Club Car TransPorter 4 Maintenance And Service Manual Download

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Battery Care

BATTERIES

BATTERY CARE

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 Methods

•

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.

•

Deionized Water:

Deionized water is created by inducing electrically charged resins that attract and bind to

sodium, calcium, iron, copper, chloride, and bromide ions. The result of this electrical filtering is purified water,
which contains little to no mineral ions. To make sure the deionized water remains at a high quality, replace the filter
in the deionizer per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

•

Deionized Systems:

The Service Parts Department at Club Car offers two deionizer systems: one for vehicles

equipped with the Single Point Watering System (SPWS), and one for vehicles without SPWS (used in combination
with Battery Watering Nozzle Gun).

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