Need help with a club car

littlejohn444

Ok first I know nothing about electric carts.

I have a club car that I picked up and the batteries say 8V on them. There are 6 so a 48 volt system right?

We have a 48 Volt charger. But the batteries won't charge. Charger doesn't kick on at all. Did battery test and they all tested "ok."

Tried two other chargers and they didn't work. So what gives?

BGW

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Budule

need more info , serial number of cart , type charger or maybe some pics ....and how did you test batteries to find out they were "OK" ?

littlejohn444

With a load tester.

How should I do it?

Would bad batteries keep the charger from kicking on at all.

TahoeDawgZ71

Try this... Let me know what you find and I'll let you know what you need.

Charging System Troubleshooting: (Charger Won't Turn On)

1. The first step would be to make sure the vehicle has enough voltage to trigger the charger turn-on signal from the on-board computer. Check the battery voltage of the entire battery pack with a digital volt meter. Put the positive lead on the MAIN positive battery post and the negative lead on the MAIN negative battery post. Total voltage should be at least 36-38 Volts. If it's not, you must boost the batteries individually. Contact me for further instructions on how to do so. If you do not have a digital volt meter you can perform this test by attempting to run the vehicle. If the vehicle has enough energy to make the solenoid switch "click" and attempt to run, it also has enough energy to engage the charger relay. This step may be skipped.

2. The next step is to check all wiring. Locate the charger receptacle of the vehicle. On the back of the charger receptacle you will see three wires. Red is the positive. Black is the negative. Grey is the On-Board computer control wire. Make sure that the red wire is in good shape and follow it all the way to the MAIN positive battery post. Make sure there is a good connection on the battery and ensure that the wire isn't corroded or broken. If it is, clean it and re-attempt to charge the vehicle. The black wire is not at risk of corrosion because it is wired directly into the on-board computer. As for the grey wire, give it a light pull outward and ensure that isn't broken inside the charger receptacle. The grey wire will often break inside the receptacle and will easily pull out the back. If this happens, you must replace the receptacle.

3. If you have a Club Car DS or Carryall vehicle you will have two fuses to check near the charger receptacle. One is an inline fuse located on the grey control wire mentioned in step two. It is located inside a yellow rubber fuse holder. Pull the fuse holder apart and check the fuse with your meter to ensure that there is continuity. If the fuse is bad, replace it with a 3/8 amp fuse. Anything else will damage the charging system. There is also a larger fuse bolted to the back of the charger receptacle. You'll see that there are two black wires bolted to the back of the receptacle. This is where you'll find the fuse. On the opposite side you'll see a fuse element inside a plastic window. Check this fuse with a multimeter as well. On the continuity setting, place each lead of your multimeter on each of the nuts where the black wires are bolted to the back of the receptacle. If you have continuity, the fuse is good. If you don't, replace the fuse.

4. Check the charger relay. Pull the cover off of the charger and locate the relay. On PowerDrive 17930 models you'll find the relay on the bottom floor of the charger at the front. On PowerDrive2 22110 models you'll find it bolted to the front wall of the charger above the circuit breaker. Make sure both power cords are unplugged from the charger and pull the blue wire and red wire off of the charger relay. If you look closely at the relay you'll notice that there are four posts. Two large posts, and two small posts. These red and blue wires are plugged into the smaller two posts of the relay. Once you've gotten them unplugged, set your multimeter to check for DC voltage and insert the leads of the multimeter into the ends of these two wires that you unplugged from the relay. Plug the cord into the golf cart. It is not necessary to plug the other cord into the wall. Within 2-10 seconds of plugging the cord into the cart, you should see full battery voltage on the screen of your meter. If so, this is an indication that the on-board computer is communicating with the charger and commanding the relay to turn on. If your charger hasn't been "clicking" on, replace the relay. If you don't see a change in voltage on your screen when this test is performed, this is an indication that the on-board computer has failed and is no longer able to communicate with the charger. The on-board computer must be replaced.

littlejohn444

Ok so if it is completely dead can I just charge each battery individually with a 12 volt charger? The batteries are completely dead. No click or anything.

TahoeDawgZ71

You can boost them individually with a 6 volt charger or 2 at a time with a 12 volt charger. They'll never get fully charged doing it this way, but it should boost the pack up enough for your regular charger to acknowledge that they are there.

littlejohn444

But they are 8 volt batteries does that matter?

Scott H.

As long as the charging voltage is lower than the battery voltage, it will not harm them. You're just giving the battery enough juice so the golf cart charger will see the pack and kick in.

If you go with the 2 at a time 12 volt charging version, leave the battery cable between the negative of the 1st battery and positive of the 2nd battery you are charging on there so you don't over charge the battery. Just connect your charger leads positive to positive on the first battery and negative to negative on the 2nd battery.

When I have to do this, I personally disconnect the cables between the 2nd and 3rd battery and the 4th and 5th battery so I have 3 individual battery packs of 2 batteries each.

-Scott H.

teecro

First off you need to figure out if your batteries are OK as you claimed in your first post or if they are completely DEAD as you noted in your next post...

If you don't have a digital multi-meter at the very least go buy a small cheap one. That way you can measure your pack voltage as a whole and voltage from each battery. In most cases you need at least 42 volts for the charger to turn on and thus you need least 8 volts per battery just to consider them near dead as a fully charged 8 volt will read better than 8.5 volts...

While your at it check that all batteries are connected from one to the next and that all connections are clean and tight. I went to check on a friends cart not long ago that would not charge and while the water levels were all above full he had not one but two cables completely rotted away. Again while your there check your water levels are at least over the plated by 1/4 to 3/8 and inch....

If you batteries are below 8 volts each you can "perk" them with a 12 volt auto charger one at a time without harming them as long as you don't do it for too long. Stay right there and watch closely as it should not take more than 5 to 15 minutes to perk the voltage back to least 8 volts. While this is dangerous if left unattended it is not so much when watched closely as with all chargers they must put out more voltage to actually charge. My charger puts out upward of 64 to 65 volts while putting out its finishing charge on my 48 volt pack.