Resistor cart wiper arcing - symptom or cause?

[rlw]

Coosa,

You've convinced me.

Email sent.

Thanks again...

RLW

[rlw]

Originally Posted by coosa

If you have that cable and it still arcs on the first 2 contacts and the wiper works fine on high speed, then I think its likely to be an issue associated with the coil; either the coil itself or a cable going to it. Or it could still be in those first contacts; they can look good and still not work.

The arcing occurs on either the third or fourth contact. To my thinking, an open circuit in the "bottom" half of the resistor could cause that behavior.

I'm waiting for the rain to stop to head up to the garage and pull the resistor and check the cabling.

Could be that one of my cables has been rubbing against the motor body, or it could just be that the connection at the resistor is corroded.

When I rebuilt the resistor two years ago, I didn't put any DE-OX on the bolts at the resistor end. I was concerned about the heat generated by the coils and the fact that DE-OX is pretty much a combination of Vaseline and napalm. ;^)

The cables are 4 ga., soldered into the lugs and covered in heat shrink at the lugs - built those 2 years ago, too. All of the cables in front (battery, wiper board, FNR) look great.

It's a mystery, Scoobie! (until later today! ;^)


RLW

[rlw]

Arcing (in my case) is a SYMPTOM!

I pulled the resistor coil, and had a helluva time getting the bolt off the #4 connection. Turns out, the connector had heated up, and SOLDERED the lug to the bolt (see pix below).

In the process of doing that, it re-flowed the solder INSIDE the lug where the cable goes. There was just bare wire in the lug. Actually came apart in my hands. The only thing holding it together was the heat shrink.

Here's exhibit 1 for the answer to the eternal question: "Crimp? Solder? Crimp AND solder?" (see pix below).

CRIMP AND SOLDER!

I still haven't figured out why my logic is off about it should have been the first connection, that is, unless, I've had my resistor wired up backwards for the last two years.

#1 goes to the beginning of the thinnest resistor (should be highest resistance)
#2 goes between thinnest/medium resistor
#3 goes between medium/fat resistor
#4 goes to end of fat resistor (should be lowest resistance)

Am I right about that?

Another possibility is that the original wiring diagram for an '84 Marathon shows a cable going directly from the #4 connection on the wiper to the #4 connection on the resistor. There's a second cable that goes from the #4 wiper connection to the S1 connector on the motor.

When I rebuilt my cart, I reasoned that, electrically, I could go from #4 wiper to S1, and another short cable from S1 to #4 resistor. It saved me about 3 feet of 4 gauge cable.

Could that be the root cause of my problem? (scrimping on cable)

This would be the appropriate place for either JohnnyB or ScottyB to pipe up, since you guys are the gurus of golf carts...

RLW

[scottyb]

Basic back yard advice given here was always give every cable in the cart a tug. This new generation of cart techs seems to live & die by the meter. Not that that's bad but, this problem would have showed up immediately in the ole tug test...

[rlw]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Basic back yard advice given here was always give every cable in the cart a tug. This new generation of cart techs seems to live & die by the meter. Not that that's bad but, this problem would have showed up immediately in the ole tug test...

Excellent advice!

I'm pretty old, but didn't think to try that!

Thanks,

RLW

[rlw]

It's fixed!

The arcing was indeed a symptom. The cause was a broken #4 cable to the resistor.

I built a new 4 gauge cable that runs from the wiper board directly to the resistor, cleaned up the contacts on the resistor, put it all back together, fired it up, and it ran fine.

The newly milled wiper board needs a little breaking in (kinda clunkly between speed contacts), but that will smooth out with time.

Thanks to everyone who helped, especially Coosa - I'll keep those parts at the ready for the NEXT time this happens.

There's a photo of the new cable (I soldered AND crimped the connectors) and the cleaned-up resistor contacts below.

I managed to fix it with the help of BGW forum members, a screwdriver, some wrenches, a propane torch, bench grinder with a wire wheel, a floor jack and stands, and a buddy with a milling machine. It also helped that I had about 6 feet of 4 gauge cable and a handful of lugs left over from my original rebuild of the cart.

THE BUGGLY IS BACK ON THE AIR!

Thanks again!

RLW

[scottyb]

That I fixed it feeling still gives me goose-bumps Congrats on a job well done

[rlw]

Originally Posted by scottyb

That I fixed it feeling still gives me goose-bumps Congrats on a job well done

Thanks, ScottyB

I noticed that my "I fixed it" post also graduated my status here to "Gone Wild".

[coosa]

Congrats on getting it fixed! I love the simplicity of the resistor carts. Just don't ever spend too much time on one with a controller or you will be calling ScottyB and ordering his upgrade kit.