Total Charge III problems
 

I have two total charge iii chargers and both are acting different. Both chargers come on immediately when plugged into the cart. One stays on for seconds, maybe 10, sometimes less and shuts off. Unplug-replug and it will repeat. The other one comes on and stays on......forever(it did drop to 2 amps and shut off once). Neither charger has the relay bypassed. I swapped the boards and the behaviors follow the board. The carts pack voltage when testing was 37.4. I guess both chargers are malfunctioning just different ways?

Re: Total Charge III problems
 

Welcome to BGW!

Coming on immediately, isn't normal. There should be a delay of about 3-5 seconds.
Try plugging into cart when not plugged into AC Power. The relay in charger should click, but not immediately.
(The battery pack voltage is what closes the relay initially.)

Sounds like you have one, maybe two, bad control boards, but the rest of the chargers may be working okay.

All the control board does is turn the charger on and off, so you can test the rest of it by bypassing the relay.

With the relay bypassed, the ammeter should jump into the 15A to 20A range when charger is first plugged into cart.
It will stay there until pack voltage reaches about 42V and then taper off to about 8A, or so, until pack voltage climbs above about 43 volts and taper off to about 2A as pack continues to climb into the 44-46 volt range, where the charger would normally shut off.

Those numbers are are only approximate because there are so many variables, such as battery condition and age, but in general terms, that is how a good ferroresonant transformer with a good matching capacitor and good diodes will act when attached to a good battery pack via a good charging loop.

One charger is acting a bit like there is a dirty connection between the Auxiliary contact in the Plug and the outside of the negative Radsok in the Receptacle, so you might try cleaning them. Also, if there is a fuse installed in the charging cable attached to the battery pack, make sure both ends of it are clean and tight.

Here is a manual for a TC III.

Re: Total Charge III problems
 

Well I am pretty sure the problems are on the boards. When I swapped the boards from one charger to the other the "problem" stays with the board. I will have to get a known good board and see what happens.

Could you explain the connection you refered to. Radsok? Sorry I am new to this.

When not connected to ac they both click immediately.

I should mention this battery pack is of questionable condition it was in the cart and had to be charged with a 6 volt charger initially to get them going. I don't have a hydrometer but will pick one up on the way home and check them out. My son just texted me and said the pack voltage on the charger is 42.88 volts and the charger is putting out 13 amps. It has been on there for 11 hours.

Re: Total Charge III problems
 

The problem following the board indicates the problem is on the board, but I'm not sure both boards are bad.

I glanced through the TC III manual and it made no mention of the delay, so the control board used inthe TC III and TC IV may act differently than most do and coming on immediately may be normal.

A Radsok is a type of high current, low insertion force connector. The male halves are in the charger plug and the female portions are in the cart receptacle.
EZGO and their charger suppliers got a bit tricky and used the outside of the negative female connector to sense the battery pack voltage, via a spring like third contact in the plug.
Here is a picture showing the receptacle with the top off. The female Radsoks are the brass thingies.
Note: The positive one (white wire) typically has an insulating sleeve around it.
Also, here is an exploded view of the plug. The auxiliary contact is item 36.

The control in the charger that has ran for 11 hours and still putting out 13A, might be good.

If at all possible, try it on known good batteries before buying a control board.
If fact, try both of them, bad batteries make charges do weird things. :mrgreen:

Re: Total Charge III problems
 

Mine only have 2 wires an get the sense from in the charger.

After 13 hours still 13amps and pack voltage dropped .25 volt. So I told my son to unplug it and I would check the SG when I got home. Well guess I boiled a little electrolite off. All the cells were low. Topped off and checked individual voltages low bat was 6.35, high was 6.42. I guess I will plug in the charger into a timer until I get new batteries. So the plan is to let the wife and kids run it all day tomorrow and then plug it back in to see what it does. Ill let it get as good a charge as it will take, unplug, wait and check the sg