Hot wired through batt meter

[Knothead]

I'll say that your white wire at the switch is supposed to have + voltage & doesn't. If it did, & you turn the switch on, you supply power to the white/yellow (which turns the cart on) & to the red wire that turns the meter on. By connecting the two red wires together, you are "un-powering" the meter (so it won't work) & powering the white/yellow wire, which makes the cart run, regardless of the key position. Hook the wires back where they're supposed to go, & jump the red (battery positive) to the white wire. I bet it'll run, meter will work (unless it's bad) & key will function.

If it works correctly with this wire jumped, then find the other end of that white wire & see why it has no voltage supplied to it.

[Puck Nut]

Wait a sec.
Doesn't the power come into the switch via the red lead off the meter to the "B" term on the switch. That would mean that white/yel is hot since they share the same female spade. Isnt "I" terminal outbound voltage via white wire??

[Knothead]

Originally Posted by Puck Nut

Wait a sec.
Doesn't the power come into the switch via the red lead off the meter to the "B" term on the switch. That would mean that white/yel is hot since they share the same female spade. Isnt "I" terminal outbound voltage via white wire??

I have no idea! I was just looking at the wiring diagram posted, & see no way that the white wire could be getting voltage when "hot wired" (but cart runs, so if this was outbound voltage, it should have power on it when cart runs), but if white/yellow is the outbound voltage to controller, you're by-passing the switch and supplying power to it when "hot wired".......I THINK that the white is inbound (supplied power) & when you turn the switch on, it powers white/yellow, which powers on the controller. I could be completely wrong, but it's the only reason I can see the cart running (with key on or off) when you hotwire the two red leads.

[kernal]

Originally Posted by Puck Nut

Wait a sec.
Doesn't the power come into the switch via the red lead off the meter to the "B" term on the switch. That would mean that white/yel is hot since they share the same female spade. Isnt "I" terminal outbound voltage via white wire??

No. Power comes from the key switch to light up the meter via a red wire.

To get the meter to light up key switch must be on and a direction selected. If you don't have either forward or reverse selected the meter won't light up and nothing will happen when you push the pedal.

Reverse buzzer will sound whenever reverse is selected. Even if the key is in your pocket. (the cart won't go until you turn the key on, of course)

[kernal]

Remember the key switch has 48v going to it and 12v on a different circuit. Trouble ensues if you mix them up. If none of the lights are working it could be because someone got those circuits intermingled and sent 48v to the lights.

Also, in the manual I found you have to look at two different wiring diagrams as the 12v circuit (lights etc) and the control and power circuit are on different pages.

[Puck Nut]

I have looked at both diagrams. So 48 volts comes from the switch to the meter. What about the other red lead on the meter that supplies 48 volts too. Can you supply the meter with two 48 volt sources?
Also, I did continuity checks on the switch to determine the 12v and 48 volt spades. There were no issues there.

[kernal]

I'm going to assume your battery meter is the curtis model 906 that comes on many EZGO buggies as a factory option. Here is a quote from page 8 of the installation manual for that meter.

3. INSTALLATION
Connecting Model 906
Pin 1 = Battery +
Connects to the vehicle’s main positive (+) terminal.
Use as short a wire as practical.
Pin 2 = Battery –
Connects to the vehicle’s main negative (–) terminal
Use as short a wire as practical.
Note: Pins 1 & 2 are connected across the total
battery pack.
Pin 3 = Output Signal + or No Option
Output Signal option: 5 VDC ±0.5 VDC (90 μA
current source) above Empty, 0-0.1 VDC at Empty
1 VDC maximum (90 μA sink);
No Option: Pin 3 is left open.
Pin 4 = Keyswitch
Connects to Battery + through the switched terminal
of the keyswitch.

So there should be a red wire from the battery pack main positive to pin 1 on the meter and a black wire from battery pack main negative to pin 2 on the meter. Another red wire from pin 4 on the meter to the key switch. Pin 3 is not used. Basically the meter is hooked directly to the battery and is always measuring pack voltage. The key switch connection is just used to light up the meter so you can see it. Battery voltage gets to the key switch from a completely different circuit. (thru the white and yellow/white wires).
Normally when you turn the key to the on position nothing happens. The cart won't run. Once you select a direction (F or R) the cart will run and the battery meter lights up. But i want to stress again that the battery meter is not part of the activation circuit that allows the cart to run. Many carts don't have them.

You need to go through the carts wiring. Start with the solenoid activation circuit then the main power circuit and finally the 12v part for lights etc. There are diagrams available for these circuits. I don't have them at hand but google is your friend here.

Might be time to take it to a professional.

[Puck Nut]

Thank you very much! Already understood all that. Except the fact that the constant meter power and meter switch are separate circuits. I though the meter was getting powered from both red leads on the two posts.
Still cant figure how the cart runs when you splice those two reds together if they are separate circuits.
I am going to try a new meter and cross my fingers.
I bought the cart a week ago and this is how it was setup. It runs fine and the batts are two years old. Its a 2010 with electric dump and long frame. Deifnitely ridden hard and put away wet but runs well.

[kernal]

When you figure this out please let us know what the problem was. Maybe we can all learn from it.

[JohnnieB]

Sounds like two separate issues.
1. Bad LED Bar-graph meter.
2. Bad controller.

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1. With B+ connected to Terminal-1 on the meter and B- connected to terminal-2. the display should light up when 48V from the keyswitch is applied to terminal-4. If the two red wires are connected together (jumpered), the display should be on all the time.

Replacing this meter will probably get the meter going, but not the cart.

2. Sounds like the controller is not supplying 48V to the keyswitch.

The normal path for the 48V Aux Voltage (EZGO probable should have called it the Control Voltage rather than Auxiliary Voltage so it would have been confused with Accessory Voltage) is from the main positive terminal on the battery pack, through one of the two sets of contacts in the Run/Tow switch and into the controller via J1 Pins 3 & 4. The controller distributes it to the Keyswitch (Probably J1 Pin-12), to the F/R switch and to the Pedal switch, plus the solenoid coil via some logic circuitry.

Since the cart runs with the red wires on the battery meter shorted together, the Aux voltage is getting everyplace except the Keyswitch.

Shorting the red wires on the keyswitch together effectively bypasses the keyswitch and puts 48V on J1 Pin-1, so the controller thinks the Key is ON.

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The problem might be dirty connections in J1, which is probably fixable, or a bad voltage feed to the keyswitch within the controller, which can only be fixed by replacing the expensive controller.

Or you can jump 48V into the Keyswitch circuit like the previous owner did.

Personally, I'd disconnect the white wire on the "I" terminal on the keyswitch and tape the wire so it can't short against anything and then run a jumper wire from the "I" terminal on the keyswitch to terminal-1 on the battery meter. That just changes the 48V source for the keyswitch without changing the operational functions.