My Golf Glider with new LithiumGo battery cuts out on 18th on long courses

bmay529

I bought a replacement lithium battery for my golf glider last year. It's great... much lighter and quicker to charge than the old lead batteries. While it has worked great at my home club it has run out of power on the 18th several times on long courses like Luttrelstown, Carton and again yesterday at Tulferris... a real pain. It is a lithium Go LiFePO4 12v 16ah battery purchased from a reputable supplier. I took it back to them and they checked it, said it was ok and that maybe I should reduce the weight of my bag. I was surprised by that comment as while my bag is reasonably heavy it is still still not as heavy as many I know and was never a problem with the older lead batteries. Has anyone had any similar experience?

Boskowski

Whats the capacity of those old lead batteries? I guess its more than 16ah? Maybe you didn't replace like for like? The one I got for my Powakaddy has 29ah.

slave1

Was the charger checked?

ShivasIrons

The golf glider puts more strain on lithium batteries then any other trolley. I was told the reason why recently but can't remember off the top of my head what it is.

neckedit

Depends on how old the Glider is too, some of the older motors are quite heavy on the Lithium Batteries, I don't know anything about that model of battery, but I would get the trolley itself checked out to see what kinda power its pulling down.

bmay529

The battery, charger and trolley were all checked by the supplier of the trolley and battery and I was told they were all ok. I have had the trolley for many years, maybe 20 years with many fixes along the way and the supplier knew the history. I am going to bring them all back again. I don't understand power and don't know what the ah rating of the old lead batteries were.

neckedit

By supplier do you mean Retailer, I would suggest getting it to a Repair Agent. In my experience a 20 year old trolley will have issues with a 15/16 amp lithium battery. Glider can ad a little Regulator (I think thats what they call it) for a cost. That may improve the Draw of the motor, alternatively I'd give them a call and exlpain the problem and get their advice, they are a sound bunch of lads, who won't give ya bad advice.

Boskowski

bmay529 wrote: »

The battery, charger and trolley were all checked by the supplier of the trolley and battery and I was told they were all ok. I have had the trolley for many years, maybe 20 years with many fixes along the way and the supplier knew the history. I am going to bring them all back again. I don't understand power and don't know what the ah rating of the old lead batteries were.

Most people don't and thats why trolley manufacturers usually just call them 18 hole batteries or 36 hole batteries.

If your car's 60 litre petrol tank broke and you replaced it with a 40 litre tank you wouldn't get as far with one filling as you did before.
Same goes for batteries only with batteries its measured in amperes per hour not in litres per 100km. Ampere is a measure of electric juice if you like. So a 16 ah battery stores enough juice to deliver 1 ampere for 16 hours or 16 ampere for 1 hour or 4 ampere for 4 hours.

The amount of electric power (amperes per hour) your trolley consumes depends on the load - like with a petrol car. If you have a long hilly course and a heavy bag the electric motor needs more power than as if you were playing a flat course with a light bag. Same way with a car - a car with a trailer pulling up a hill will need more petrol than an empty car running on a flat road.

The golf glider is a pretty solid and heavy trolley which is great, but it seems with a 16ah battery you have just enough juice in it to play a flat course but not quite enough to pull it over a long, hilly course.

My Powakaddy is a biggish heavy trolley too but its probably not as heavy as a golf glider and yet to be on the safe side I got a 29ah battery. I would recommend getting what the trolley manufacturers call a 36 hole battery. Something closer to what I have.

neckedit

^^Well said. ...

bmay529

Very well explained. Do you mind me asking where you got the 29ah battery? The interesting thing with mine is that the friend I played with in Tulferris has the same golf glider and battery (on my recomendation!)and had no problem!! Think I will take the lot back and see where I go from there.

Boskowski

I got my battery from leisurebatteriesireland.ie but he currently has no golf trolley batteries in his online shop. May be worth giving him a ring. He was very nice to deal with.
I got no lithium battery though. They are still expensive enough due to reduced size and weight. I got a gel battery instead. Same size as regular lead batteries.

I was basically in the same boat as you. When my orig powakaddy battery needed replacing I had to bring back two replacements as they simply didn't last. In the end I googled for for heavy duty batteries for the powakaddy and found your man above. Cost me about €100 quid but I've had no problems since. The battery is now about 2 years old.

For the powakaddy the battery had to be a certain size due to the connector bracket required and the size of the battery bay but if that's not an issue with your trolley technically you could buy a regular 30 ah car battery and fit a strap to it and that's that then.

bmay529

I never had a problem with lead batteries over the years, they comfortably lasted long courses but I was told that many had become troublesome over the year year or two. Lead batteries never lasted more than 2 years for me used about twice a week. The lithium batteries are much lighter to handle, charge quicker and while 2/3 times more expensive should last about 5 years.

Boskowski

bmay529 wrote: »

I never had a problem with lead batteries over the years, they comfortably lasted long courses but I was told that many had become troublesome over the year year or two. Lead batteries never lasted more than 2 years for me used about twice a week. The lithium batteries are much lighter to handle, charge quicker and while 2/3 times more expensive should last about 5 years.

Never had a problem with lead batteries either. They have a limited lifetime like everything does, but if treated well they will last a long long time. I replaced my car battery this year, it was 16 years old.
Gel is lead too. The weight of the thing doesn't really bother me too much thats why I decided not to fork out the big money for a 36 hole lithium one.

Having said that my OH got herself a Motocaddy with a lithium battery and its very neat I admit.

