Golf cart charger again

evad714

In June of this year I replaced the heat sink and 15 amp circuit breaker in my Power drive 48 volt battery charger. After doing so it fixed my problem of my circuit breaker pop in after a few minutes of being plugged in.

Fast forward to this past weekend Golf Cart was plugged in charging fine, and was fully charged. Brother-in-law borrowed the golf cart to take camping. Brought it back with the battery level indicator flashing on the last two lines. Cart has enough power to drive still. But is obviously very low. I’ve never ran it down that low.

When I went to charge it back up and plugged it in, the charger stayed on for a minute or two and then the circuit breaker tripped again.

Are the batteries being so low causing this issue?
Is it worth replacing the heat sink and breaker again? Could there be another issue?
Should I go with a new battery charger altogether?

2000 Club Car DS with 2019 Trojan Batteries. Voltage test shows 8volts on each battery.

thanks,
David

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

Fairtax4me

If it runs for a few minutes before it trips, the diode is not the problem.
Likely you just have a bad breaker. Where did you get the breaker from? The cheapo Internet ones don’t usually last long.
Also you should check the wire terminals at the breaker if they are loose or corroded or a poor connection, you will have heat build-up at the breaker which will cause it to trip. Repeated tripping of the breaker weakens it and after a few times it needs to be replaced or will never work properly again.

evad714

I'm guessing a $10 amazon breaker is a a cheap one?
any suggestions on what to buy and from where?
here is the one I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

also maybe not the best diode??
$29
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

still fairly new to carts, 2 years, and extremely new to anything repair or accessory related.

wiring looks good. no corrosion. nothing loose. same with batteries and those cables.

Thanks for the help.

Sergio

Low batteries will definitely increase the load on the charger.

Since it is the heat generated by the AC current that triggers the breaker, make sure the charger is on a well ventilated area and if you are using an extension cord try to plug the charger directly to a wall outlet as low AC voltage at the charger plug will also increase the current.

evad714

would charging each battery individually with something like this for a bit be helpful? bring the charge back up. decrease charger load, so it can finish off the job later. maybe add in a better breaker if there is one. or a newer one since this one has now been tripped a couple dozen times.

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tende...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Sergio

Don't buy that junk, if that breaker has tripped that many times already then it is not good anymore as the internal parts that change shape with temperature are likely just prematurely tripping.

If You have a AC current clamp meter or one of those watt-o-meter You could see if there is excessive current going into the charger or the breaker is just weak, otherwise just replace the breaker.

TexTurbo

My $0.02....

Stay away from Amazon and Ebay for quality parts, I know there are some quality parts sold there, I just havent been that lucky.

If you want QUALITY, good prices, AND support when you need it....

Try here.... a site sponsor AND an all around nice guy !

https://www.revolutiongolfcars.com/charger

Hope this helps !

Fairtax4me

That battery tender will take about 18 hours Per battery to make any difference at all.

If the current breaker has tripped a dozen times or more then it's just toast at this point.
Buy a new breaker from David: https://www.revolutiongolfcars.com/p...ircuit-breaker

He's got the good stuff. If you give him a call and describe what's happening with the charger I'm sure he can also offer assistance for any other parts or important things that need to be checked.

Tex beat me to it!

evad714

Called in to revolution and got their VM.
So just placed an online order for the charger repair kit for the power drive... included that same breaker you linked to, a new heat sink, and relay.
Also while I was typing this David returned my call and said this kit should do the trick. Thanks for the advice, I'll report back when it arrives and it's installed.

evad714

Received the parts from revolution golf cars, new breaker, new heat sink, new relay.

Installed them all. Plugged it in, charger goes up to about 18 amps, stays there, and within 5 minutes trips the breaker again.

I let the breaker reset, pushed it back in, and plugged in in for a minute. I then unplugged it because I did not want the breaker just to keep popping over and over and ruin another one.

Any suggestions on what my next step should be?