ezgo power wise charger

Bubba11

I recently changed the board in a 36 volt ezgo powerwise charger to use with a marathon 36 volt cart. now the capacitor has melted can someone tell me what would cause this. thanks

BGW

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JohnnieB

The control board is a Powerwise 28115 Gxx charge only turns the charger on or off, and other than the shape of the charger port plug, the 36V battery pack in a Marathon is the same as any other 36V battery pack.

The capacitor is connected to a separate winding on the primary side of the ferroresonant transformer, so it is next to impossible to do anything on the secondary side that would melt the capacitor. If 220VAC was connected to the primary, it might cause the capacitor to fail, but the transformer would probably be smoking also.

I suspect the capacitor failing was just coincidental to replacing the board and using the charger to charge a Marathon's battery pack.

Replace it with the same Value capacitor and the charger will probably work just fine.

Attached Images

	PW charger - Faceplate.JPG (447.2 KB, 0 views)
	PW Charger Schematic.JPG (47.4 KB, 0 views)

Attached Files

PW Charger manual.pdf (3.02 MB, 0 views)

Bubba11

Thanks Johnny B

Helirich

I have a question about the charger and I figured I would put it here instead of a new thread. I hope you don't mind Bubba11.

I currently have two of these (Powerwise) chargers. One of them has a knob on the front that you have to turn. I think it's just a timer. But it doesn't have any marks to tell you how long it runs. If you turn it 360 degrees, it just turns off again. I've been using it for years on my Marithon. (I had to change the plug) I just turn it about 3/4 way around.

I just got a new (to me) charger with a new (to me) TXT. They both look identical except for the knob. Eventually, the new cart will be 48 volt with on board charger. (I allready got the parts)

I still plan to keep the Marithon. Is the charger without the knob superior? Do you think I should modify the plug to fit my Marithon?

JohnnieB

There were several generations of the ferroresonant transformer type chargers and they were sold under several names, but were clones of chargers made by Lester.

The early ones were turned on and off by a mechanical timer. (The timer dial had the number "11" next to the word "ON")

The next generation was turned on and off by a electronic control board, but still had a mechanical time. It served as a backup timer is case the pack voltage didn't climb high enough for the control board to shut of the charger. The timer dial also told you how long the charge took. (The timer dial had the number "1" next to the word "ON")

The later generations of the charger had an electronic backup timer built into the control board, so the mechanical timer was eliminated completely. (There were also variants of the later generation the had some bells and whistles added, but they didn't alter the charger's operation.)

The battery charging portion (Transformer, capacitor and diodes) of all three generations are the same, so they all charge batteries about the same.