Charging while driving w/ generator via charger

Playatized

I have a 97 - 48v Club Car can I put a generator and the charger on board and charge the batteries at the same time I am operating it? If not, can it be modified to be able to do this? What's involved?

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

SteveRand

Hey Playatized, first of all - Welcome to Buggies Gone Wild! Hopefully, you'll get as much from this site as I have! Lots of good people here.

Your question is an interesting one. Just a few thoughts:

You want to use a gas engine to turn a generator to charge batteries which power an electric motor to move the cart - similar to a hybrid car. If money were no object, why not just get a gas cart? I know - sometimes the challenge and the tinkering are the best part!

The Club Car 48 volt system uses on on-board computer (OBC) to control the charging of the battery pack. It measures the amount of current used as you drive the cart, then has the charger replace the same amount of energy, plus about 10%, during charging. The OBC will not allow the cart to run during charging, and the batteries are charged at a slower rate than they are discharged. Also, the charger only puts out enough current to charge the batteries, not to run the cart, so it would be a losing battle, just for a little extra run-time.

The OBC can be bypassed, but you then lose the precise control of charging, and will probably shorten battery life.

It could be a possible project, but would the pros outweigh the cons? Just my 2 cents worth...

Enjoy the forum, and your cart! Keep us posted on your plans and progress!

scottyb

It has been tried.... Why not just get a gas cart that is powered by a small gas engine with a generator on it

tazassape

I thought about something like that but with a solar panel on the roof. Anybody tried or knows if it has been done?

scottyb

Not room on the cart to attach enough solar panels to make it work..... Sounds like you are trying to achieve perpetual motion.

tazassape

Just thought of getting enough juice to trickle charge the running batteries or maybe charge a 12 volt battery for radio, light, etc. I have a panel and controller that puts out +or-13.5 volts. It came off a electric fence system that we no longer use. I hate to see something usefull just sitting around. Might give it a try this weekend if I can get the F&R switch problem figured out.

AirJunky

13 volts at how many amps? 1? Maybe 2 amps?

Compared to a typical 55 amp alternator on a car?

I imagine the generator or alternator on a typical gas cart doesn't put out even close to 55 amps. Maybe one of the guys who have been around a while can tell us?

Playatized

Thanks Steve and Scott for your input and I think BGW is going to become one of my favorite forums.

I have had this cart for about ten years. I use it two weeks out of the year during a festival that I really would like to be going 24/7 instead of being stuck in camp waiting for the batteries to be charged. Presently, I get about six to eight hours of running and then I have to charge the batteries for about the same.
Since this is a camping situation and I am using a generator to charge, it needs to be done during waking hours; which is the pits as that is when I want to run around with the cart, not being stuck in camp.
I am considering a wind generator that will quietly charge the cart while I, and others, sleep but that still doesn't give me the sixteen to eighteen hours a day running time.
I have a super structure on the cart that I can put panels on but wouldn't they run into the same problems of charging vs running that a generator has?

I agree going to a gas powered cart may be the thing to do. Gas carts don't do too well at this event because of the heat (many days over 100) and the dust, an alkaline talc type powder that is very difficult to filer out.
I like the quiet of the electric also.

Steve, can the loss of charging control be built into the charger rather than the OBC? Or can it just be manually controlled?

All of this comes around to my next questions ... which deal with chargers. Mine (a Lester) seems to have gone bad but it does seem to be putting out 48v.... this problem I am waiting on until I figure out what I am going to do with the above things...

Thanks, guys, for the input

rib33024

Here's some info

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...generator.html


and this is the only way that it will work

DOOmsman

You could get abig helper
and a second set of batteries and charge one set
during the day and swap them once a day.
Just thinnen.