Bad Boy 2013 INSTINCT Owner'S Manual Download

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MAINTENANCE

Read all of this manual to become thoroughly familiar with this vehicle. Pay particular attention to all Notices, Cautions, Warnings, and Dangers.

To prevent battery explosion that could result in severe personal injury or death, never insert a
metal thermometer into a battery. Use a hydrometer with a built in thermometer that is designed
for testing batteries.

Specific gravity is the measurement of a liquid that is compared to a baseline. The baseline is water which is assigned a
base number of 1.000. The concentration of sulfuric acid to water in a new golf car battery is 1.280 which means that the
electrolyte weighs 1.280 times the weight of the same volume of water. A fully charged battery will test at 1.275 - 1.280
while a discharged battery will read in the 1.140 range.

Do not perform a hydrometer test on a battery that has just been watered. The battery must go through at least one charge and

discharge cycle in order to permit the water to adequately mix with the electrolyte.

The temperature of the

electrolyte

is important since the

hydrometer reading must be corrected to 80° F (27° C). High
quality hydrometers are equipped with an internal thermome-
ter that will measure the temperature of the electrolyte and
will include a conversion scale to correct the float reading. It
is important to recognize that the electrolyte temperature is
significantly different from the ambient temperature if the
vehicle has been operated.

Using A Hydrometer

1. Draw electrolyte into the hydrometer several times to per-

mit the thermometer to adjust to the electrolyte tempera-
ture and note the reading. Examine the color of the
electrolyte. A brown or gray coloration indicates a prob-
lem with the battery and is a sign that the battery is near-
ing the end of its life.

2. Draw the minimum quantity of electrolyte into the

hydrometer to permit the float to float freely without con-
tacting the top or bottom of the cylinder.

3. Hold the hydrometer in a vertical position at eye level and

note the reading where the electrolyte meets the scale on
the float.

4. Add or subtract four points (.004) to the reading for every

10° F (6° C) the electrolyte temperature is above or below
80° F (27° C). Adjust the reading to conform with the
electrolyte temperature, e.g., if the reading indicates a
specific gravity of 1.250 and the electrolyte temperature
is 90° F (32° C), add four points (.004) to the 1.250 which
gives a corrected reading of 1.254. Similarly if the tem-
perature was 70° F (21° C), subtract four points (.004)
from the 1.250 to give a corrected reading of 1.246.

5. Test each cell and note the readings (corrected to 80° F

or 27° C). A variation of fifty points between any two cell
readings (example 1.250 - 1.200) indicates a problem
with the low reading cell(s).

As a battery ages the specific gravity of the electrolyte will
decrease at full charge. This is not a reason to replace the
battery providing all cells are within fifty points of each other.

NOTICE

Hydrometer Temperature Correction

°F °C

160 71

150 65

140 60

130 54

120 49

110 43

100 37

90 32

80 26