Charger will not come on

[brian45011]

I have a 1999 (I think) EZ GO electric. When I plugged it in today the charger did not come on. The cart still runs in forward and reverse and all accessories still work. I took the cart to a neighbor who also has an older 36V EZ GO. His charger came on when plugged into his cart but not in mine. I check my acid level and since several cells in the rear row were low, I topped off all levels.


Voltmeter readings were 38+ volts, both at the charger connection and across the six battery pack. Each battery read 6.5 volts except the rear middle which read 6.4V. The batteries were replaced less than two years ago. I have a 6V/12V automotive trickle charger; when I connect to individual batteries there is an occasional bubble that rises through the acid.

Any suggestions to troubleshoot and repair the problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


P.S.( I plan to take my charger over to the neighbor to verify it will come on when plugged into his cart.)

[scottyb]

"P.S.( I plan to take my charger over to the neighbor to verify it will come on when plugged into his cart.)"

That's a good idea. The Receptacle connectors (radsoks) can wear and the connection to the plug becomes bad. Try plugging in the charger & holding the plug up while you count to 30, if the charger comes on replace the radsoks shown in the pic beloww.

[brian45011]

Thanks, I tried inserting the paddle and holding it up for at least 30 seconds--nothing. (My neighbor won't be home until later.)


Does it make sense to try connecting the paddle's male plugs using alligator clips directly to the battery terminals?

What is the function of the small wire that runs along the radsock conductors and appears to go to the controller?

Is there something inside the controller I should check?

[mulletman87]

Do you have the power wise charger? I have the 99 cart with the power wise charger, and with mine it ened up being one of the diodes in the charger that was bad. They are located on the heat sink panel.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by brian45011

1. Does it make sense to try connecting the paddle's male plugs using alligator clips directly to the battery terminals?

2. What is the function of the small wire that runs along the radsock conductors and appears to go to the controller?

3. Is there something inside the controller I should check?

1. They would have to be pretty healthy clips, the output of the charger is going to be 20 Amps or so and there is a wire in the charger plug that connects to B- via the Aux. Contact in the plug.
This wire is how the charger detects the battery initially and senses the turn off voltage when the battery is charged.
(Please don't confuse this wire with the wire in the cart's charger receptacle you ask about in Q#2, entirely different purpose and unrelated.)

2. This wire shuts down the cart when the battery charger is plugged it. There is a reed switch in the cart receptacle and a magnet in the charger's plug.
Good or bad, this safety circuit will not stop the charger from turning on.

3. From what you said in your first post, the controller is most likely good, but good or bad, the controller won't keep the charger from turning on.

I may be wrong, but from what I've read neither your charger nor you neighbor's charger work on your cart. His charger works on his cart, but you haven't tried your charger on his cart yet. So it is pointing to your cart so far.

Try this. Disconnect battery - Open the receptacle on the cart (Top comes off) and clean(sand?) the outside of the negative connector. This is where/how the charger senses the battery. The other half of the circuit is the inside of the positive connector.

If you got 38V at the cart's charger connectors, both yours and your neighbor's chargers should be coming on and neither are, so the problem is most likely in your cart's receptacle someplace.

[brian45011]

Ok. My neighbor returned, so I took my cart and charger to his garage. His charger now works in my cart (and his), but my charger works in neither cart. I assume that his charger did not work in my cart yesterday because I had several cells where the fluid level was below the top of the plates. I filled them yesterday after leaving his garage. (While waiting for his return, I also took the top off the receptacle on my cart and cleaned both sides of each female connector--no noticeable debris found and only a thin film of corrosion on the exterior that was easily removed with sand paper.)

Anyway, I now believe the problem is my PowerWise charger. I took the cover off but did not see anything that looks like a fuse. I see a small horizontal circuit board on the base and a slightly larger vertical one behind the front of the unit.

Again, any suggestions on how to trouble shoot and repair the PowerWise charger would be appreciated. In checking on new ones, they seem to go for $300 up. If the charger is likely irrepairable, any suggestions on where to find a economical replacement on the NW side of Houston?

Thanks

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by brian45011

Ok. My neighbor returned, so I took my cart and charger to his garage. His charger now works in my cart (and his), but my charger works in neither cart. This changes everything

Anyway, I now believe the problem is my PowerWise charger. I took the cover off but did not see anything that looks like a fuse. I see a small horizontal circuit board on the base and a slightly larger vertical one behind the front of the unit. The Control board they now sell replaces both with just one board and comes with instructions.

Again, any suggestions on how to trouble shoot and repair the PowerWise charger would be appreciated. In checking on new ones, they seem to go for $300 up. If the charger is likely irrepairable, any suggestions on where to find a economical replacement on the NW side of Houston? Unless the transformer is gone, it is DIY repairable for about half that at worst

Thanks

Warning: Be absolutely sure the charger is unplugged before opening it up.

First -check the continuity of all three wires in the cable. The small on goes to the control board and the two bigger one goes all the way back to the transformer via the ammeter, fuse(s) and diodes.
The Neg wire goes through the ammeter. (This is typically the wire that has a fuse in it - some of the fuses don't look like fuses)
The Pos wire goes to through the diodes, so it will read open one way and continuity the other.

IF that checks out, bypass the relay. (Black box with two wires on rear board. Do not damage connectors, you'll be needing them to connect to new board if this one is bad)

Monitor Battery pack voltage with DVM.
Plug charger cable into cart.
Plug charger into AC Power.
Pack voltage should jump and continue to rise.
If so, the control board is bad.
If not, more troubleshooting is needed.

Do not use charger with relay bypassed. It will stay on forever and ruin your batteries.

Hope this helps.

[mulletman87]

On my power wise charger I kept blowing the 50 amp fuse, Like I said in a earlier post it was one of the diodes. I did some reasearch on this and it sounded like this is a common problem with this charger. When you test the continuity on them (with charger unplugged) you want " 0 " to show up on the meter. Im not an expert on this but that is what was wrong with mine, found the fuses dirt cheap on ebay with free shipping

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by mulletman87

On my power wise charger I kept blowing the 50 amp fuse, Like I said in a earlier post it was one of the diodes. I did some reasearch on this and it sounded like this is a common problem with this charger. When you test the continuity on them (with charger unplugged) you want " 0 " to show up on the meter. Im not an expert on this but that is what was wrong with mine, found the fuses dirt cheap on ebay with free shipping

Granted, if the fuse is blown, the problem is very likely a bad diode or two.
However, just getting a "0" on you meter doesn't mean the diode is good, or bad.
A diode is a "One-Way" valve for electrons, so you have to test with electrons flowing in both directions to determine if it is good or bad.

A good diode will read low Ohms in one direction and high Ohms in the other. (Greater than a 10:1 forward bias to reverse bias ratio minimum tolerance)
A shorted diode will read low Ohms in both directions.
An open diode will read high Ohms in both directions.

[brian45011]

Thanks, Johnnie B (and other helpful posters on related threads)! It was the fuse and diodes--parts were less than $40. Sure was nice to hear the hum again when I plugged it in.