1997 DS won't charge

[freenuke]

Hey y'all, I'm stumped. Recently bought our first golf cart - 1997 DS (don't believe it's a Regen). The last time we took it out, it was run pretty low. Last two LED's on battery charge level alternately flashed at us. PowerDrive chager will not charge when connected. Stanley (from Sams Club) will not charge either. When connected with round charging plug, it sees a voltage of 26.4 volts. When I check voltage of the bank using alligator clips it sees 49 and change.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Golfdog]

If the reading at the plug is 26v then the charger will not switch on, it needs to see at least 32v. If the reading accross the pack is 49 + v then the battery meter should not have read so low as you still have 50% capacity.If the voltage at plug and accross the pack is differant then you have a wiring problem. Make sure the red wire from the plug is attached to #1 battery + Terminal.

[freenuke]

Thanks. I'll check it when I get home. I disconnected each battery, one at a time, (got 8+ volts on 5 of them and 7+ on the last) so it is possible I reconnected incorrectly.

[Speedchaser]

You don't have to disconnect any batteries when checking voltage, just put voltage meter on the terminals of the battery you are testing, also back the voltmeter down so you get two decimal places when checking the individual batteries.

[freenuke]

OK. I broke down and used a multimeter rather than the Stanley charger from Sams. Battery bank was 45.5Vdc. From the positive terminal of the bank to the black wire at the back of the charging plug (see picture) was 33.8Vdc.

The large battery cable from the negative terminal of the bank went back to the OBC. The positive appeared to go to a solenoid.

Two smaller leads off the negative terminal of the bank went to the multi-step potentiometer.

One small lead off postive terminal of bank went to back side of charging plug. Not sure where the other one went.

I may have access to a different charger that is known to be working.

[Fishing Dude]

you could bypass the relay in the charger to see if it works

[freenuke]

OK. Voltages of individual batteries are:

8.11, 7.99, 5.31, 8.05, 8.09 and 8.16


I've attached a drawing of the plug as viewed from the brake pedal. As numbered in the attached drawing, the voltages at the 3 pins are:

1-2 33.7
2-3 45.2
3-1 11.5

Red lead from the plug is attached to #1 battery + Terminal.

I have not yet tried to bypass the relay in the charger.

Thanks in advance!

[scottyb]

That 5v battery may be bad and the source of the trouble. Most all automatic chargers need to see a minimum voltage before they will come on.

[JBinAlabama]

I had this problem on my mom in laws older cart.
I put a regular charger on the single low battery to get it back up.
Once it got to voltage the cart charger worked fine!

[TahoeDawgZ71]

The low voltage at the receptacle is not uncommon. The OBC must close the internal connection within itself to allow maximum voltage to the receptacle. This doesn't happen until the OBC commands a charger to turn on and gets a voltage increase from it's command.