2011 Precedent Lights and Horn not working

[adore]

My headlights/taillights and horn stopped working all at once. Kart runs fine otherwise. I found a disconnected cable running from the step down converter and reconnected. Still no lights. Then I checked all of the fuses I could locate - all were ok (one fuse at the converter and 2 or 3 fuses back by the batteries). I confirmed that there is power at the headlight bulb if I ground to the frame and test each of the headlight bulb wires but there is not power if I connect both volt meter probes to each of the headlight wires. This suggests to me that there is a grounding issue with the wiring. Is this correct? If so, where is the ground wire for the headlights? The headlights seem factory to me and the wiring is otherwise well done. (I bought the kart used and have had no issues for two years). I've checked by the battery and controller but could not find the ground wire. Some pictures would be helpful of other's grounding wires for this kart. Thx you!!!

[ChienRouge]

Check the output at the converter. I had a similar issue and found my oem converter had failed. It was outputting only 4v. I replaced it with one of the popular blue converters and everything worked afterwards.

If you have the oem converter installed, a ground is provided at the two-wire output. On my replacement converter, the 48v and 12v sides share a ground.

If yours are oem headlights, they will connect to grind via the black wire common to the headlights, turn signal bulbs and horn. This connects directly to the ground at the 12v side of the converter output.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

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[adore]

Thx Kevin. That is super helpful. Do you by chance know where that common ground connects (terminates) on the cart frame? I'm assuming the ground wire runs back to the battery pack area from the headlights and the converter (mine is upfront).

[Reddawg454]

On an electric cart I don't believe the frame is ever used as a ground. The ground wire would have to come out of your converter if its a factory 16v to 12v converter.

[ChienRouge]

As Red dawg says, no common ground to frame.

On my 2017, 48v and ground, along with a switched 48v signal, came from the battery pack to the 48v to 12v converter mounted on a bulkhead just behind the front suspension. You can easily see it from underneath. From the converter 12vdc and ground out was routed back behind the dash to the harness. Back to the lights, ground was split behind the light housing/bumper and shared between headlights, turn signal, and horn.

I understand some models are equipped with oem 16 to 12 converters, but mine was a 48 to 12. This made for an easy swap.

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[Sergio]

Since you have +12v out of the converter, the negative input to the converter is working and so are all the fuses.

It looks like you lost the negative out of the converter into the harness.

If your converter is mounted up from and it is plug-and-play (OEM or not) those connections are at the 12-pin connector between the bucket harness and the dash harness located behind the dash on the passenger side.

Can you give us more details about this wire you found loose?

What color, gauge, where it was located and where did you connect it?

[adore]

The lose wire was the red with the fuse on it. Looked to be about 18ish ga. I connected it back to the only other blade connector that was unplugged. In fact, the male bladed had broken off and was still lodged in the female side. No fuse trips. I think it was the 48v into the converter. Checked all the wires behind the dash on the passenger side and they all seem connected. Is there a certain wire color? Ground would normally be green...