2000 Club Car Charger Output Stays at 11 Amp

jmwfvl

Club Car Golf Cart Batteries hot, bubbling.

2000 Club Car, don't know model. 48 volt. No Tow Switch. Think it is a DS model. It was given to us by my parents, they had no documentation on it. There is no model name visible on the body, other than Club Car.

6 Brand new Powertron 8 volt batteries purchased Saturday. When charger is plugged in, it pauses 6 seconds, then begins charging. Ammeter pegs out at 15 plus for a minute or so, then drops to 13 amps. After another minute or so, charger shuts off for a fraction of a second, then resumes at 13 volts.

The cart has a dashboard indicator light labeled "Curtis." It is supposed to show how much charge the batteries hold, has 5 red LED's - 5 lights is full charge, 1 is nearly dead. For each process I describe below, this indicator flickers constantly between 1 and 2 lights. It does this while charging, AND when charger is unplugged. There's also a Yellow Warning Light that works exactly the ways described in the Owner's Manual I downloaded.

First time I plugged in the charger, after 2 hours, ammeter read 13 volts. Never dropped below 13 volts. After 4 hours or so, batteries were warm and made a bubbling or gurgling sound.

After 6+ hours, ammeter never dropped below 13 volts. Batteries got very warm to touch, guessing a little over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There was a slight rotten egg odor. Each individual battery showed an output of about 4.2 volts. I unplugged the charger at this point - 6+ hours.

After letting cart rest about 6 hours, I ran through this process a second time, and again unplugged after about 10 hours because I thought the batteries might be getting damaged. Everything went *exactly* the same as first time, including ending with about 4.2 volt output each battery. Ammeter was still reading 13 volts after 10 hours.

Then I reset the OBC as follows:

• Key Switch to Off
• Forward/Reverse to Neutral
• Disconnect the Battery NEGATIVE (–) wire
from the Battery Minus terminal on the battery
pack.
• Forward/Reverse Switch to Reverse
• Key Switch to On
• Lock the throttle pedal down
The reverse buzzer will sound and go off for about 30
seconds. Leave the cart like that for 5 min to cause the
OBC to reset.
To reconnect the OBC back into the system:
• Key Switch to Off
• Forward/Reverse Switch to Neutral
• Reconnect the Batt – wire to the battery minus
terminal on the battery pack.

I then went through the charging process described above for a third time. It was exactly like the first time - *Except* charger Ammeter dropped to 11 amps after about 30 minutes. But it never went below 11 amps, I checked it every 2 hours. Also, 100 degree batteries, bubbling, rotten eggs, 'Curtis' meter flickered between 1-2, final output 4.2 volts each battery. I 'chickened out' around 10 hours and unplugged the charger.

Yesterday evening, I tried again, and planned to leave it charging for 16 hours to see if the charger would ever drop to 4-5 amps, and to see if it would shut itself off at 16 hours. Again, Ammeter pegged at start, then dropped to 13 amps, after about 1/2 hour dropped to 11 amps. Checked every hour until I went to bed, always read 11 amps. After 4 hours batteries were warm and bubbling. 'Curtis' meter flickered between 1-2.

I mistakenly unplugged the charger this morning after 15 hours - I had just gotten out of bed and was confused about the number of hours. So I still don't know if the charger actually shuts off at 16 hours. At the time I unplugged it, the ammeter was still reading 11 amps. So I believe it was at 11 amps just about the full 15 hours. Batteries were about 100+ degrees to touch, and making the bubbling sound. Slight rotten egg odor.

This morning, each battery reads about 8.8 volts output. Across all 6 batteries, the reading is 55 volts.

After unplugging the charger this morning, the yellow warning light came on and stayed on for about 30 seconds. The "Curtis" meter is still flickering between 1 and 2 LED's, and was doing that while charging, just before I unplugged, and is still doing it now.

We can't afford a new OBC for this thing, need to get it running to sell ASAP. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

BGW

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crash test dummy

new batteries take a good first charge 16 ~20 hrs

you should plug it in and let it do it's thing .. yes you will smell gas and they will bubble ... make sure water level is correct


that is a good reading ... readings need to be after 12hr rest after charging
post photo of cart
here is soc chart

scooterman

Usually plug it in then let her go over night, usually it is all good.

jmwfvl

Thanks Crash Test! That's encouraging. Forgot to say that water is about 3/8 inch above plates in batteries, looks optimal to me.

We took the cart out for about 1/2 hour this afternoon. Curtis indicator still fluttering at 1-2 bars, can't tell how much charge was actually left.

Plugged in charger, got distracted, left it for 2 hours. It was charging, at 11 amps when I checked on it after 2 hours of charging. It was buzzing *much* louder than usual.

Each battery measured way high voltage, I don't trust the readings. Will check output again tonight before bed.

I'm concerned that the charger didn't turn off, the batteries appear to be at least fully charged if not overcharged.

Thanks, again, I will post updates.

crash test dummy

The bar meter needs to be reset .. remove the negative wire for a min .. they are not very accurate

good read

http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Batter...n_Methods.html

jmwfvl

Again, thanks Crash Test Dummy.

I disconnected the negative wire on the LED display for 1 minute, still showed same reading. Disconnected for 2 minutes, still reading same, flickering between 1 and 2.

