Friend's '96 DS charge

[Macshane43]

My PowerDrive2 charger is working fine on my '08 Precedent & worked fine on my friend's '96 DS last year. I just went to charge theirs & the needle on the charger is buried past 15a. Tried another charger & same thing. Put on mine & everything is fine. Friend's batteries appear to be in good shape, wires are correct. Any suggestions?

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[Tom47]

I'm assuming here the friends cart has an on board computer and it has not been removed or bypassed. The PowerDrive 2 must work with the OBC.

Disconnect the large wire that goes from the main positive to the main solenoid. If there are other smaller wires on the main positive, remove all except the one from the charger receptacle.

Connect the charger and see what happens. If it charges normally, this indicates there is a short in one of the other positive wires. It could be the voltage reducer in one of the small wires, or the wire going to the solenoid.

If you still peg the charger, disconnect all the main negative wires except for the one from the charger receptacle. Try the charger again.

Report back what you find.

[movin-on]

Sounds like bad batteries...What is the pack voltage...

[Fairtax4me]

How far is it buried?
That charge can go as high as 18 amps, which will be far past the end of the guage if that only goes to 15.
If the pack is excessively discharged that is the most likely the reason for the charge amperage being so high. Plug it in and let it rip, that charge is made to be able to do that.

Another possible reason is the rectifier in the charger is bad, but if that were the case it would also likely charge at the same rate on your cart.

[Macshane43]

Batteries tested ok. 8v individually, 50v in pack. Charger stayed very hot & never dropped outgoing amps - 2 different chargers. Both chargers working fine on my cart. I did find that the red wire is loose in the charging port, and what I mean is if I pull on it from behind, the wire & receiving pin I the port both move. If the chargers' plugs can't make the complete connection, would this cause the issue I'm having?

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[Macshane43]

Originally Posted by Tom47

I'm assuming here the friends cart has an on board computer and it has not been removed or bypassed. The PowerDrive 2 must work with the OBC.



Disconnect the large wire that goes from the main positive to the main solenoid. If there are other smaller wires on the main positive, remove all except the one from the charger receptacle.



Connect the charger and see what happens. If it charges normally, this indicates there is a short in one of the other positive wires. It could be the voltage reducer in one of the small wires, or the wire going to the solenoid.



If you still peg the charger, disconnect all the main negative wires except for the one from the charger receptacle. Try the charger again.



Report back what you find.

Disconnect it at the battery or at the solenoid?
Thanks

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[Macshane43]

Originally Posted by movin-on

Sounds like bad batteries...What is the pack voltage...

50 volts this morning
Each battery tested at 8 volts

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[Goober11]

Originally Posted by Macshane43

50 volts this morning
Each battery tested at 8 volts

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Sounds like a battery issue. At 50.0 volts pack and 8 volts each your batterys are only up to 80%.
Batteries at 100% read 50.9 pack an 8.49 each. Clean a check all cables and check water level.

[CP241]

Originally Posted by Goober11

Sounds like a battery issue. At 50.0 volts pack and 8 volts each your batterys are only up to 80%.
Batteries at 100% read 50.9 pack an 8.49 each. Clean a check all cables and check water level.

I wouldn’t be quick to assume that if he hasn’t let it complete a charge cycle.

If you plug it in for an hour like you said and the amperage doesn’t drop any, and if pack is resting at 50.0 it shouldn’t stay at the full 18 amps for long... I’d suspect the OBC is toast. With everything that I’m reading, and knowing the charger behaves normally on your cart, if it were mine I’d be gutting The OBC outta there and buying a DPI charger or something like that. There’s some nice ones out there.

If his old charger works on your cart he can probably get $150 for it just listing it locally.