First Up

I got my trolley and batteries directly from Golf Glider in Churchtown. I have the trolley trouble free (apart from one replacement of speed regulator switch) for about six years.

I've been using the Lithium battery for about two years now and find it great because of the light weight and fast re-charge. It handles a normal round no problem 99% of the time - even with a fairly heavy bag and it has also gone some extra holes no problem. A couple of times it has run out close to the end. Only once (at Tulfarris) did it conk out mid round but it was such an isolated occurrence that I have to suspect I didn't charge it right.

I think it is down to the charger. I put it on charge as soon as I get home (they say it is bad to leave it empty.) It is supposed to be full when the light turns green but then odd time I've given it a nudge and it resumes charging. Again, very isolated incidents but now I usually give it a quick check before going out - just plug it in and if it is OK, it will go green in a few seconds.

The Glider (at least my model) is pretty basic in design. Some of the Powacaddy models are much flashier but I hear more complaints about them.

bmay529

Thanks for the update First Up. I too got mine from Golf Glider in Churchtown and brought it back to them this morning... trolley, battery, charger... the whole works. As usual they were very friendly and helpful and tested each which took about an hour and half. They said the battery was fine, that the trolley was drawing about 7ah and they reduced it to 5ah... but they said the green light on the charger was flashing (I never noticed that!!) and they replaced it. They said they had supplied many of the same batteries and had no problems and were confident it should do 18 - 27 holes. They said they don't do a 36 hole battery. Anyhow I have everything back and a new charger. I'm supposed to play Powerscourt on Sunday so that should give it a good test... will report the outcome.

bmay529

Golf in Powerscourt was cancelled due to bad weather so will have to wait until I play a long course to test it. It continues to work fine on my home course

bmay529

update: I am glad to report that I was in Rosapenna and the glider completed 3 rounds on the Old course without any problem. Maybe not the toughest test, which will wait for another day, but a good sign

First Up

bmay529 wrote: »

update: I am glad to report that I was in Rosapenna and the glider completed 3 rounds on the Old course without any problem. Maybe not the toughest test, which will wait for another day, but a good sign

Glad to hear it.

Now if you did the three rounds on one charge, I'd be really impressed!

bmay529

Update: Happy to report battery went the full 18 in Killeen Castle today. Freewheeled the trolley over the front nine wherever possible as it's a long course and was a bit nervous it would go the distance

First Up

bmay529 wrote: »

Update: Happy to report battery went the full 18 in Killeen Castle today. Freewheeled the trolley over the front nine wherever possible as it's a long course and was a bit nervous it would go the distance

Sounds as if you have it sorted.

bmay529

Horror of horrors... battery gave up (again!) on 18 tee on the omeara course at Carton yesterday. Brought it back to the Glider people in Churchtown... for the third time!! They told me that the draw on the motor had gone up from what they had set it at last time and recommended the motor be replaced. This has been done so we will now have to wait until we have another run at a long course to see if it works.

First Up

bmay529 wrote: »

Horror of horrors... battery gave up (again!) on 18 tee on the omeara course at Carton yesterday. Brought it back to the Glider people in Churchtown... for the third time!! They told me that the draw on the motor had gone up from what they had set it at last time and recommended the motor be replaced. This has been done so we will now have to wait until we have another run at a long course to see if it works.

Did they charge you for the new motor?

bmay529

First Up wrote: »

Did they charge you for the new motor?

Yes, for a reconditioned unit... but to be fair I have had it a number of years.

whizbang

What battery charger are you currently using? Can you post the model numbers or any specifics.

bmay529

whizbang wrote: »

What battery charger are you currently using? Can you post the model numbers or any specifics.

The charger is Candy Cell lithium battery charger CC04, a/c 100-240v 50/60Hz, output 14.4v = 4A

whizbang

OK, thats good, worth a shot, there was a chance you were using a lead acid charger.

but I have come across a few really cheap chinese made chargers that are really unreliable.

Assume 4A is the max possible output, it should take a minimum 5 hours to charge a 16Ah battery from flat to full.
If its any quicker than that, then replace the charger.
Check easily by allowing the battery and charger to rest for a while, and charge again. If it takes over an hour again, the charger is not working properly.

Having said that, I have seen cutoff (early charge termination) due to electrical noise. ie. fluorescent light switching. - mobile phones can be a culprit too.

Boskowski

A faulty charger can destroy a battery as I have only recently experienced. I had a half broken wire in the powakaddy t-bar connector. Not visible and easily repaired once found and to be fair I've had the thing for many years. But it fried several cells in my pretty newish 33amp gel battery that should last for two rounds easily. It just kept charging and charging for over 3 days and when I got to it the battery was very hot and now the thing barely lasts for 18 holes and I had to get a new one.

bmay529

Boskowski wrote: »

A faulty charger can destroy a battery as I have only recently experienced. I had a half broken wire in the powakaddy t-bar connector. Not visible and easily repaired once found and to be fair I've had the thing for many years. But it fried several cells in my pretty newish 33amp gel battery that should last for two rounds easily. It just kept charging and charging for over 3 days and when I got to it the battery was very hot and now the thing barely lasts for 18 holes and I had to get a new one.

That's a bit of a pain to say the least. In my case I was told my charger was faulty the second time back and it was replaced. I wonder how you can check the charger.

bmay529

Another update. Happy to report battery lasted a very wet round in Powerscourt East yesterday, one of the courses it had given up the ghost on the 18th a previous time... so it looks as if we have a final fix and the new motor seems to have solved the problem.