Club Car Precedent Villager 2, Maintenance And Service Manual

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14
Battery Care ELECTRIC VEHICLE - BATTERIES
BATTERY CARE
See General Warnings on page 1-2.
WATER QUALITY
Water purity is the most important factor in the performance and life span of the vehicle batteries. Club Car is,
therefore, placing increased importance on battery water quality.
Outlined below are four battery watering procedures, grouped into two categories: Preferred and Alternate methods.
Club Car recommends the use of a deionizer or distilled water. Alternate methods of reverse osmosis or tap water
are allowable but should be avoided since water quality can change from day to day depending on additives, water
main leaks, etc.
Preferred Method
• Distilled Water: Distilled water is the most common type of water used in batteries. Distilled water is created by
boiling water, collecting the steam, and allowing the steam to condense back into water. The distilling process
results in water that is free of minerals that can lead to the degradation of battery performance and life.
Alternate Methods
• Reverse Osmosis: Reverse osmosis involves forcing water through a membrane that allows water to pass while
trapping solids. The choice of membrane used determines the amount of solids or impurities that get trapped and
hence the purity quality of the filtered water. In addition, the usage frequency of the membrane can also contribute
to the filtered water quality. Due to the variance in water quality consistency, Club Car recommends the use of
the deionizer or distilled water.
• Tap Water: While the use of tap water without filtering is an alternate method of battery watering, its use should be
limited due to the levels of dissolved minerals and chemicals that can degrade battery performance and life. If
unfiltered tap water is used, regular water analyses must be conducted to check for impurities. The following chart
lists the maximum allowable minerals, solids, and contaminates in parts per million and their impact on battery
performance. Water testing, however, is expensive, and water quality can change from day to day depending on
additives, water main leaks, etc. Due to the cost and labor of performing water quality tests, Club Car recommends
the use of distilled water or a deionizer.
_
IMPURITY
ALLOWABLE CONTENT (PARTS
PER MILLION)
EFFECTS OF IMPURITY
Suspended matter Trace N/A
Total solids 100.0 N/A
Organic and volatile matter 50.0 Corrosion of positive plates
Ammonia 8.0 Slight self-discharge of both plates
Antimony 5.0
Self-discharge, reduces life, lower
on-charge voltage
Arsenic 0.5 Self-discharge, can form poisonous gas
Calcium 40.0 Increase of positive plate shedding
Chloride 5.0
Loss of capacity in plates, greater loss
in positive plates
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