Possible lightning

[TahoeDawgZ71]

I've seen several golf cars affected by lightning strikes in the past few years. 50% of the time it gets the charger rectifier, 50% of the time it gets the OBC. I've never seen it take out a controller but I'm not saying it's not possible. FYI, just because your charger responds to your cart when you plug in the charger doesn't automatically mean the OBC is good. A bad OBC can also keep a car from running.

[gornoman]

Originally Posted by TahoeDawgZ71

A bad OBC can also keep a car from running.

Another example of CC genius engineering, LOL!

[Mustangkid2006]

Ok so here's where I'm at today, I have found a lot of info on how to reset the OBC do y'all think it is worth a shot? I think I need to reset it before trying to test the controller but if I reset will it still show the fault if I fail to fix the problem and have to take it to the shop?

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by Mustangkid2006

Ok so here's where I'm at today, I have found a lot of info on how to reset the OBC do y'all think it is worth a shot? I think I need to reset it before trying to test the controller but if I reset will it still show the fault if I fail to fix the problem and have to take it to the shop?

The faults aren't stored in the OBC. They're stored in the controller.

[Mustangkid2006]

Ok it's been a few days I took the cart to a local shop, guy was a complete A** but did tell me that it's the controller, he had a "bad" controller he had taken off of a cart that wouldn't run forward but would run reverse and it done the same thing on my cart! Is it safe to say that it is the controller or should I get a second opinion? if you guys think it is the controller what brand sieve do you suggest I go with? Thanks for the help I'm new to all of and slowly trying to learn how it all works

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by Mustangkid2006

Ok it's been a few days I took the cart to a local shop, guy was a complete A** but did tell me that it's the controller, he had a "bad" controller he had taken off of a cart that wouldn't run forward but would run reverse and it done the same thing on my cart! Is it safe to say that it is the controller or should I get a second opinion? if you guys think it is the controller what brand sieve do you suggest I go with? Thanks for the help I'm new to all of and slowly trying to learn how it all works

It sounds like a controller issue. But it makes no sense to me as to how lightning would get to the controller without passing through the OBC first. I'm not eliminating that as a possibility, but you must have one hell of a tough on-board computer to pass the lightning through it and onto the controller. If the lightning struck your house, it directed the current into the receptacle in the wall, through the charger relay, rectifier, and circuit breaker and then passed on to the car. The charger is the first thing the surge must pass through and the charger usually absorbs most of the blow for this reason. If, and once, the surge makes it this far it is routed down the DC cord through the main positive and main negative charger wires. If the majority of the current traveled down the main positive it would end up at a solenoid in the OPEN position and would travel no further, not making it to the controller. There is continuity there because of the pre-charge resistor but trust me if lightning hit the pre-charge resistor on the solenoid it would be smoked. What does it look like? You may want to check that out. If the current traveled down the negative cable of the DC cord it would be on a direct route directly into the guts of the on-board computer. The only way it would make it to the controller is if the microscopic circuitry of the OBC somehow withstood the power surge, which I've never seen in my life, and passed out of the other side of the OBC where it attaches to the B- post of the controller. This is mind boggling to me. Lightning may have hit your cart directly causing a whole different scenario. That may be what happened. Please let me know what you figure out.

[Mustangkid2006]

I'm 100% sure it was lightning but we had some really bad weather that day and the GFCI was tripped, so that is what automatically made me think it was lightning. But as far as seeing anything visually burnt I see nothing! It's not that I dnt trust the guy that looked at it, it was just the simple fact that he was such an *** and acted like he wanted nothing to do with it and to be honest it's hard for me to troubleshooting hardly knowing anything about them but again thanks

[ForBruce]

at the campground one guy had an 2008 EzGO toasted controller after he left it on charge during a lightning storm.

I know nothing about the electronics involved but the fact is. It was good before the storm and bad afterwoods.

And there was no DIRECT hit... just some powerline surges i surmise

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by ForBruce

at the campground one guy had an 2008 EzGO toasted controller after he left it on charge during a lightning storm.

I know nothing about the electronics involved but the fact is. It was good before the storm and bad afterwoods.

And there was no DIRECT hit... just some powerline surges i surmise

An EZGO does not have an OBC.

[rich6111]

Bruce; Can you put the mov on a single outlet? What size voltage in the mov for charger and does it connect to the black and white wires? Sounds like a great ideal.