Possible OBC issue on 03 DS Club Car

peter.tygh

Gooday from OZ,
just chasing some info on OBC & Club Car charger (Power Drive model 18780), I was told that the OBC can play up after a battery change, found a set of Marshall batteries boiled, they were still bubbling hours sitting still, that there is a reboot sequence, just trying to proof, off to borrow another client charger now, that I know does work to proof the charger for a start, chat soon cheers pete

BGW

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peter.tygh

Update, found another identical charger, plugged in, turn on ramped up then straight down, switched of other with in 5min in charged state. Thought good OBC is ok, then plugged old charger in & it done the same & turned off after 5ims in full charge state?????
I had no hot joints, can the OBC have a intermittent fault, don't want to send out with a brand new set of batteries with a suspect charging system, any thoughts

Fairtax4me

Even with brand new batteries the OBC should charge them for at least 4-5 hours before turning off. And typically unplugging and plugging the charger back in will start an equalization charge cycle which should run at least another 3-4 hours. On and back off in 5 minutes, I would think the OBC has failed.

NoleFan4Ever

Sounds like it, but bypass it and verify it is an OBC issue. You can bypass the OBC by running a jumper from the back side of the charge receptacle (where the black 10g wire is that goes into the harness) and run it directly to the Main Pack Negative. Also take the grey sense wire coming off the same receptacle and land it to the same place. This will allow the charger to turn on and run if the OBC has failed.

peter.tygh

Thanks I’ll try the bridging of the OBC tomorrow, took it for a couple lapse around the park today (only 1/2 km) then put it on charge again, the old charger did switch off, so jury still out. It has improved since its had a couple of charges, but the first charge with new batteries was still pumping 5 amp 9hrs later, but having a good charger timed out straight away, as mentioned. Will update tomorrow, thanks again,

Hopefully this message does crash, hate typing slow twice lol,

NoleFan4Ever

I am not familiar with Marshall batteries, but if they were "new" it is very common for the OEM charger to run upwards of 16 hours. It will time out after that, so if was still running at 17 hours the OBC has definitely failed. If it was just that you were concerned over hearing the batteries gurgling, that is also common. So what I am saying is you are there watching it, you will have to determine which it is.

The OBC reset itself when you replaced the cables as it had no power to sustain the memory which contains the energy unit counts. If you tried another charger within a few minutes of disconnecting this charger, the surface charge on the plates could have been 61-65vdc and the OBC sensed that after a few minutes and shut back off.

You just have to take your time and test to determine what it surely is....

Sergio

You need to check the charger current Vs pack voltage to see if the OBC is charging correctly.

If the cart does not have a Digital Voltmeter you need to place your voltmeter on the pack to monitor the voltage during the test.

It is best to do the test after a charge cycle is finished and before running the cart in order to make it a short test.

Keep in mind if the cart has not been driven since the last charging cycle, the OBC will not do the start-stop-start test sequence during charging startup.

Test Procedure:

Plug charger into AC
Plug charger into cart.
Charger current should always go to the maximum, even with fully charged batteries.
Pack voltage will start to raise steadily.
Once the pack voltage reaches 57v (it will only take a couple of minutes), the OBC will start to reduce the charger current.
The voltage will go up and down around 57v as the OBC continues to lower the charging current.
Once the charging current is down to around 5 amps, the OBC will allow the pack voltage to go higher.
The pack voltage will then start climbing higher than 57v to around 60v.
The current should never get as low as 3 amps if the OBC is in full control of the system.
The OBC will turn the charger OFF after its algorithm is satisfied the pack is back to full charge.