EZGO overheating

[smokey tennis shoe]

What a strange thing I got going on here. I just bought a ezgo cart. The plate says its a 95 ( K2895). However I am sure it is on a western chassis. the cart is 42 volts, the body of the cart is metal and has a "Freedom" decal on the body.

I put 7 new six volt batteries in the cart. It runs at 13 mph, and it has a ezgo 2 hp motor ( its a dog).

Here is what is going on : The cart will run fine, without any problems at all. UNTIL you charge it. Once you hook the charger up to it and it charges for awhile, I removed the charger, because i was going to put it in the garage. I tried to go, but cart would not go anywhere. When the key is on , in forward or reverse, the solenoid clicks everytime you step on the pedal. But still no go. Once the cart sits for awhile ( at least 15 minutes), then it will go and everything is fine.

This happened to me 3 times, and all 3 times, after the charger was on for awhile ( i unplugged it early to move cart) vart won't go until it sits for awhile.

It is almost like there is some sort of heat thing going on here, once it sits, cools down, whatever, it will go. I just sold this cart to a customer, and I need to fix this for him. I tried Scottys troubleshooting sticky, and had a hard time following some of the steps with that. But what i did check, The pot box micro goes from 0 to 1.7, the other 2 micro switches have continuity etc. It seems like a heat issue of some kind??

Can someone tell me wht to do, what to check, etc. I did replace the solenoid, but that wasn't the problem.

Thanks

[simple man]

Is there a small white wire coming out of the charger receptacle on the cart? If so disconnect the white wire at the connector to the red one and connect the red one with a small jumper to the B+ side of the charger receptacle. If the cart runs, you can leave it that way ( with the owners consent ). There is a small " reed " switch in the charge receptacle. Its purpose is to disable the cart while the charger DC cord is plugged in. This is to prevent you driving off with the charger connected. Most folks do away with this switch. E-Z-GO dropped it awhile back because of its cost and failure rate. If your customer is worried about not having it, they can just put the charger cord through the steering wheel so as not to forget it's plugged in!

[scottyb]

It is very possible that the battery pack is over the voltage limit set in the controller program when you pull it hot off the charger and try to go......
Try this, plug the charger in the evening and come out in the morning and see if the charger isn't off and the cart runs.

[smokey tennis shoe]

The small white wire, that is connected to red, coming from the charger recept, is not connected, it is taped off. And there is a red wire that someone ran from the pack positive, to the #2 microswitch.

So since the white wire you spoke of, is not connected, is that a mute point now?

Scotty, I will try your idea tonite. If the cart runs in the morning, what does that mean ?

Remember this is a 42 volt cart set up. I know they don't make 42 volt parts, as a matter of fact, the solenoid is 36 volt.

Is there a way to make it right? If not, what do you suggest?

Also the charger has a sticker on it that says " internally configured fro 48 volts". I don't know if it is, but thats what it says. I will post a picture for you.

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by simple man

There is a small " reed " switch in the charge receptacle. Its purpose is to disable the cart while the charger DC cord is plugged in. This is to prevent you driving off with the charger connected. Most folks do away with this switch. E-Z-GO dropped it awhile back because of its cost and failure rate. If your customer is worried about not having it, they can just put the charger cord through the steering wheel so as not to forget it's plugged in!

The reed switch will prevent the solenoid from engaging, and he said the solenoid engages, but it doesn't run. It also sounds like it was bypassed.

[JohnnieB]

Sort of along the lines that Scotty spoke of, the label on top of the charger states it is setup for 48V.
The auto shut-off on a 42V charger should be about 51.8V while a 48V charger goes to about 59.2V, so you might be cooking those seven new 6V batteries.

Check the pack voltage after they sit overnight. It should be about 44.6V, or 6.37V per 6V battery, after 12 hours rest.

[scottyb]

That wraps this mystery up

The controller is doing it's job. by using a charger of higher voltage than the pack you are exceeding the over voltage shut off limit ...... after the batteries sit they loose some of the excess charge and the controller no longer see the fault.

[smokey tennis shoe]

Ok, after reading your suggestions, I went out in the garage this morning.
The chrger was still plugged into the wall and also the cart. The red lite on the charger said " charged".

I unplugged the charger from both ends. Put my meter on the batteries , and it says 45.6. I turned on the key, cart in forward, ( jacked up), and when i push on the pedal, no go, just the click of the solenoid.

So I am not sure how long ago that the charger went to "charged". Do you still think there is too much voltage on the pack at this moment?

I need to run to Orange county for the day and will be back in about 8 hours. I will check the voltage and also try the cart again. Meanwhile, I am grateful for any advice anyone can give me.

Is anyone familiar with this charger, and can tell me how to do something internally to change the output ( since it says it will do 42 or 48 volts)?

Can i plug the charger in and take a reading to determine if it is putting out 42 or 48 volts? What would be the ouput numbers I am looking for, pertaining to the two voltages?

thanks guys again

[smokey tennis shoe]

I posted my last message about 15 to 20 minutes ago. I just went and metered my cart, it was at 45.3 volts, pushed on the pedal and it goes.

First question, is there is only a .03 voltage difference between the last 15 minutes, can this SMALL of change in voltage make that much of a difference?

Second- could there be some sort of "timed" mechanism somewhere in my cart, that creates s delay once the charger is removed? Never heard of it, but thought i would ask.

I need to get this fixed, I can't tell the guy he has to wait 15 minutes after unplugging, before he can use the cart.

Help?

[simple man]

Ok, your reed switch has been jumped. Now it is evident that you have an over voltage charge rate. Are you comfortable with taking the cover off of the charger? If so look inside for a selector switch or jumper setup that changes the output voltage. There should be some sort of schematic if your charger has this feature.