DCS controller testing and ITS throttle test

[monte5211]

is the float charger different than my stock charger? Or just leave it plugged in and it will cycle on and off as needed? thanks. p.s. It has been charging for 6.5 hours and still going.

[scottyb]

No worries, it will cut off at 16 hours if the job does not complete. 5-6 hours is average, but new or old or just ignored batteries can take a lot longer.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by monte5211

is the float charger different than my stock charger? Or just leave it plugged in and it will cycle on and off as needed? thanks. p.s. It has been charging for 6.5 hours and still going.

Yes, float charging is different than what your stock charger does.
Your charger is a ferroresonant transformer type. A capacitor boosts the nominal open circuit secondary voltage of 60VAC to 90VAC and when connected via a pair of diodes to a 36V battery pack whose voltage is below about 40V, the transformer core saturates at about 18A. The output amps start decreasing as the on-charge voltage rises above 40V and stabilizes in the 2A-7A range until the control board shuts off the AC power to the transformer primary when the on-charge voltage reaches about 45V.

Some ferroresonant transformer type chargers are sophisticated enough to turn back on after a number of days (about a month) or when the pack voltage self-discharges to about 37V, but most stay off once they turn off and in any case, except for a short period of time immediately after charging, the battery pack is less than 100% charged and aging is occurring.

A golf cart battery charger with a float charge feature, goes into a float charge mode after the regular charge cycle ends. Basically, a constant voltage power supply keeps the pack voltage above the At-Rest voltage and below the gassing voltage. For a 36V pack, that will be between 38.2V and 42.0V, keeping the battery pack at 100% SoC for as long as the charger is plugged into the cart. (For a 36VB DPI Accusense charger, the float voltage is from 39.4 to 39.8 depending on the battery brand selected.)


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As Scotty mentioned, the initial charge of new batteries may take a very long time. Since yours were down to about 65% SoC, they may need more than just 16 hours of charging and your charger has a 16 hour back up timer, so unplug it from the cart, wait a few minutes and plug it back in.

[monte5211]

I pulled out my Curtis DCS. I can hear a tiny part rattling around inside of it. How do you get this plastic cover open? I am curious if I can fix whatever is loose in there.

thanks

[yurtle]

My TXT series stock Curtis controller came apart using brute force. If I recall, the two sides had slot/grooves that a screwdriver and a little force pried off.