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Old 12-17-2013, 12:41 AM   #1
PuttPutt
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Default Rectifier burned out. Cause?

99 CC 48V DS, Power Drive II charger model 22110.
This is a friends cart so here's some history: Friend calls and asks if I can come over and check his batteries his cart seems a little sluggish after 9 holes and the yellow light comes on. Is the light blinking solid or staying on? UM, I don't know. OK charge it tonight and I'll come over tomorrow and check it.
Next day. Pack voltage is 50+ each battery is close in voltage, hydrometer readings pretty close across the pack. Terminals looked dirty a couple looked like they got real hot no longer nice and straight sides to the post a slight round look. So I told him nothing I can do but clean the pack and make sure everything is clean and tight. He say OK I'll clean it tomorrow. Two days later He calls and says he can't charge his cart. So I go over to his house to see if everything is wired correctly. Wires look good. Plug the charger in, nothing. Check power to charger, got power. Find the circuit breaker on the front of charger popped so reset it. Plug cart in and breaker tripped again. Check wires again and find the neg terminal on Battery #5 melted cable end is stuck to the top of the post. The fuse to headlights wired from #5+ to #6- is melted. Pulled the batts out cleaned all posts/terminals tops nice and flat again. The #5 - threaded post pulled out so drilled and tapped and put in a new stud (batteries are less than two years old. (ordering new cables from Scotty tomorrow) repaired wires to head lights, reconnected pack with some of my cables, (his cables are old #6 with cheep lugs) to test cart. Cart operates fine, head lights work fine. Plugged in the charger (into cart) and got a humm amp needle on zero maybe two seconds then the needle jumped to 4 or 5 amps humm got loader and smoke poured out, boy does that stink. Pulled the plug. Circuit breaker did not trip. Checked the wires on the cart again top to bottom front to back all wires look and feel fine. opened up the charger and you can see a nice v pattern smoke stain above the rectifier.
Yes I know that was long.
Now my question. Is there something I'm missing on the cart to cause this or do rectifiers just give up the ghost once in awhile. I don"t want to stick a new rectifier (assuming I can find one) in there just to burn it out again.
Now I think I'll have a home brew and relax.
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Old 12-17-2013, 07:13 AM   #2
RPatten
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Default Re: Rectifier burned out. Cause?

When I had a battery terminal melt down that battery was never the same. The cart did not run worth a dern after that. Seems the battery was shorted. None of the terminal drilling would help that.
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Old 12-17-2013, 07:44 AM   #3
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Default Re: Rectifier burned out. Cause?

. . . rectifiers are relatively inexpensive and are readily available for this charger . . only question would be "is this the cause or symptom" of a failure . . . eBay sells them for around $10 w/free ship . . buy 2 at that price . . install 1 and see if charger is ok . . . a friend's charger bit the bullet last summer . . I replaced his rectifier and circuit breaker and it was fine afterwards . . he left his charger in the rain all the time at the campground . . hopefully the rectifier on yours was not result of transformer issues . . that gets expensive . . when installing new rectifier, pay close attention to orientation of rectifier and wire connections, or you may burn out new one . . .
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Old 12-17-2013, 09:33 AM   #4
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Default Re: Rectifier burned out. Cause?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevegrmich View Post
. . . rectifiers are relatively inexpensive and are readily available for this charger . . only question would be "is this the cause or symptom" of a failure . . . eBay sells them for around $10 w/free ship . . buy 2 at that price . . install 1 and see if charger is ok . . . a friend's charger bit the bullet last summer . . I replaced his rectifier and circuit breaker and it was fine afterwards . . he left his charger in the rain all the time at the campground . . hopefully the rectifier on yours was not result of transformer issues . . that gets expensive . . when installing new rectifier, pay close attention to orientation of rectifier and wire connections, or you may burn out new one . . .
I'll second that. I highly recommend getting a 50 amp version of the rectifier to replace it with. The original is a 35 amp. If you install the 50 amp one it will be a lot more tolerant of power surges and lightning strikes than the original. In fact, it's so much better than the original that Club Car no longer offers the 35 amp as a replacement. All of the new ones from the dealer are 50 amp. I also have my doubts about the circuit breaker working like it should since you mentioned that it didn't trip the second time. You want the breaker to trip anytime there's a rectifier problem. It should have tripped before the rectifier started smoking. Rectifier failure is usually related to heat buildup. If the battery wiring was nasty and the connections were poor as you described then that is probably the problem. I would do exactly as you're planning on doing. Clean the posts, replace the wires, and replace the rectifier and breaker.
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Old 12-17-2013, 10:30 AM   #5
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Default Re: Rectifier burned out. Cause?

Thanks, Always good information here. I'll get a 50amp rectifier and circuit breaker. Then we'll go from there.
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Old 12-17-2013, 05:03 PM   #6
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Default Re: Rectifier burned out. Cause?

Installed new rectifier and circuit breaker everything is working. Thanks for the help.
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Old 12-17-2013, 06:35 PM   #7
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Default Re: Rectifier burned out. Cause?

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Originally Posted by PuttPutt View Post
Installed new rectifier and circuit breaker everything is working. Thanks for the help.
. . .
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