Big Time Electrical Issue

[excorvetteguy]

Hi All
I have just come up with a brand new electrical problem. I have been working on the cart (1996 TXT DCS ) My project was to install additional lighting on the front of the cart. The light install went great. Lights go off and on no problem.
I disconnected the positive side of the battery stack to clean up the switch plate mounting and when I went to reconnect the positive terminal wires everything seemed OK until I went to connect the large gauge black wire that comes from the controller box and I got a HUGE arc as if I had shorted out the entire battery stack. This has never happened before. I would like to check a wiring diagram for a 96 DCS 36 volt cart but I can't seem to find one on line.

When I got the arc my key was off, the mode switch was in the run position and the forward/reverse lever was in the center position.

I am new to carts and really need some help.

Cheers
Don is

[Clemsoncartguy]

I know they say to always have the switch to tow when disconnecting or servicing the cart. I hope all is well!!!

So does the cart not work anymore?

[Volt_Ampere]

If you installed a voltage reducer they do tend to arc when you connect the battery connection to it. You should always have the cart in TOW mode when working on any wiring. Hopefully you were just charging a cap someplace with the arc.

[excorvetteguy]

With an arc like I had I was not going to take a chance of melting wiring and worst yet burning up a $500 controller. I know I should have put the switch in maintenance mode but I have done the battery reconnect a few times before with no problems.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by excorvetteguy

With an arc like I had I was not going to take a chance of melting wiring and worst yet burning up a $500 controller. I know I should have put the switch in maintenance mode but I have done the battery reconnect a few times before with no problems.

Does your reducer have an on/off switch?

[JohnnieB]

I'm not sure which type F/R switch the 96 DCS had.
Pic-1 is the earlier version and Pic-2 is the later version.

Pic-3, 4 & 5 are the three versions of a DCS drive schematics I have.
Except for the F/R switch, they are electrically the same.

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As for the arc. It is caused by the bank of filter capacitors across the MOSFETs in the controller and its magnitude depends on how long the battery was disconnected from the controller.

Disconnected for a few minutes and you'll get a spark, disconnected for an hour or more and you'll get something closer to an arc than a spark.

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If you have worked on the electrical system several times without flipping the Run/Tow switch to the Tow/Maintenance position, the likelihood of the controller being now being a boat anchor is fairly high.

[excorvetteguy]

I did not use a voltage reducer I wired across 2 six volt batteries. This method was approved by the light kit supplier.

I just put the run/tow switch in the tow position and the was no arc at all.

If I reconnect all the leads to the battery (switch in tow) will I melt down due to a short in the high current circuit?

[excorvetteguy]

I have the later F/R switch(pix 2)

Thank you for the wiring diagram. Could you send the WD to

dfvellenga@twc.com

I drove the cart last night to check out the new headlights and our neighborhoods radar clocked me at 18 mph, sounds like a good controller up to last night. Having.said that, it may be a boat anchor now.

[scottyb]

I did not use a voltage reducer I wired across 2 six volt batteries. This method was approved by the light kit supplier

Of course he approves...not his battery pack. Who's buying new batteries if they are damaged from imbalanced charging in a yrs time?
Do some research on the subject so you know what can happen
if you use the lights much

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by excorvetteguy

.............
Could you send the WD to dfvellenga@twc.com
................

Just right click on the image(s) you want and "Save image as" on you hard drive.

That is how I get many of the images I post here.

Or you could select "Email image" from that same menu and e-mail it to yourself.