Powerwise QB Charger

[Rickochet]

I just got my '07 PDS home. It came with a PowerWise QB charger. A couple of threads I checked pretty much labeled the QB as a throw away POS. I really like the small size. What is the real problem with the QB other than not being repairable?

I can't find the QB manual online, if there is one. I know what the blinking lights tell me. Is there anything else the manual can add?

Charging question. Should the run/tow switch be placed in the tow position before plugging in the charger or does it matter?

[COURTESYCART]

run/tow does not matter. EZGO will tell you to put it in tow mode, but i never did when i worked ran my local dealer.

Those Q chargers are just junk. they have a bad habit of not fully charging, they will cut off be fully charged due to internal timer.

if you drop them most of the time they are done for.

I ordered 20 NEW electric carts. when i got them 12 of the chargers right out of the box gave me red error messages. I hav no idea what was wrong with them cause EZGO sent me 20 more chargers. When i left in may of 2011, i had about 50 chargers pilled up in the corner of the shop. I never opened one up to see what they looked inside.

[Rickochet]

Originally Posted by COURTESYCART

run/tow does not matter. EZGO will tell you to put it in tow mode, but i never did when i worked ran my local dealer.

Those Q chargers are just junk. they have a bad habit of not fully charging, they will cut off be fully charged due to internal timer.

if you drop them most of the time they are done for.

I ordered 20 NEW electric carts. when i got them 12 of the chargers right out of the box gave me red error messages. I hav no idea what was wrong with them cause EZGO sent me 20 more chargers. When i left in may of 2011, i had about 50 chargers pilled up in the corner of the shop. I never opened one up to see what they looked inside.

Any recommendations on a different charger?

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Rickochet

Any recommendations on a different charger?

I won't make any recommendations, but if I had to replace my Powerwise II charger, which isn't likely since every part in it is user replaceable, and couldn't find a used Powerwise II at a reasonable price, I'd probably look for a used Powerwise or Powerwise+, Lestronic II, or Total Charge III or IV, or one of the other automatic type chargers with a ferroresonant transformer.

Of course, I'm old school and prefer legacy designs with proven track records that extend over several decades.

If I upgrade to 48V, I'll probable go with a DPI charger since they still have a transformer and the inherent weakness in the later designs is the switching power supply.
In and of themselves, switching power supplies are great, but lawyers and accountants have infiltrated the manufacturing process and the results are less than optimal, to say the least.

[simple man]

Funny thing about all those " old school " chargers that JohnnieB mentioned, is that they worked! My understanding is that the newer ones are totally solid state, and suffer from " the cheap junk from China " syndrome!
They do, however, make excellent rifle targets! :)

[Rickochet]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

I won't make any recommendations, but if I had to replace my Powerwise II charger, which isn't likely since every part in it is user replaceable, and couldn't find a used Powerwise II at a reasonable price, I'd probably look for a used Powerwise or Powerwise+, Lestronic II, or Total Charge III or IV, or one of the other automatic type chargers with a ferroresonant transformer.

Of course, I'm old school and prefer legacy designs with proven track records that extend over several decades.

If I upgrade to 48V, I'll probable go with a DPI charger since they still have a transformer and the inherent weakness in the later designs is the switching power supply.
In and of themselves, switching power supplies are great, but lawyers and accountants have infiltrated the manufacturing process and the results are less than optimal, to say the least.

Unfortunately most of us don't have the expertise to fix a charger if it breaks. High shipping cost to return to the mfr. plus wait time for repair sort of pushes most of toward a cheaper and pretty much "disposable" charger.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by simple man

.............They do, however, make excellent rifle targets! :)

I usually give them a sporting chance and use revolvers with barrels 4" on less at 50 yards or more.

Don't get me wrong, I like the solid state designs and microprocessor controls ( I've been working on computers since they had vacuum tubes ), but for the most part, they aren't repairable even in the unlikely event that you could get a schematic for one, so the landfills are filling up with $500 chargers with a $0.50 part that failed, while our wallets are being emptied.

I'm not much of an environmentalist, but I do recycle and re-purpose things and prefer to buy products that last longer than the warranty period and are repairable when they do malfunction.

If I was going to build a charger for a golf cart, which I'm not, I'd probably start with a full wave bridge and filter capacitor off the AC line input, fed the unregulated DC to a Royer Oscillator and shift it between charging phases with voltage comparators, finishing up with a pulsed, high frequency trickle charge. Other than weight, that would be a solid state version of the ferroresonant transformer type chargers that's been around for fifty years or more.

Just my $0.02

[gornoman]

Johnnie, ya had me..............................and then my head exploded, LOL!

[JohnnieB]

Sorry, Forgot to post a Technical content warning.

BTW - The design overview is legitimate.