Old Club Car 36 Volt Charger

[Aflyer]

Chuckinnc posted the thread that I linked below, which prompted a couple of questions for those with experience with older Club Car Golf Cars.

I have a 1973 Club Car Caroche/Vanguard Sport Coupe, which came with a newer, 1991 30 Amp Club Car charger. I have stripped all of the old electronics out of the cart, and there was no OBC.

So my question is how did the early Automatic chargers work? Was it a mechanical timer as Chuck found? I haven't even looked at this charger, just took it out of the box saw it was in like new condition and put it back in the box.

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...-chargers.html

Thank you,
Aflyer

[shaffer88]

Rather than an "on board charger" I'm guessing it has a charger that won't recycle. Like the new dpi

timer chargers were used til 1981

Originally Posted by golf car catalog

Chargers for electric golf cars fall into two basic types; Automatic (newer) and Not-Automatic (older). Most of these basic charger types have an ammeter on the front to show the number of amperes being provided to the battery pack. Otherwise they are very different. Any 36-volt battery charger should initially start by providing at least 15+ amps to the batteries. The amps may drop down very quickly if the batteries are fully charged but the ammeter should show at least 15 amps to start off. If you know that the batteries need charging and the ammeter will NOT go above 15 amps, then you probably have a faulty charger and it must be repaired.

The older non-automatic golf cart battery chargers usually have an ON/OFF/TIMER knob that switches the charger ON or OFF and allows you to set the number of hours the charger will stay on, usually a maximum of 12 hours.

good read >>> https://www.golfcarcatalog.com/golf-...tery-chargers/

[Sergio]

Those old 36v chargers did have an internal current regulation system.

The system is called FerroResonant and it consists of a capacitor wired to an extra set of windings in the transformer.

The "tuned" LC (inductor + capacitor) circuit regulates (lowers) the current as the battery voltage goes up.

The timer only serves to adjust how long you keep the finishing charge on the batteries.

[Aflyer]

CTD,

Thank you.

Sergio,
Thank you also, interesting old technology.

Aflyer

[Aflyer]

Originally Posted by Sergio

Those old 36v chargers did have an internal current regulation system.

The system is called FerroResonant and it consists of a capacitor wired to an extra set of windings in the transformer.

The "tuned" LC (inductor + capacitor) circuit regulates (lowers) the current as the battery voltage goes up.

The timer only serves to adjust how long you keep the finishing charge on the batteries.

Sergio,
Sometimes we come up with strange questions in our heads.

And I have read that the only stupid question is the one that you don't ask, so here goes.

Today my strange idea is how do I convert this 36 Volt charger to a 48 volt charger?

My first answer is to sell this one and go buy a 48 volt charger.

But are there any other solutions/upgrades that could be done?

Thank you,
Aflyer

[Sergio]

Yes, sell and buy a 48v, I don't think You can vary the capacitor that much in that design to output 48v.

Interesting enough you could convert it to 72v by replacing the 2 diodes with a bridge rectifier.

[Aflyer]

Sergio,
So it would appear that I had a great idea, it just won't work to do what I want it to.

I will have to think about the 72 volt option, but I don't think this old buggy is ready for that.

Thank you again,
Aflyer