Newbie: What did I break?

CobraEatr

Newbie here. Very glad I came across this website. On Saturday I bought a 2002 Club Car DS. It seems to be in really good shape and wasn't used very often. I brought the cart home and it drove well. I decided to change a battery cable that was very corroded and stupid me, I didn't turn the switch under the seat from RUN to TOW (like is specifically says to do).

When I was installing the new cable on the battery terminal there was a rather large spark, followed by a burning smell somewhere. Now the cart will not move in forward or reverse. I have charged it up fully and the batteries are only 2 years old. I'm hoping I blew a fuze somewhere, but the only fuze I've seen looks good. Please help! Thanks in advance.

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

NoleFan4Ever

That was most likely your controller. I do not think your DS IQ has a main fuse in it as none of mine have, just the one at the receptacle and for the OBC and yours must be good because it charged.

When you manually roll it forwards or backwards (with Run/Tow in the "Run" position) is there resistance and a beeping noise? If not, ouch, controller is zapped! If so, then depress the Go Pedal and see if you hear a click and where at (under the floor or behind the seat)

If it is your controller, do not buy a generic knock off or a refurb'd unit, contact one of the site sponsors here David Hick's at Revolution Golf Cars or scottyb at Carts Unlimited and they can program an Alltrax XCT to work with your set up.

CobraEatr

Thanks for the response & GO NOLES! Bigtime Nole fan here. If I'm not searching around on this site I'm over at Warchant.com reading about my Noles.

When I get home today I'll roll it forward and backward to see what happens. I did move it around a little bit to put it on the side of my garage but I didn't pay too much attention to it having any resistance. I know it didn't make any beeping noises. I hope like hell I didn't fry the controller. I don't know what that is but it sounds expensive. I know I should have switched over to TOW first but it seems like they should have put a fuze in there to keep the idiots like myself from ruining things quickly. Oh well, that's my luck. I had it for all of 1 hour and BAM....I broke it.

1. If it is my controller am I looking at around a $400 - $500 fix? Are there any cheaper options?

2. If it's not my controller any idea what else I could have fried?

Thanks again for the response.

NoleFan4Ever

Would pretty much have to trouble shoot it and see if you got lucky and something else failed at the same time (which is why I mentioned if it does beep and have resistance, check for the clicking noises so we know where to be looking), but 99% of the time the current spike takes out the controller.
Go 'Noles!

scottyb

Honestly I have done the same thing many times and I have not yet taken a controller out this way.... other ways - yes I have experience the big zap of hooking up a discharged controller to a battery pack and it is surprising but, again I've yet to see it do any real damage. So - I suspect something more is going on - like the battery polarity got reversed? Or some such more damaging thing

Sergio

I agree with the spark on Run unlikely to cause much damage unless you have a Regen II cart..., does the Solenoid have a pre-charge resistor on top?

You can also post the first 6 letters/numbers from the Serial number as it indicates the model and year built which will make a difference for controller options.

CobraEatr

My serial number is: AQ0247-226994

In addition to changing out one of the corroded battery cables I also pulled out all of the previous owner's wiring for a set of jerry-rigged headlights and a voltage meter. The voltage meter he installed in the dash required a 6V battery to be connected in the dash cubby (place where golf balls, keys, etc can be placed). I pulled all of that out because I want to install a real headlight kit with a voltage reducer. He was just running his bolt-on headlights across 2 of the 8V batteries. It's possible I messed something up in the process. I just saw the big spark when changing out the battery cable, smelled something burning, and then immediately pressed the gas pedal and nothing happened in forward or reverse. I'll do a better check of components and loose wires tonight or tomorrow night and see if something doesn't look right. I'm trying to learn all I can about these things. Thanks everyone.

scottyb

This is the first year IQ 2002. While it is sensitive to voltage spikes etc, it also has a small mico switch in the MCOR (throttle sending unit) which may have cooked like a fuse if you have a short ... causing the cart not to run.

But yeah, after reading the story I'm convinced it was not just the controller drawing a quick charge that caused the spark. The problem is in the other wiring you messed with and not running is collateral damage.

NoleFan4Ever

And in honor of good ole Paul Harvey, "That is the rest of the Story!"

CobraEatr

So I've taken the seats out so that I can get a better look at things. I also obtained a wiring diagram. The wiring is stock and perfect. Things look just as they do on the wiring diagram. I did find out what the burning smell was coming from. It looks like there is some type of resistor on the solenoid across the two main terminal posts. Well that sum B is HOT! I have the switch in the TOW position and that thing burnt the hell out of my finger when I touched it. When I disconnect the main negative cable from the battery the resistor cools off. Why does the resistor get hot with the car in TOW and the key switched off? So does that mean that the solenoid is shot?

Also, when I first got the cart I drove it around and everything seemed fine. Before I removed any wires and changed battery cables I noticed that one of the plug connectors coming out of the FW/Rev switch was unplugged from it's connector. The car still ran though. Strange.