1998 48v Club Car DS won't charge anymore

[Kent0]

Hello,
I'm new to carts but have worked on many things with gas motors and many 12 volt systems.

I got my cart about a month ago and had been working and charging fine fine. Then the charger was making a loud buzzing sound that was not the normal hum and won't charge anymore. When the charger is plugged in to the cart the relay clicks on a few seconds later so that part is working but the ammeter never moves. When I unplug it the battery light flashes indicating it is less than 90% charged. I went ahead and took the charger apart and cleaned and tightened all connections and some were loose and oxidized. I bypassed the relay and put my meter on the charging plug and it reads 60 volts DC so I'm thinking the charger is working.

Now on to the cart,
I checked charger plug and it is only 36 volts. Shouldn't that be 48 volts??? I checked across all batteries and it is 48 volts. I put my meter on the + port and the battery ground and it reads 48 volts. I put my meter on the - port and the battery positive and it reads 36 volts. Is this normal or is something wrong on the cart side?

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Charging System Troubleshooting: (Charger Won't Turn On)

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*********** 1. The first step would be to make sure the vehicle has enough voltage to trigger the charger turn-on signal from the on-board computer. Check the battery voltage of the entire battery pack with a digital volt meter. Put the positive lead on the MAIN positive battery post and the negative lead on the MAIN negative battery post. Total voltage should be at least 36-38 Volts. If it's not, you must boost the batteries individually. Contact me for further instructions on how to do so. If you do not have a digital volt meter you can perform this test by attempting to run the vehicle. If the vehicle has enough energy to make the solenoid switch "click" and attempt to run, it also has enough energy to engage the charger relay. This step may be skipped.

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*********** 2. The next step is to check all wiring. Locate the charger receptacle of the vehicle. On the back of the charger receptacle you will see three wires. Red is the positive. Black is the negative. Grey is the On-Board computer control wire. Make sure that the red wire is in good shape and follow it all the way to the MAIN positive battery post. Make sure there is a good connection on the battery and ensure that the wire isn't corroded or broken. If it is, clean it and re-attempt to charge the vehicle. The black wire is not at risk of corrosion because it is wired directly into the on-board computer. As for the grey wire, give it a light pull outward and ensure that isn't broken inside the charger receptacle. The grey wire will often break inside the receptacle and will easily pull out the back. If this happens, you must replace the receptacle.

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*********** 3. If you have a Club Car DS or Carryall vehicle you will have two fuses to check near the charger receptacle. One is an inline fuse located on the grey control wire mentioned in step two. It is located inside a yellow rubber fuse holder. Pull the fuse holder apart and check the fuse with your meter to ensure that there is continuity. If the fuse is bad, replace it with a 3/8 amp fuse. Anything else will damage the charging system. There is also a larger fuse bolted to the back of the charger receptacle. You'll see that there are two black wires bolted to the back of the receptacle. This is where you'll find the fuse. On the opposite side you'll see a fuse element inside a plastic window. Check this fuse with a multimeter as well. On the continuity setting, place each lead of your multimeter on each of the nuts where the black wires are bolted to the back of the receptacle. If you have continuity, the fuse is good. If you don't, replace the fuse.

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*********** 4. Check the charger relay. Pull the cover off of the charger and locate the relay. On PowerDrive 17930 models you'll find the relay on the bottom floor of the charger at the front. On PowerDrive2 22110 models you'll find it bolted to the front wall of the charger above the circuit breaker. Make sure both power cords are unplugged from the charger and pull the blue wire and red wire off of the charger relay. If you look closely at the relay you'll notice that there are four posts. Two large posts, and two small posts. These red and blue wires are plugged into the smaller two posts of the relay. Once you've gotten them unplugged, set your multimeter to check for DC voltage and insert the leads of the multimeter into the ends of these two wires that you unplugged from the relay. Plug the cord into the golf cart. It is not necessary to plug the other cord into the wall. Within 2-10 seconds of plugging the cord into the cart, you should see full battery voltage on the screen of your meter. If so, this is an indication that the on-board computer is communicating with the charger and commanding the relay to turn on. If your charger hasn't been "clicking" on, replace the relay. If you don't see a change in voltage on your screen when this test is performed, this is an indication that the on-board computer has failed and is no longer able to communicate with the charger. The on-board computer must be replaced.

[Kent0]

Thanks! It was the large fuse on the charging port. Any idea what amp this fuse is rated? Any thoughts on why it blew? I temporarily bypassed it with 10 amp automotive fuse and it blew. I then bypassed with a 30 amp automotive fuse which I'm sure is way less then the correct fuse and it seemed to be charging but my tiny jumper wires were getting hot so I disconnected. I would like to charge it once with a cheap automotive fuse if any one knows the rating before spending $20 on the proper fuse just to make sure it doesn't blow again.

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by Kent0

Thanks! It was the large fuse on the charging port. Any idea what amp this fuse is rated? Any thoughts on why it blew? I temporarily bypassed it with 10 amp automotive fuse and it blew. I then bypassed with a 30 amp automotive fuse which I'm sure is way less then the correct fuse and it seemed to be charging but my tiny jumper wires were getting hot so I disconnected. I would like to charge it once with a cheap automotive fuse if any one knows the rating before spending $20 on the proper fuse just to make sure it doesn't blow again.

I'm not sure what the rating is. When I order them from Club Car I just order them by part number, they don't give me any specs on the fuse.

[jjance]

You need to find out why the fuse blew in the first place. Twenty dollars a pop gets expensive. If it is the fuse in this picture one website says it's rated at 80 amps.

[glassk]

I used a accessory 80 amp fuse like goes under the hood on My Chevy truck,... drilled the tabs so I could use the existing ring terminals,

[jjance]

Or you can use an ANL fuse. You can get then on Amazon.

[TahoeDawgZ71]

Originally Posted by jjance

You need to find out why the fuse blew in the first place. Twenty dollars a pop gets expensive. If it is the fuse in this picture one website says it's rated at 80 amps.

John, This one in your picture is for a 36 Volt

[Kent0]

I'm thinking it is a 30 amp fuse since the charger fuse which looks similar says it's 30 amps and normal charging should be under 20 amps. I charged with 30 amp automotive glass fuse but it got too hot.I switched to a ceramic 30 amp and it charged fine while I monitored it in the garage. I think cleaning all the internal charger connections resolved the buzzing issue. I'm thinking the cart fuse blew before and someone bent the fusevwire back so it would make contact with the post and finally it just quit touching. I opened the fuse up and it just didn't look right and didn't look like it just blew.

Anyway, charger hums now instead of buzzing and Cart charges fine. I'm just waiting for the correct fuse to arrive.

Thanks for the help!

[smokey tennis shoe]

Order the fuse from David, he will make sure you get the correct one the first time.