Regen II troubles on 2000.5 DS

[Rtoth]

Hello and sorry ahead of time for the novel

Just picked up this cart a few days ago and been running wild trying to troubleshoot it. Little backstory, cart died a couple years ago and previous owner bought a new charger and OBC bypass kit to try to bring it back to life without luck. I was able to get the charger working by using my car battery charger to breathe enough life into the batteries to kick the charger on, thought maybe I was good to go then... apparently not!

I am brand new to carts, always tinkering on cars though. Current projects being a transmission rebuild on my 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass and a 2000 Cadillac Seville STS I picked up and am in the middle of a head stud job. I'm quite handy with this stuff or at least I like to think I am, so hoping with your help I can maybe get this beast up and running for some campground cruising.

Cart is completely unresponsive. I get nothing. No reverse beeper, no solenoid click, no tires turning... nothing.

Is there a minimum voltage needed to trigger the system to run? From what I can tell it is the PDP/Regen II system. Silver box controller, FNR rocker switch, extra wires on the motor etc...(Probably sound really dumb here to those that know this stuff ) With the batteries sitting for several years in the cart hooked up outside in Michigan I am sure that took it's toll on them. When I got the cart at first I had four batteries reading ~3V and two batteries ~1 volt. I have no OBC in this cart now, it has been bypassed and completely removed so I am very careful with the charger (Lester Links charger) and only charge it for a couple hours at a time at the most and only twice now. I am getting about 49 volts out of the pack now, so still pretty dead (Sounds like full charge should be ~50?) Is that enough to at least make everything run with the wheels off the ground?

If that isn't enough voltage I'll try to charge more and see what happens. If that is enough to at least turn the tires on a stand it's time to dig in deeper. I have spend hours searching and ran across a thread here from a while back with a somewhat similar issue and found a recommendation from Sergio

Originally Posted by Sergio

Looks like a lot of Regen2 issues going on...



With the OBC by-pass in place (OBC 6-pin connector Red/White jumped with the Blue wire).

Turn Tow/Run switch to Run.

Turn the Key switch ON

Put FNR on Forward.

Verify that You have:

+48v on Controller pin #1 Red wire.
+48v on Controller pin #2 Orange/White wire.
+48v on Controller pin #4 White wire.

When You press the Pedal:

+48v on Controller pin #3 Green/White wire

If You have all of the above, that satisfies all controller input requirements.

Place your meter positive probe on pack positive.

Place your meter negative probe on Controller pin #11 Blue/White wire.

When You press the Pedal You should get +48v

if not, the controller is bad.

I ran through this and have +48 to pins 1,2 & 4. +48 to pin 3 with pedal pressed. I get nothing on pin 11 output. Sounding like a bad controller but wanting to make sure before I drop the coin on a new one or IQ upgrade.

There was more talk in that thread leading to the connector to the pedal box and should see +5V on the purple wire, I get nothing here at all.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated! I will upgrade if I have to, but prefer to get it running as is and save money for other stuff. It will be a campground cruiser at our seasonal spot, all dirt roads with only very slight uphill spots and mostly flat. No real need to go super fast and I do not plan to lift it with massive tires, I want stock height or maybe a slight drop with a nice wheel/tire combo that fits the wheel wells perfect.

[Rtoth]

After much digging around and cleaning contacts, redoing the OBC bypass kit with the method I found here (join blue and white vs blue and red/white in the kit) I finally get somewhere!

I have a reverse buzzer now and the left side solenoid fires when you hit the pedal, but nothing from the right. No negative to blue/white wire. I can jump it and solenoid now activates but still no movement from the cart.

Against everything I have read I decided it would be a good idea to investigate the controller so I pulled it out and took it apart, found a transistor blown apart! I'll be ordering one in the morning and hoping that fixes it.

Should the left side coil be firing when I hit the pedal / should both solenoids be firing or only the right side?

If I jump the solenoid, should the cart then be able to drive or am I still missing something? I jumped it briefly and no movement from the wheels.

[Fairtax4me]

Both solenoids should click when you press the pedal.
The one behind the drivers side with the big coil on it you can bypass if it is not working.
The one on the right (passenger side) you can bypass temporarily as a TEST, but personally I would only do that if the cart is Off of the ground on jack stands. The solenoid is there to break the main current supply to the motor to prevent a runaway in case of a controller or throttle system failure.

The resistance across the two small terminals on those solenoids should be around 330 ohms if I remember right. Remove one of the small wires and the protection diode from one small post, and you can check the resistance of the coil. If it shows Infinite resistance or something well below 300ohms the solenoid is bad and should be replaced.

The Regen 2 system is flaky at best, and even if the controller is working properly there are several places in the wires harness that can have corrosion problems or poor connection at welded splices they used in the production of the harness. The ultimate fix for those is to replace the wire harness with an IQ harness (which started a year after your cart) and an IQ controller, and upgrade the throttle control to an MCOR 4.
You can use the Regen 2 motor with the IQ system, but the IQ motors that were used right after that one are slightly more powerful.

[Rtoth]

IQ conversion is definitely on the radar and is the plan if I can't get it going as is.

Neither of my solenoids have a diode, did ALL of the Regen II carts have them or is there some that didn't? It's a mess with what the previous owner did so it's possible he removed it and didn't reinstall.

For now my plan is to order a new transistor and give it a try, worst case scenario I'm out a few bucks and I then upgrade to IQ.

[Rtoth]

I tell ya, I miss the days of Radio Shack! No longer any local places to run to and see if they have what I need on hand. Had to order a 10 pack of IRF530 transistors for the one replacement I needed. Oh well, I guess when they get here in a week I'll get it back together and with any luck it will run and not start on fire

[Rtoth]

Anyone have any thoughts on the diodes and resistors for the solenoids? This cart has neither on either solenoid, I want to make sure they are either not needed or have some installed before I put the controller back in and try it.

[Fairtax4me]

Regen 2 didn't have any resistors or diodes on either solenoid.
Other than the big toaster coil resistor on the dynamic brake solenoid.
Voltage suppression and pre-charge was all handled in the controller.

[Rtoth]

Well, here we go!

New transistor soldered in, sometime today I'll put the controller in place and see what happens. I'm thinking there's a good chance there's something else wrong I didn't see and it blows again, but nothing wrong with being hopeful! Worst case, this only cost $13 for 10 transistors shipped and some time playing around with it. If it works, great! If not, there's an IQ upgrade in the very near future.

[Rtoth]

Andddddd drum roll please!!!!!

No luck

No smoke or fire, but still no go.

Ordered a new OBC, IQ harness, MCOR4 conversion kit and 500 amp controller from TahoeDawg. Much appreciated, will be rolling along in no time! Paint and wheels/tires to come very soon also

[Rtoth]

That's to Dave at Revolution Golf Cart I have it up and running with the first test drive this evening in the dark

IQ harness, MCOR4 conversion, Alltrax XCT500 controller and IQ OBC. REALLY impressed with how this thing gets up and goes!!!

Also, some 14" Titans snuck under there somehow earlier today too before I finished the wiring upgrade