.

5. Lithium is different

A lithium pack charges at full current until it is nearly full, then stops. There is no long taper, so a 105Ah pack on an 18-amp charger is done in 5 to 7 hours from empty and 3 to 4 from half. It does not sulfate, so leaving it at 60 percent for a month costs nothing. The one rule is temperature: the BMS will refuse a charge below about 32°F, so a cart in an unheated northern garage needs either a heated pack or an indoor charge. The lithium guide covers packs and chargers.

Use the lithium charger that came with the pack or a charger with a lithium profile. A flooded-profile charger pushes an equalize voltage that a lithium BMS will reject or, on older BMS units, not reject.

6. The Club Car Tow/Run switch

Club Car DS carts from 1995 and Precedents have a Tow/Run switch under the seat near the batteries. Club Car’s instruction is to put it in Tow before you disconnect any battery cable and whenever the cart is towed or stored for weeks; in Tow the controller is cut off from the pack and cannot be damaged by a loose cable or drain the set in storage. Switch back to Run to drive.

Charging works with the switch in either position on most carts. If a Club Car charger will not start, set the switch to Run, unplug and plug in again. The EZGO RXV and Yamaha Drive have a similar switch; the RXV’s must be in Tow to roll the cart with the power off, because its motor brake locks otherwise.

7. Winter and long storage

For a flooded set, charge to full, fill the water, clean the terminals, set the switch to Tow or pull the main negative, and store the cart somewhere dry. A charged flooded battery will not freeze until well below zero; a discharged one freezes around 20°F and cracks. Recharge every 30 to 60 days, or leave it on a charger with a true float mode, like the NOCO. Do not leave an old timer-style charger connected; it will boil the set dry.

For lithium, charge to about 50 to 60 percent, disconnect the charger and leave it. Check it once in the spring.

When to stop and call a shop

A battery that is hot to the touch, hissing hard, swollen or smelling of rotten eggs during a charge has a shorted cell. Unplug the charger, leave the seat up and do not drive it. A charger that runs for 16 hours and never shuts off has either a bad battery in the string or a bad charger; the testing page finds out which. A charger that will not start at all on a Club Car is usually the OBC, the receptacle or a fuse, and a shop will find it in half an hour. The fitment pages for Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha list the charger plug each model uses if yours has been replaced.