spark when hooking up cable.

[sonnysmith]

After changing batteries on a 2010 rxv I get a spark when I try to hook up the neg, battery cable. Now the run tow is turn to tow, key switch is off.
It is a freedom cart. with all of the bell and whistle. It has a dc to dc reducer. Could I get a (good ) spark when it tries to power UP. All batteries a wired correctly.

Thanks for the replys.

[Sumner121]

some arching is normal when putting the last cable on a set of batteries.

[sonnysmith]

Thanks

[Paul08RXV]

As I under stand it - when an RXV is in tow and batteries are hooked up - it draws power in order to pull the motor brake apart (disengage) so rear will freely spin - you may not get the spark (or as much) if you switch back to run before connecting the battery terminal. This is why you should not typically leave an RXV in tow - drains power in tow mode. Very different than traditional carts.

HOWEVER - the reducer will also cause a fairly good size spark as they have capacitors that may be looking to charge up as soon as the 48v connection is made. I am setting all that up on my RXV right now and doing wiring testing - whenever I leave the reducer connection off for a few days i get the same good spark during reconnect.

I will post compete electrical layout when complete but just a note now - that 'yellow' wire that triggers the voltage reducers to come 'on'... since I did not want to touch the key switch of the RXV and I found it needed to be connected to min. 16v dc - I connected it to the positive, 1 battery over from the 48v reducer neg input as a 24v source - then connected a 24v dc rocker switch with light in-line of this on the dash as a master reducer ON - the negative from the switch returns back to the 48 volt neg post as connected to the reducer input side and the yellow connects to the load lug on the switch. Safest way to connect I have found.

FIRST post for me - please jump in those who are more knowledgeable here. thanks

[vagabond]

My 96 txt dcs sparks everytime I connect or disconnect a main cable, it never did before I installed the 36/48 to 12 volt converter.
And yes everytime I work on it, the switch is in the tow position

[sonnysmith]

I think everyone is correct about the reducer. tried with out reducer and no spark. So this thread can be closed.

Thanks all.

[cgtech]

I use an extra pre-charge resistor in between the cable and battery terminal as i connect the cable. It eliminates the annoying spark, plus has a added benefit, if anything is wired wrong or controller is bad, you only get a hot resistor instead of a giant blinding arc. The resistor heats slowly enough to not burn your hand, but quickly enough to let you know something is wrong.