Help: 48V DS Charger Problems

[AubAlum0509]

I have a 2001 CC DS 48V. I have recently noticed, that when I put the cart on charge, the voltage meter on charger jumps from 0 to approx. 15 Amps. I walk away, then when I return to use cart, it isn't charged all the way. did this to me several times, so I started inspecting the charge. Here is what is going on...

I place on charger, and the amperage meter jumps to 15 volts, if I stand around for a minute or two, the charger mysteriously cuts off, and doesn't cut back on. Sometimes it might charge for 4-5 minutes, and sometimes it will only charge for a few seconds. Then sometimes it will charge fully. It has a mind of its own.

I have a voltage meter on my cart, and last year, when batteries were new, it would read around 52V when fully charged. Now, I cant get it to charge past 48.2V, I cant get it to even read past that, when the charger is on.

Charger is a PowerDrive 17930-11 for Club Car, external charger. Is this a charger issue, or a cart issue?

[Sergio]

It may be related to your XCT 500 upgrade.

When you installed the new cables as part of that upgrade, did You make sure the pack negative cable is the only cable/wire on the battery post and it does go through the OBC to Controller B-?

[AubAlum0509]

Originally Posted by Sergio

It may be related to your XCT 500 upgrade.

When you installed the new cables as part of that upgrade, did You make sure the pack negative cable is the only cable/wire on the battery post and it does go through the OBC to Controller B-?

Thank you for reply. Yes, I did. The upgrade was completed over 3 years ago. I replaced batteries last year. I haven't had any issues at all until recently. I have done some research on this forum, and have come to the conclusion that it is either the circuit breaker or heat sink causing the issue. I will update when I determine the route cause.

[Sergio]

Start by resetting the OBC.

Unless the circuit breaker is tripping, that is not the cause.

if You can push 15 amps from the charger to the battery pack, the diode heat sinks are not the problem.

The charger turning On/Off at the beginning of the charging cycle is normal OBC behaviour.

Disconnect the pack negative cable and leave it OFF for more than 10 minutes.

This will "reset" the OBC by erasing its volatile memory.

Connect the battery cable back.

Charge it again and notice if it runs for a much longer (hours) period of time.

[Fairtax4me]

This sounds like a bad connection (corrosion, frayed wire, etc.) or possibly a failed OBC.

The OBC tells the charger to turn on and off. There are normally several off/on breaks in the charging sequence. It turns off at occasional intervals so the OBC can monitor pack rest voltage which helps it to determine the overall state of charge of the pack. The OBC also monitors the amount of energy used by the cart. All energy used, including energy used for accessories, has to run through the OBC. If any accessories are connected directly to the battery pack main negative, the OBC can’t account for the energy used by those accessories and it may not fully recharge the batteries. Over time this can add up to a large drop in voltage and battery capacity, and will cause damage to the batteries.

As Sergio said, try resetting the OBC first. If the OBC has not been fully recharging the pack over the last year of charge cycles, it’s calculation for charging could be way off and it’s turning the charger off far too soon.

Check the wire connections on the back of the charge receptacle. Make sure none of the wires are frayed or damaged. The grey wire will often fray inside the terminal and cause a bad connection. Tug lightly on the wire and see if it pulls out of the receptacle. If it does, the wire was already damaged and the receptacle needs to be replaced.

[AubAlum0509]

Hmmm. That's interesting. I have a 30A voltage regulator, which turns the 24V to a steady 12V. This is wired in during the first 3 batteries in the battery pack. So my OBC is certainly not calculating voltage use for this. How should I wire in the 48V to 12V regulator?

Also, I was using an extension cord to charge. I moved cart close enough to get rid of the extension cors, and charger seemed fine. Could to long of an extension cord, with not enough heavy Guage wire, cause this sort of tripping? I think so. Still very interesting that I may need to wire my regulator in differently.

[Fairtax4me]

I use extension cords quite often when charging carts. I try not to but due to the way my shop is wired I usually have to have at least two carts charging with extension cords from different circuits in the shop. That’s usually because other equipment or vehicles are in the way and I can’t get the cart close enough to the outlet. I usually use a heavy duty 12ga cord that’s 25 feet, but have on occasion used a 50ft 14ga cord and charged carts out in the parking lot. Never have had a problem charging with either way, but I make sure to use heavy gauge cords and I have also replaced all of the outlets in the shop with 20amp outlets and know that all of those circuits are wired with 12ga wire, as is required for a 20 amp circuit. Can’t really say how well that would work if tried on a 15amp residential circuit.

The reducer connected to the first two batteries will cause a problem. The OBC has no way to measure the current being used that way. It would work fine with it connected on the second two batteries and grounded to the controller B- terminal.
Connect the ground for your new reducer to the B- terminal on the controller.

[AubAlum0509]

Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

I use extension cords quite often when charging carts. I try not to but due to the way my shop is wired I usually have to have at least two carts charging with extension cords from different circuits in the shop. That’s usually because other equipment or vehicles are in the way and I can’t get the cart close enough to the outlet. I usually use a heavy duty 12ga cord that’s 25 feet, but have on occasion used a 50ft 14ga cord and charged carts out in the parking lot. Never have had a problem charging with either way, but I make sure to use heavy gauge cords and I have also replaced all of the outlets in the shop with 20amp outlets and know that all of those circuits are wired with 12ga wire, as is required for a 20 amp circuit. Can’t really say how well that would work if tried on a 15amp residential circuit.

The reducer connected to the first two batteries will cause a problem. The OBC has no way to measure the current being used that way. It would work fine with it connected on the second two batteries and grounded to the controller B- terminal.
Connect the ground for your new reducer to the B- terminal on the controller.

I am using 6x 8volt batteries, so 48V cart. Did you mean connect the positive to the positive of the 4th battery and connect the ground to the B- of controller?

[Hunter450]

On the 48 volt side of the reducer, wire the positive to the pack positive terminal (same terminal that feeds the solenoid). Wire the negative wire on the 48 volt side of the reducer to the B- terminal on the controller. Now all power thru the reducer will be accounted for by the OBC.