Problem with original EZGO 36 volt charger

[mack Courtney]

I'm new here and this is my first query. We have had a EZGO Marathon 36 volt cart for 10 years, (Tag info : SN= 695088 Manf code= 60892) we bought it used. We just put in a new set of 6 Energizer 6 volt batteries and replaced all the battery cables (5) with new 4 gauge.
We still have the original EZGO 36 volt charger. I have replaced the Anderson SB 50 receptable and contact pins in the charger handle. When the 0riginal charger is plugged in the needle swings all the way to the right and back to zero. I had it repaired at a Golf cart store in Granbury, Texas and it still does the same thing. The red red circuit breaker button will not push in.
I would like some advice on how to get the old charger working if Possible, or know if it is working like it should
I bought a new LV's 10 amp Micro processor controlled charger It seems to work okay. They are no longer advertized so I am a bit leary about it's long time reliability.
Thanks,

P.S. I need to know how to adjust the brakes. I haven't been able to find a repair manual that I can download from the internet.

[JohnnieB]

Welcome to BGW!

Here is what your serial number comes up with:
Make: Marathon
Type: Electric
Model: Electric 4-wheel Marathon
Year: 1992

I'm not sure if that means it's a Resistor drive cart, or if it has a electronic speed controller.

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What does your old charger look like, the green-face or the blue-face?
The color of the face plate may be different, but the important thing is if the timer counts up from "Start" like the green-face does or does it count down from "Start" like the blue-face does.
If it counts up, it's an automatic charger and if it counts down, it's a manual charger.

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Either way, It is fixable.

Do you Have a DMM (Digital Multi-Meter)
If so, Unplug charge from cart and from AC power.
Set DMM to Continuity function.
Connect red test lead to SB-50 positive terminal and black test lead to SB-50 negative terminal.
Should read an open (No continuity)
Connect the Red test lead to the SB-50 negative terminal and the black lead to the SV-50 positive terminal.
Should read a short (Continuity)

Note: The Polarity on the Red and Black test leads aren't always the same on all DMM's, but you should read an open one way and a short the other way.

From yhe syumptoms given, I suspect you will read continuity in both directions.
If so, the most likely problems will be a shorted diode or a short between the Positive and negative output wires someplace.

Let us know what type charger you have and what you find and we'll proceed from there.



with lead connected one way and short when connected the other.

[yurtle]

Owner's, Parts, and Service Manuals:
http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/elect...g-manuals.html

[mack Courtney]

OKAY here is the charger I have that needs fixing:
It doesn't look like either of these (Blue or Green'Face) It is more of a charcoal upper half with a white grid printed on the charcoal part then it has a red line like a lightning bolt going lower left to upper right center, with the words TOTALCharge III in yellow letters.
It is a TotalCharge III EZGO TEXTRON Industrial charger for 36 volt batteries.
model # 26984
SN 81107.

Yes I do have a Digital Multi Meter a Fluke 8060 also a couple of analog Simpson 260s, for everyday hard useage I use a Harbour Freight $4.00 digital throw away job, they are cheaper to replace than buying new batteries, except of course the Fluke which uses a single 9 volt battery. I appreciate your help.

I will follow directions as given, thanks...I found a schematic on another thread. So are the MOVs (do they have a value?) are they what need to be checked as diodes? or are the two tophat looking items that are connected to the black leads of the transformer and the white leads of the heatsink the diodes? I have most of my electronic experience calibrating R.A. Detectors and R.A. Survey meters. Gamma, Alpha, Neutron detectors, mostly.

I have pictures I could post but since I an a newbie, the rules say I must wait 7 days to be able to post pics. I guess I'll be out of diapers before Thanksgiving?
Thanks!

[JohnnieB]

Your charger is a bit newer design than I guessed.
EZGO has supplied at least a half dozen different model chargers with their carts over the years, but until recent years, they were all the same basic design with different bells and whistles.

Here is an Owner/Service/Parts manual for the TC-III (& TC-IV)
It contains schematics, wiring diagrams, exploded parts drawings and parts lists.

MOV-1 and MOV-2 are power-line surge suppressors and are not needed for troubleshooting. They are supposed to protect the control board from spikes on the input power, but were eliminated in the later control board designs.

The diodes are the stud mounted top hats on the heat sink.

If it isn't a shorted diode or output cable, it is probably the control board.

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A Fluke 8060 is a nice meter, I had a similar one until it developed legs and walked away.
With little exception, the throwaway meters available these days are more than adequate for working on carts and chargers.

Being a retired Clinical Engineer, I might have used some of the radiation assay meters and scintillation counters you calibrated while maintaining some high energy X-Ray generators and linear accelerators used in oncology, and in the Hot Labs associated with Nuc-Med imaging.

[mack Courtney]

JohnnieB, Thanks a million for the manual, parts & service. I hope you folks in West Virginia are making a good recovery from that Sandy storm. One of the highlights when I was working for Halliburton as a Radiation Safety Officer and Auditor was my two trips to Weston and Parkersburg and several other towns each year. I had some good friends in West Virginia, I haven't been back since I retired in 1997.
I was also a user of your type of services when I had prostate cancer back in 2004, Thank God for PSA testing and that biopsy that I though would never end, Pop,ouch! Pop, ouch!, pop, ouch!

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by mack Courtney

JohnnieB, Thanks a million for the manual, parts & service. I hope you folks in West Virginia are making a good recovery from that Sandy storm. One of the highlights when I was working for Halliburton as a Radiation Safety Officer and Auditor was my two trips to Weston and Parkersburg and several other towns each year. I had some good friends in West Virginia, I haven't been back since I retired in 1997.
I was also a user of your type of services when I had prostate cancer back in 2004, Thank God for PSA testing and that biopsy that I though would never end, Pop,ouch! Pop, ouch!, pop, ouch!

I live about as far west in West Virginia as you can get, an hour or so south and west of Parkersburg.
With a good tailwind I can throw rocks and hit both the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers from my place.
We got some wind and a couple inches of snow, but the blizzard was few mile to the east and several feet higher in elevation.

Actually, you would be an indirect user of the service I used to provide.
I just maintained radiation oncology equipment, and all the other medical devices used in hospitals.
My only patients were machines.

Glad that my fellow CE's played a small, indirect, part in helping you back in '04.

[mack Courtney]

Yes! I am always thankful for those that keep up those great machines. Besides you are most helpful with Golf chargers!