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Electric EZGO Electric EZ GO Marathon, Medalist, TXT and RXV.



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Old 06-28-2014, 12:20 PM   #1
cbv123
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Default Charger working intermittently....

Hi folks, been reading for awhile, but this is my first post. Lots of good info here, hopefully I can squeeze out a little more!

Picked up an old golf cart a month or so back for next to nothing. It's mostly functional, but could definitely use some work here and there. For the price I paid, I figure I have no room to complain about anything.

It's an early EZ-GO, although I haven't been able to pin down a year. I've searched every inch inside and out, and there is no ID plate to be found. The closest I can come is that the motor is perpendicular to the axle, which, if I understand what I've read correctly, puts it late 70's to early 80's.

The charger design would seem to back up that estimate. No electronics, circuit boards, etc... Just a timer switch, (non-functional) amp meter, transormer, and a capacitor.

At first it wasn't working very well, but it was working. To complicate matters, I'm dealing with old, cheap, and abused batteries, although I seem to have revived them to a perfectly usable state. After several cycles of running the batteries down and recharging them, the charger "magically" started working great and would bring the pack up to roughly 38.4 volts in 6 hours or so.

That lasted for about 3 weeks, and then the charger started to "seem like" it was working, but not raise the pack voltage at all every now and then. Other times it worked great.

Now it's down to 2 modes of operation. Mode 1 is "hum like normal but do nothing", Mode 2 is "drain the batteries". Yes, my charger now actually drains my batteries.

If anyone is familiar with these old, completely manual EZ-GO/Textron chargers, I could use some hints as to what to replace first. I'm pondering just buying a new charger, but since a 48 volt upgrade is in the future plans, I'd like to hold onto the charger budget for that project. This is a very simple charger with very few parts, seems like there "should be" a relatively simple fix....

Edit for additional info: With the batteries fully charged, the cart performs pretty much like I would expect it to. The batteries are definitely in their "golden years", but still have some life left. I've resorted to charging them 2 at a time from the power converter in my motorhome, and they come up just fine. While a battery purchase is definitely in my future, I'd like to get the charger situation resolved first so that I don't abuse a bunch of expensive, new batteries.

Just checked the charger with my voltmeter. Under no load, it's reading 45 volts even. Plugged into the cart, the reading matches the (unplugged) pack voltage. Even my little 1.5 amp battery tender raises the voltage reading a little bit when I hook it up to a low battery......
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Old 06-28-2014, 02:37 PM   #2
cbv123
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

Couple hours later, couple more voltage checks. No-load voltage on the charger is now at 50.5, plugged into the cart we're now at 35.9.... (pack also reads 35.9 without the charger. was at 36.5 when I plugged it in....)

I dunno, might be time to just bite the bullet and order a new charger.....
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Old 06-28-2014, 03:16 PM   #3
crash test dummy
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

yep .. more than likely the transformer is going and they are about the same cost as the charger
first i'd look for a used charger if you are going to 48v later
i have a 73 cart upgraded to 94 electronics so i know its possible to do .. the 36v to 48v on the older carts is a pain in the wallet
do you have the brake on the motor? if so i would not go with the 48v up grade its just not worth it (IMHO)

here is the cart

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...-marathon.html
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Old 06-28-2014, 03:19 PM   #4
cgtech
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

Test the diodes with your dvm, most meters have a setting for diodes (looks like this -|<- ). Test each of the two diodes with both meter leads on both sides of the diodes. One way it should show connection, the other way no connection.
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Old 06-28-2014, 04:59 PM   #5
cbv123
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

Quote:
Originally Posted by crash test dummy View Post
do you have the brake on the motor? if so i would not go with the 48v up grade its just not worth it (IMHO)
Brakes are on the rear wheels, don't see any indication that the motor has any braking.... I do see on the motor label that it is rated at 2 HP, so I'm thinking a motor upgrade is definitely on the list regardless of what I decide about voltage.

Your pics of the '73 look very similar to mine, but I also see some differences. The outside is basically identical, but some of the wiring, etc... is just slightly different, so probably a few years off. I think my late 70's to (very) early 80's guess is pretty close...

And now the good news....

Got the charger fixed. I finally got to the point of annoyance where I was 99% ready to buy a new charger, and thus gave up caring whether or not I broke this one, and got much more aggressive with my testing. Ran jumper wires around stuff I normally wouldn't, etc... Turned out that one of the posts on the ammeter was not making good contact inside the meter. I had checked the cable connections to the meter a dozen times, and they were solid, but inside the meter things were a bit loose.

Yanked out the meter, stripped it down and tightened everything up, and now the charger is dumping juice into the batteries faster than I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the ammeter still doesn't work, but that's a minor issue. I'll throw a new one in there.

Over the years I've seen dozens of old battery chargers with non-functional ammeters that still charged batteries just fine, so I didn't pay much attention there. I've also had nightmares with motor run capacitors in my A/C units back before I wen't full-time RV. So the second I opened up the charger and saw that capacitor I fixated on it. Much to my dismay/embarrasment, that wasn't the problem.
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Old 06-28-2014, 05:44 PM   #6
crash test dummy
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

is it resistor coils ?
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Old 06-28-2014, 05:48 PM   #7
cbv123
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

Yep, it's a resistor cart.
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Old 06-28-2014, 06:07 PM   #8
vagabond
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

Does it look something like this the pic is from my 84
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File Type: jpg western battery compartment.jpg (93.1 KB, 0 views)
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Old 06-28-2014, 06:18 PM   #9
cbv123
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Default Re: Charger working intermittently....

Quote:
Originally Posted by vagabond View Post
Does it look something like this the pic is from my 84
Pretty close, but a few pieces seem to be in slightly different spots.

I'd go take a closer look and snap a pic or two, but the rain at the moment is absolutely insane. Radar looks like it should be brief, though, so maybe I'll get a chance before the daylight runs out....
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