DPI Chargers

[Sergio]

Originally Posted by coosa

So can you give me some examples of things that could be wrong with the cart that would keep the DPI from working? Remember that I put it in tow mode to charge it and the battery pack is producing normal readings and I get the same voltage at the receptacle as the pack. So its really no different than having the battery pack out of the cart and connecting the charger to it.

I'm not trying to be a smart a**; just genuinely wondering what could possibly be wrong with the pack and it still be so strong and produce normal voltage readings.

Putting a cart on Tow does not isolate anything electrically as you still have a pre-charge resistor and possible other loads like a DC converter.

Are you running a second negative or positive connection for any old 36v devices?

You may want to remove the positive and/or negative battery cables next time you experience the trouble so you know the only load the charger is seeing are the batteries.

[coosa]

Originally Posted by Sergio

Putting a cart on Tow does not isolate anything electrically as you still have a pre-charge resistor and possible other loads like a DC converter.

Are you running a second negative or positive connection for any old 36v devices?

You may want to remove the positive and/or negative battery cables next time you experience the trouble so you know the only load the charger is seeing are the batteries.

Doesn't it isolate the controller and motor? There are no 36 volt devices, but it does have some 12 volt circuits that aren't isolated. I will start disconnecting all the + cables except the charge wires for the next week or so and see if that matters.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by coosa

Doesn't it isolate the controller and motor? There are no 36 volt devices, but it does have some 12 volt circuits that aren't isolated. I will start disconnecting all the + cables except the charge wires for the next week or so and see if that matters.

IIRC you are running a DCX controller with a PDS adapter.

The Run/Tow switch removes the voltage that eventually ends of on pins 9 & 10 on the DCX as well as the voltage to the F/R switch, which in turn doesn't allow voltage to get to the keyswitch, pedal switch and solenoid. As Sergio mentioned, the pre-charge resistor is still keeping the filter capacitors charged.

To completely isolate the batteries, you have to disconnect some cables and wires.

[coosa]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

IIRC you are running a DCX controller with a PDS adapter.

The Run/Tow switch removes the voltage that eventually ends of on pins 9 & 10 on the DCX as well as the voltage to the F/R switch, which in turn doesn't allow voltage to get to the keyswitch, pedal switch and solenoid. As Sergio mentioned, the pre-charge resistor is still keeping the filter capacitors charged.

To completely isolate the batteries, you have to disconnect some cables and wires.

Thanks JohnnieB, so if take all the + cables off when charging except the charge wires, doesn't that make it nothing but a battery pack? I was thinking that if I did that and it still fails that would prove the charger has to be the problem. If that is incorrect, someone please tell me.

If there is something wrong with my cart and it has killed 2 chargers, then I wanna reimburse DPI. I am no electronics expert, as the regulars here already know, but I can't conceive of anything in the cart that could make the charger fail one time and then work perfectly 30 seconds later. Even if there is a short somewhere, I'm not moving the cart at all between tries . It's just a mystery to me that I'm having this issue and it's apparently not happening to anyone else.

[JohnnieB]

Just leave the cables connecting the batteries in series and the wires from the charging port.

I cannot think of anything else about the cart that can cause the intermittent error you are getting.

Bad batch of parts in the charger(s) is the only thing that makes sense to me at this point.

[Sideways]

Any updates?

[coosa]

Originally Posted by Sideways

Any updates?

I disconnected all the wires except the charging wires a few times, but I quickly got tired of doing that every day. This charger hasn't failed to start charging since i last posted.. However, I haven't used a lot in the cold weather lately and have only been using it a couple of times a week.

I still have no idea what the problem could have been.

[Sideways]

Thanks

[coosa]

I ran my cart several miles yesterday, hooked up the charger and it failed again. The lights all flashed, but instead of switching to charge mode the bottom light just flashed red. I disconnected both ends and tried a second time, it worked perfectly.

DPI told me after my first email that there was something wrong with my cart. I emailed him back and asked for any ideas on what could possibly be wrong that the charger would fail one minute and work perfectly on the next try. I never got another reply.

It's not a big deal to occasionally have to plug it up a second time, but this is what the first 2 did before they eventually failed completely. I still believe they have a bad component in at least one lot of their 42 volt chargers. I will just keep using the charger and hope it doesn't completely die. If it does and they won't replace it, I'll just run the cart on 36 volts until turkey season, and then I can charge the extra battery with a 6 volt charger. It doesn't take but a minute to switch the cables around to charge it.