1999 DCS totally dead

[R356]

Hi all! I have, or should I say, my sister has, a 1999 DCS (Man. code - J399, S/n 1208217) at our summer camps in northern New York. When they arrived this year for the season, they inadvertently reversed the battery connections. Ouch! After the local dealer was unable to make progress on a repair, the job fell to me. I'm an aircraft mechanic/Avionics technician, so I have the skills, but finding the proper road maps (wiring diagrams) has been a challenge, not to mention having to troubleshoot this on my vacation time. I have now located the proper diagram and have troubleshot the problem to the "reed switch". Can anyone tell me about this component? I can see that it's purpose is to "kill" the cart with the charger plugged in. Is it normally closed or open? It doesn't appear to change states when the charger is plugged in. When we bypassed it, the buzzer sounded continuously (first sign of any life), but nothing else worked. I believe the controller is also shot. Any insight would be a great help. I no longer have access to the cart for this year, but am gathering information for the battle next spring. Thanks!

[gornoman]

As you surmised, the Reed switch is there to stop the cart if the charger is engaged. The switch is normally closed (circuit complete) when the charge handle is NOT engaged, and it opens (circuit broken) when the handle IS engaged. This switch can be bypassed if broken or burned up without harm to the cart.

[R356]

Thanks, Gornoman. That confirms my guess and that the switch is definitely bad. I already have a line on a new one. Your help is greatly appreciated.

[rusty]

Welcome to the forum R356.................