We have been driving cart around neighborhood for 15-20 minutes once a day, and then charging immediately. Charger still doing exactly the same - Pegs out briefly, then goes to 13 amps, then to 11 amps and stays there.

Today, after overnight charge, I checked charger. It was 17 hours since starting charge, it was still charging at 11 amps. Good news is that the batteries were not as warm as they have been. I'm going to wait a few hours to check battery output. BTW, I did not intentionally let it go 17 hours, had other things come up this morning before I remembered the charger.

Unfortunately, I'm mechanically challenged. I'm fully capable of unscrewing bolts and detaching electrical connections and fairly simple stuff, but diagnosing mechanical and especially electrical/electronic is way over my head.

Having said that, I'm guessing the OBC needs replacing. It's definitely not in the budget to have a shop do it. Would be a challenge for me to replace it, don't have a good, safe way to raise the cart off the ground, and to try to get to OBC from the opening between the seats above the OBC, it looks like I would have to remove roof and back seat at least. And I'm not sure there's room in that opening to get both hands and tools in to remove OBC. One diagram I've seen shows the bolt holding it to the body is on the bottom. Sigh.

I haven't been able to find anything telling how to diagnose the OBC, just how to reset it. So I don't know any way to be sure this is the problem.

I wonder if the solenoid could be causing the problems? From what I've read, testing it is simple, just disconnect and measure Ohms across terminals. That diagram I have shows it should be near the OBC, but I don't know if it's even accessible from the between seats opening...

I'm not being lazy, I just know from past experience that when I've taken things apart, they don't always get put back together exactly right. Even after 2-3 tries.

Any further suggestions will be appreciated.

Personal to Crash Test Dummy: I grew up in Tampa a long, long time ago. In the summer I used to ride with my dad on his sales route, and we would make a couple of calls in Zepherhills. It was a tiny, sleepy crossroads back then. I think it had 1 stop light. Bet it's not like that now!

crash test dummy

no ... solenoid has nothing to do with obc or charging

see if this is happening
try another reset

yes rear set would have to come off ... only 4 bolts , none underneath ...

if OCB is bad then there are 3 cures
replace obc
replace charger with DPI charger eliminating OBC
install OBC bypass microprocessor

jmwfvl

For Crash Test Dummy: thanks for the diagram, it helps. Thanks for eliminating the solenoid. Our charger begins charging 6 seconds after plugging in. After 30-45 seconds, it stops for about 1 second, then resumes. Pegs out at first, then after a few minutes, drops to 13 amps. A few hours into the charge it drops to 11 amps but never goes below that. Okay, the last time I charged it it had dropped to 10 amps after 16 hours. The charger *never* turns off, I have to unplug it after 16 hours.

The back of the OBC that I can see from the battery compartment is cream colored. Do you have any experience with buying a *used* OBC?

This is confusing. Immediately after I disconnected the negative wire on the LED display to reset it, and then reconnected it, it still flickered at the left side, between zero and 1 bar. Same thing 4 hours later. Same thing about 8 hours later.

Then, about 24 hours after I disconnected the negative wire from the LED display, after an overnight charge, the LED showed full charge. I unplugged the charger, and checked the cart 4 hours later. It had *not* been driven.

Each battery read 8.2 - 8.4 volts output, together all six showed about 52 volts. *The LED showed 50% charge.* The cart had not been driven.

Also, a new twist -- the breaker on the charger trips, and has to be reset. I don't know how long into the charge cycle it trips, I only check it every few hours. But it's been tripping pretty consistently. After tripping, each battery is at about 4 volts. I just reset the breaker and leave it plugged in. I act like it tripped just before I came to check on it, and so I unplug it after 16 hours from when I first plugged it in. I don't start a new 16 hours from the time I find it tripped.

So after a 16 hour charge, We drove the cart for 30 minutes, ran great, was strong. LED showed 1 bar. Parked it and plugged it in. After 16 hours of charging (including resetting tripped breaker on charger), LED still showed 1 bar but was not flickering. Each battery had 8.2 - 8.4 volts output, all six about 52 volts. Fully charged.

We drove the cart again for 30 minutes, no problem except the LED showed 1 bar the whole time.

I reset the OBC again. Then charged for 16 hours. No tripped breaker this time, LED shows 1 bar, each battery reads 8+ volts.

A local cart shop tells me that with a bad OBC, we can sell the cart for $1200. With a good OBC, we can sell it for $2000. They want $600 to replace the OBC. We've already put $650 into batteries. I found an OBC for $99 on eBay, seller has 98% positive rating, but there's no description of the OBC. Photo shows it's cream colored. I just don't have a way to elevate the cart to get to the OBC to change it.

Looks like buying a DPI charger and installing the OBC bypass microprocessor would cost about $500-$600 and would still require getting the cart off the ground to install the bypass.

I'm guessing it must be clear that the OBC needs replacing. Am I wrong?

crash test dummy

no... you need to remove the rear seat to get at OBC lifting it will only give you limited access to obc
the dpi charger is $285 + shipping
you do not need a microprocessor if you get a dpi charger
good place to get charger >>> http://www.cartsunlimited.net/48v_Battery_Charger.html

the LED bar graph meter may be bad

$99 obc ... yea i got swamp land for ya