'99 Club Car DS - Post Upgrade, Won't Charge

[dabretty]

I just performed a major upgrade to my 1999 Club Car DS. Thanks to David Hicks who supplied me with a new motor, Alltrax controller, and solenoid. The cart now seriously moves!

However, I'm now dealing with an issue trying to charge the cart. When I plug in the Club Car charger (PowerDrive), it audibly kicks on after a few seconds. However, the meter on the front of the charger remains pegged at "0" (as in no current is heading into the battery system). I've let it go as long as 20 hours, and nothing changes.

I've double-checked the connections, including the cabling from the charging receptacle to the top end of the battery, and the grounding of the OBC (10 AWG). This all looks like it's okay.

Is the OBC doing something here, that's preventing a charge from occurring?

Thanks for any help.

[dabretty]

Also, for what it's worth -

This is a 48V system. I'm now uncertain as to if the batteries are not being charged - it seems possible that they might be. Voltage across the pack reads 50.2V. From what I understand, this is at or approaching 100% SOC. Keep in mind, the batteries were fully charged prior to this upgrade, and post-upgrade I completed the "burn in" on the new motor (driving probably 10 miles so far). Had the batteries truly not been charging, I guess that I'd tend to think that the SOC would be far lower.

I also just now also reset the OBC (using a procedure I found on here), but the charger still indicates it's putting nothing into the batteries (despite kicking on and staying on).

This is one heck of a coincidence if the charger's meter just happened to stop working at the same time that I did this work on the cart ...

[Mikey340]

Put your volt meter on the batteries while the charger is on....to see if they are indeed charging. If yes then I would replace ammeter on charger.

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[dabretty]

Thanks for the response. Overnight, the charger seemingly did nothing … with the charger connected (and on) or disconnected, I'm still seeing 50.2V. Is it possible that the charger is driving to this (100% = 50.2V)?

I'm going to be using the cart a bit today. I'll see what the battery drops to, and what voltage is coming out of the charger when I reconnect them.

[E36Racer]

With the charger plugged in the voltage should be well over 50, maybe even as high as 60. 50.9-51 volts is 100% SOC and the charger will exceed this voltage to actually get the batteries there.

I’m guessing you upgraded the cables with these other mods, are you using the stud kit on the OBC? I think the OBC bypass sticky tells you how to jump it out to trick the charger into turning on in order to test if the charger is functioning. I agree with you that the timing of this is a bit odd.

What you are experiencing is what I like to call “component jealousy”. Meaning your existing components are jealous they didn’t also get upgraded and are now throwing a temper tantrum or decided to fail so they also get replaced. Has happened to me with regular cars many times.

[Mikey340]

Originally Posted by E36Racer

I like to call “component jealousy”. Meaning your existing components are jealous they didn’t also get upgraded and are now throwing a temper tantrum or decided to fail so they also get replaced. Has happened to me with regular cars many times.

Love this...has happened to me also with cars/trucks/forklifts.
Just never heard it put in those terms. Lol

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[dabretty]

Thanks to David Hicks (again) and his website... I was able to trace the issue to a bad fuse in the charging receptacle. The fuse inside the plastic window had blown. Upon replacement, the cart started charging!

Which leads me to a quick followup. The batteries had probably dropped to 46-47V before I plugged them in last night. The charger went full on (15A maybe?). This morning, I awoke to the charger still running, but with reduced output to about 4A. Charger putting out about 55V, with charger removed batteries are at 53.5V. However, while charging I'm hearing that low gurgling sound, which goes away a short while after removing the charger. I don't believe I've ever heard this before.

Should I be concerned? The batteries are not hot, bulging, or anything else that would seem to indicate something really bad. Searching online it seems like I've found a ton of different answers, but all seemed devoid of voltage measurements...

Thanks for the insights on here. Great forum!

[Fairtax4me]

Batteries gurgle. It's electrolysis. Part of the reaction that occurs when you run electricity through water is you break the molecular bonds between hydrogen and oxygen. They eventually form bubbles and float their way to the top. Ever read those warnings about batteries exploding? Hydrogen gas + oxygen + a spark...

How much of this occurs depends on how discharged the batteries are. Longer charge time = more bubbles.

[sidewalkman]

Shouldn't be concerned, I had a charger issue, ran it for a few weeks without charging, when I fixed the issue the charger ran full for about 4 hours and eventually stopped but it was on for at least 10-12 hours.

Now it charges as per normal. I made sure the water was topped up after the charge in case some had evaporated. (some had)