Hardwire the charger to the batteries

[COURTESYCART]

I have seen several carts come in with the chargers hard wired. The customer ocmplaint is I dont have long run time. They even put in new batteries. I tell them to unplug the charger and try it. Guess what they have little longer run time now. Not too mention other issues it has caused.

[gornoman]

Very good discussion here. I learn something EVERY day on these boards!

[roady89]

Originally Posted by aircat

Ok Roady You da man; even unplugged the relay coil gets energized "not what I expected" which brings the off state current to a whopping 57 milliamperes "also not what I expected". Soooo I need to retract my original statement entirely.

Aircat

No worries, Not trying to prove anyone wrong....just don't want someone doing it and coming back here bitching cause their batteries are dead.

[bolter]

I have mine hard wired, but I have some items available to me at work that you might not. I have the DC relay connected to a normally open contact on a 110v(coil) cube relay. The other issue with leaving it hardwired is the charger will think it's plugged in all the time and time out and not let the charger turn on when you plug it in. So it can be done, not really any great way to do it. I have had mine this way for 10 months and I drive a lot at work, with no issues whatsoever.

[rabbitreborn]

Originally Posted by COURTESYCART

I have seen several carts come in with the chargers hard wired. The customer ocmplaint is I dont have long run time. They even put in new batteries. I tell them to unplug the charger and try it. Guess what they have little longer run time now. Not too mention other issues it has caused.

Originally Posted by bolter

I have mine hard wired, but I have some items available to me at work that you might not. I have the DC relay connected to a normally open contact on a 110v(coil) cube relay. The other issue with leaving it hardwired is the charger will think it's plugged in all the time and time out and not let the charger turn on when you plug it in. So it can be done, not really any great way to do it. I have had mine this way for 10 months and I drive a lot at work, with no issues whatsoever.

Both of your comments are sorted out by installing a simple toggle switch on the DC side of the charger wiring. When the switch is "off", the charger is not draining the batteries during run time. Also, it doesn't "time out" because the relay believes that the charger is "unplugged".

[CostaRica]

Originally Posted by rabbitreborn

buy a toggle switch rated at 30 amps. Wire the charger to the battery pack negative directly and to the positive side THROUGH the toggle switch. When running the cart, toggle switch in the "off" position, when you are ready to charge the cart, plug in the 120 AC, then flip the toggle switch to the "on" position.

I have personally wired about 50 carts in this manner and never had an issue yet.

Rabbit: Any chance of a couple of pictures, i am interested to see which switch, location, mounting and setup.

Thanks.

[rabbitreborn]

I don't have any currently in the shop or I would gladly provide a pic. Let me see if I have any coming up for service in the near future or I will provide a drawing.

[FireJCT]

I agree with Gornoman....learn something everytime I look at this site.......What size charger would be idea for this set up?

[CostaRica]

Originally Posted by rabbitreborn

I don't have any currently in the shop or I would gladly provide a pic. Let me see if I have any coming up for service in the near future or I will provide a drawing.

Rabbit:

OK, so i did some testing myself today and understand that with the charger plugged into the DC receptacle and the AC side not connected, there is an additional draw. (I had the the charger open and heard the relay click on the board. So i understand what you are saying Rabbit with putting a switch on the positive DC lead. However, i started looking for 30 amp 36 volt switches and found none. I found lots of 12 volt 25 amp switches and switches for AC current. With my limited knowledge i think that if i increase the voltage on a 12 volt switch that it would handle less amps...???? Am i correct or out in left field? What are the limits or specifications on the switches that you are using?

[roady89]

There is another way but it will require de-soldering the relay. Once you get the relay unsoldered, solder some wire to the 2 pads and place a switch on that. Instead of switching a high amp load your only switching the voltage sense circuit. I havent done this before but there is absolutely no reason it wont work.