DC wiring confusion

[rogerm]

sounds like the problem started when the shop checked the charger. Check to make sure your polarity is correct at the charger as well. Hook the red from your multi meter up to the + side of your charger and black to the - side of your charger make sure your multi meter is set to dc current and your multi meter should show a voltage if it is backwards it will have a - in front of the value.

[D-A]

I don't have any batteries in yet. Need to make frame, old rusted out. Also making sure cart worked before spending too much money!

I've attached 2 drawings of the DC ends and how they were & how they are now.

From all your help at this site I'm gathering that all I have to do is switch the cart end so the whites are POS & blacks are NEG

[gornoman]

It doesn't matter what color the wires are if you are not 100% sure of what polarity they are. You need a multimeter to help determine what you already have, both on the charger output and the cart charge receptacle. Without this knowledge NOBODY can advise you properly. The description of the "arc" from the shop is incomplete and does not help anyone.

[riverracer]

Wiring in pic is wrong.White on + Black on- on cart and charger.You have them crossed from charger to cart.Cart is correct charger needs to be reversed.

[D-A]

I'm sorry that the arc doesn't help!

I'll try this again. The charger was taken to the shop to be tested. When the guy plugged it in his board it arced. He said the reason was the wiring was wrong. The DC cord on the charger had the white wire as NEG. He said it should always be POS (the white wire).

Okay are you following me so far? This is why I switched the wires on the DC cord end of the charger so white is now POS.

Doing that now causes concern because the DC ends (cart's & charger's) had white lining up as NEG. Now if I plug them together POS to POS the wires are crossed. (Please see the last pics attached)

I don't understand polarity! It seems that if white out of charger is POS, then white in cart should be too (it does make its way to the POS post!

[D-A]

Originally Posted by riverracer

Wiring in pic is wrong.White on + Black on- on cart and charger.You have them crossed from charger to cart.Cart is correct charger needs to be reversed.

River are you sure? The shop guy (last week) & today I called again to confirm that the white should be POS. That would mean that the cart's DC end is wrong!

[rogerm]

that is why you need to hook a multi meter up to your charger put red on + if it shows a negitive value on the multi meter the wires are reversed

[gornoman]

Originally Posted by D-A

I'm sorry that the arc doesn't help!

I'll try this again. The charger was taken to the shop to be tested. When the guy plugged it in his board it arced. He said the reason was the wiring was wrong. The DC cord on the charger had the white wire as NEG. He said it should always be POS (the white wire).

Okay are you following me so far? This is why I switched the wires on the DC cord end of the charger so white is now POS.

Doing that now causes concern because the DC ends (cart's & charger's) had white lining up as NEG. Now if I plug them together POS to POS the wires are crossed. (Please see the last pics attached)

I don't understand polarity! It seems that if white out of charger is POS, then white in cart should be too (it does make its way to the POS post!

OK, here's the deal. You are making WAY TOO MANY ASSUMPTIONS. This is not SAFE. If you don't understand polarity and why it's important you will NEVER get this right. Do NOT assume a wire is POSITIVE on a DC system until you MEASURE it yourself. Only then can you proceed SAFELY.

This is the internet, and I cannot see your best practices. If we get this wrong, it gets ugly. I'm not being a jerk, doing this 100% correct is important for everyone who reads this. Measure the polarity before making ANY connections ESPECIALLY if you are not very comfortable with wiring.

[riverracer]

Gormo may be right.You need to make sure it's wired right inside the charger.Someone may have changed the cord and wired it wrong.Check for diagram for your charger.

[D-A]

Originally Posted by gornoman

It doesn't matter what color the wires are if you are not 100% sure of what polarity they are. You need a multimeter to help determine what you already have, both on the charger output and the cart charge receptacle. Without this knowledge NOBODY can advise you properly. The description of the "arc" from the shop is incomplete and does not help anyone.

Everyone keeps saying color doesn't matter! I know it probably doesn't matter what color is used! I have a little bit of electrical exprience in the construction field. It's different, but I know that if you run wires (no matter what color) to something you can not cross them!

So I have been using the colors so the wiring follows the right path! If white is suppose to be POS out of the charger, then it should follow a certain path to the POS end. Especially since there are only 2 colors, white & black!

Already checked the charger diagram, its right! Thanks!