Battery Troubleshooting; Hydrometer - Bad Boy RECOIL iS Owner's Manual

MAINTENANCE
Read all of this manual to become thoroughly familiar with this vehicle. Pay particular attention to all Notices, Cautions, Warnings, and Dangers.
• The charging must take place in an area that is well ventilated and capable of removing the hydrogen gas that
is generated by the charging process. A minimum of five air exchanges per hour is recommended.
• The charging connector components must be in good condition and free from dirt or debris.
• The charger connector must be fully inserted into the vehicle receptacle.
• The charger connector/cord set is protected from damage and is located in an area to prevent injury that may
result from personnel running over or tripping over the cord set.
• The charger is automatically turned off during the connect/disconnect cycle and therefore no electrical arc is
generated at the DC plug/receptacle contacts.

BATTERY TROUBLESHOOTING

In general, troubleshooting will be done for two distinct reasons. First, a battery that performs poorly and is outside of the
manufacturers specification should be identified in order to replace it under the terms of the manufacturer's warranty. Dif-
ferent manufacturers have different requirements. Consult the battery manufacturer or the manufacturer's representative
for specific requirements.
The second reason is to determine why a particular vehicle does not perform adequately. Performance problems may
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result in a vehicle that runs slowly or in a vehicle that is unable to operate for the time required.
A new battery must mature before it will develop its maximum capacity. Maturing may take up to 100 charge/discharge
cycles. After the maturing phase, the older a battery gets, the lower the capacity. The only way to determine the capacity
of a battery is to perform a load test using a discharge machine following manufacturer's recommendations.
A cost effective way to identify a poorly performing battery is to use a hydrometer to identify a battery in a set with a lower
than normal specific gravity. Once the particular cell or cells that are the problem are identified, the suspect battery can
be removed and replaced. At this point there is nothing that can be done to salvage the battery; however, the individual
battery should be replaced with a good battery of the same brand, type and approximate age.

HYDROMETER

A hydrometer is used to test the state of charge of a battery
cell. This is performed by measuring the density of the elec-
trolyte, which is accomplished by measuring the specific grav-
ity of the electrolyte. The greater the concentration of sulfuric
acid, the more dense the electrolyte becomes. The higher the
density, the higher the state of charge.
To prevent battery explosion that could result in
severe personal injury or death, never insert a
metal thermometer into a battery. Use a hydrome-
ter with a built in thermometer that is designed for
testing batteries.
Specific gravity is the measurement of a liquid that is com-
pared 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.
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Bulb
Cylinder
Thermometer
Add to Float
Reading
Subtract
from Float
Reading
Hydrometer
Float
Weight