My favorite way to maintain batteries used to be with that little bucket with the spring loaded end on it too. But here is another idea that works. You will notice from sticking your fingers into a battery there is a ridge about a half inch down. I don't care to fumble around much with acid so what I have done is buy one of those liquid level indicators you can get everywhere. They have a loop in the wires to hang over the rim of a glass or cup. Just straighten the loop out and strip the insulation back to the length needed to reach that ridge inside the battery. When it reaches that level music plays and your fingers are safely outside. Wash it off well when you're done and it will keep working. I'd think twice about using the same thing in a drink, but they are only about $10 so an extra one won't hurt much.
As far as replacing the rings on cables, you'll have to get a bit more detailed on what you are doing. Are you talking about the part that goes over the battery itself? That is called oddly enough the cable end. The other end is the terminal end. Each one is done differently. The cable end is pretty simple. Cut the cable as close to the end as possible, strip the cable back about a half inch and the new ends will have a small bar or plate that is held in place with 2 bolts. Slide the stripped part of the cable in between the 2 parts and tighten the 2 bolts. If you need to replace the terminal ends, chances are you need to replace the whole cable. Golf carts pull a lot of amperage through them and over time the cable will disintegrate inside the cable housing. If the end is bad I'd rather junk the whole cable. You can always strip the insulation back a bit, find a terminal end, buy a set of cable crimpers, we're close to the price of a cable or more already, and hope you have enough strength in your hands to squeeze the crimpers hard enough to put a dimple that will hold the cable inside the terminal. Some guys I've known have used wire cutters for crimping but God loves fools and drunks... They aren't designed for crimping and you can cut through the side of the terminal trying that. I suppose you could try a pair of Channel Locks, squeeze the crap out of the terminal and then with the mess left, try getting some solder to melt down inside to help hold the 2 together. Now you see why I choose to junk the cable and start over. In all the years I have fixed cars and lawn tractors and all the other stuff I've messed with I can honestly say I've only ever tried replacing the terminal on a cable in an emergency a few times. A case of jobbers being closed and the guy needing it badly. Those repairs came with a curb side guaranty. Cross the curb in front of the shop and the guaranty is over... ----- Original Message ----- From: Matt To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 8:58 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Checking water levels in batteries Hello, Does anyone have tips or tricks for checking the level of water in car or golf cart batteries? I purchased a jug with a spring loaded spout on it, which is supposed not to over fill batteries, but of course it don't seem to work as advertised. But still, it is much easier than using a funnel and a gallon jug and it makes consistent noises as the water leaves the bottle, so it was worth the purchase. However, I still have to check water levels in the batteries with my fingers and I wish that I could find a way around this. There are 6 batteries in our cart with 4 fill holes each. I think that we save a lot of money having an electric/rechargeable cart instead of a gasoline powered one, but there's always maintenance of some sort and watching water levels, cleaning cables and posts, and watching the tires is it for this thing. Anyway, I figured who knows? Maybe this is a topic this list would know about and if I never asked, I'd never know if there was an easier way. If you want to cover how to replace the rings on the ends of battery cables, that would be of use to me as well. Thanks, Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
