Club car 48v charger issue

[Jgoff72]

I recently purchased a club car ds 48v Curtis controller cart that needs some wiring repairs and a few other odds and ends. When I purchased the cart, the seller gave me a Lester II 48v charger but it has a 2-prong cable end on it. This cart is setup up for the 3-prong charger and an OCB. Is there a way to make the charger work if I switch to a 2 prong receptacle or should I sell the charger and buy the right charger? I have attached a picture of the charger for reference. Thanks in advance.

[Fairtax4me]

Kinda depends which cart it is, but if it has the round plug then it looks like they gave you the wrong charger.
What battery arrangement does the cart have? Six 8v batteries?

[Jgoff72]

Currently have 6-8v batteries. I am aware it’s not the right charger, was just wondering if there was a way to make that style charger work.

[Jgoff72]

If I have done my research right it looks like I can use this charger if I do two things.

1. Bypass the OBC while fixing the wiring on the cart.

2. Put a 3 prong plug on the charger instead of the 2 prong plug. The prong for the gray wire from the obc will be omitted on the cart so it won’t matter that it’s not hooked up from the charger.


I suppose I could switch the charging receptacle on the cart to the 2 prong receptacle as the current 3 prong is busted. Please let me know if I’m headed in the right direction.

[Fairtax4me]

That charger can work, but it was designed for a 200+ ah pack such as an Eight 6v pack, or a high capacity 6x8v pack like a Trojan Ranger series or US XC2 high capacity batteries.

The 25 amp output is high for a standard 170ah pack, it will charge the pack slightly faster, but could also lead to increased water loss during charging. Likely not a huge deal as long as you keep close watch on the water levels.

Yes, you can change out the plug and/or receptacle for whichever style you want. The OBC will need to be bypassed and/or removed to use that charger.
But I would not buy anything extra until you have a chance to hook up the charger to the pack and make sure it works. The Lestronic 2 chargers have a timer board which is known to fail and they can be very expensive to replace. It could also have bad rectifiers or a failed capacitor, which are also common failures on an old charger.

If the charge receptacle on the cart is damaged I would not try to plug anything into it since you could have wire damage or shorting between the pins in the receptacle. That should be replaced as soon as you decide which plug/receptacle combo you want to use.

I would make 10 awg jumper wires to connect the charger directly to the Main Pack + and - posts. Connect the charger first, and then plug in the AC power cord to test and see if it even works. If it doesn't work then there's no point in buying anything for it unless you're dead set on using it rather than getting a different charger or taking it back to the seller to exchange.

[Jgoff72]

Thanks for the response. Now I at least know which direction to go.

[Reuter5]

If you have the crows foot, try the bypass. When we upgraded from 36v to 48v we just bypassed and ran the charging wires to the main negative and main positive batteries.