New Batteries or Controller Upgrade First

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by marianol

Sorry so hijack the thread, but I was reading and got me thinking about my charger.
But after installing the on board pack meter, I started looking at the reading while charging.

I have a Powerwise II charger (Model 60271 cart is a 97 EZGo Shuttle 36v

After a couple of rides during the day the pack was at 36.7; put it to charge yesterday ~7pm. And this morning (7am) the charger was off and the meter was reading 38.2 and I unplugged it.
After reading this went back to the garage and plug it back in and it started charging again.

I noticed that when I plug the charger and kicks in it never goes over 10 amps and the highest I have seen the voltage is 42.3.

Is the charger ok? what can I do to test it.

The batteries should read 38.2V around 12 hours after charger shuts off and if the charge was started ~7PM and the voltage was measured ~7AM, less than 12 hours had elapsed since the charger shut off, so the "At-Rest" voltage may still be reading some of the surface charge.

The charger should put out about 20A.

The battery pack's on-charge voltage ought to climb into the 44V to 46V range before the charger automatically shuts off.

Here are a couple manuals the apply to a PW-II also.

Suspect one of the diodes is blown, but it could be other things like one leg of the output fuse is blown.

[cgtech]

Low amp output is often a sign of a bad capacitor.

[marianol]

Thanks to both...

The Schematics and Repair manual are priceless!!!!!

Just finished my whole 12v rewiring and cleaned the main pack post. So l'll get into this during the week..

[marianol]

Just opened that puppy up... is nasty inside! Looks like they like the previous owner liked to charge the GC under the mud and water :)

Both diodes test the same:
- OL in Reverse Bias
- 0.423v in Forward Bias --- A bit on the low side based on the range of the manual (.45 / .60 ) but AFAIK that is a good diode.

But looks like as GCTech the cap is the problem. Is reading 1.7 uF on my meter and based on JohnnieB's manual is either 3 or 4 uF

So looking after a new cap now for replacing.

[JohnnieB]

Get a motor RUN capacitor rather than a motor start capacitor.

If you can read the value off the old capacitor, get same value, or close to it.

[marianol]

The value is unreadable.. the can is fully rusted only thing I can get form it is
"44"
"PF"
"M?"
"044"

The serial of the charger is 250600489 Date 2506

Looking at the manual you posted and the serial it should be a 4 uF. Where can you buy this type of Caps? The $88 form EZGo seams excessive for a 660VAC 4UF cap.

Thanks

[usgicollector]

Check your local golf cart shop. A 4uf is a commonly used one.

[JohnnieB]

I'm pretty sure you need a 3µF, that is the value EZGO sells for a PW-II charger.
https://shop.ezgo.com/products/Capac...roduct_id=1556

You ought to be able to find one locally for under about $10.00

Try your local electrical supply or HVAC supply store or appliance repair shops. Anyplace that might have parts for AC type electric motors.

Remember to get one rated for contentious duty (Motor Run type).

[marianol]

Looking at the Cap image on the EZ Go site and looking at my cap (now with light)

This is what I read from the (gone) label
4??
RON??
PR??
0440??

The last line is the PN; for the 3MFD should be 04142 and for the 4MFD 04401S
So based on the PN and the faded 4 form the top line I'm pretty sure mine is 4 MFD.

EZGo sells also the 4MDF but found it only trough google looking for the Part Number https://shop.ezgo.com/products/Capacitor.html

Mine


Will stop today on an HVAC shop I found close to home.

Ez-Go

[cgtech]

Go with 4mf