97 48 Volt Club Car Not Charging

eprovenzano

New Member
97 48 volt Club Car not charging. When the charger (Power Drive I) is plugged into the cart, nothing happens. The cart currently has 45.5 volts and will move without issue, as I drove it onto my garage workshop so I could test and make needed repairs. Per research I've done, I've checked the following.

1.) The 110 outlet is working
2.) Checked both the chargers fuse and breaker, both check out good
3.) Checked the fuse on the receptacle, tested fine.
4.) Plugged the charger into the cart while it was not plugged into the 110 outlet hoping to hear the relay click... nope, nothing
5.) Check the fuse behind the plug in receptacle on the cart, (inside the yellow fuse holder) Checked out fine.
6.) Tried to reset the OBC... no change

After my testing, I'm now leaning towards an OBC failure. I'd like to temp bypass the OBC. If I bypass the OBC and my charger works, then I'll know for sure it's the OBC, and not the charger. Please correct me if I'm wrong... To temp bypass the OBC, I would add a jumper wire from the post the OBC is connected to (negative post of battery 6) to the back of the charging receptacle (black wire). I also need to open the fuse of the gray wire and add a wire from the receptacle to negative post of battery 6. If I plug in my charger and it starts I will then know the issue is the OBC.

Then comes the question of do I replace the OBC, or replace the charger with a smart charger....

I appreciate the help... I'm new the the cart world, but and not afraid of turning a wrench.
 

Diode

Cartaholic - V.I.P. Sponsor
With the charger plugged in run a jumper wire from the negative terminal of the battery pack and touch it to the black and gray wire on the receptacle the charger should kick on and charge
 

eprovenzano

New Member
With the charger plugged in run a jumper wire from the negative terminal of the battery pack and touch it to the black and gray wire on the receptacle the charger should kick on and charge
Thanks Diode, I will give this a try tonight.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Worked on the cart... tried a few things... nothing. Decided to check the relay on my charger. Plugged the charger into the cart with the 110 cord unplugged. Pulled the fuse on the gray wire at the receptacle. Pushed the fuse into the receptacle. Jumpered the fuse to the negative post 6th battery and the relay clicked... YES somethings happening... unplugged everything... plugged charger into 110. Plugged charger into cart... jumpered the gray wire fuse to negative post 6... charger comes on. (I’m going to let it run for an hour before removing my jumper wire
I’ve now confirmed the OBC is bad... I’m wondering would it be better to get a new smart charger and bypass the OBC, or just get a replacement OBC?
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Went out to disconnect the jumper to turn off the charger. Just to keep things tidy I put the gray fuse back together. Low and behold the charger kicked on... so I unplugged the charger from the 110... waited 10 min and plugged it back in... the charger turned on without issue... I’m going to leave it unplugged for the night. I’ll plug it back in before I leave for work. If it comes back on... I’m going to do a happy dance and will continue to use the charger I have with the currect OBC
 

eprovenzano

New Member
I am happy to report that when the charger was plugged into 110 this morning, it started immediately... After thinking about the charging issues, I’m leaning towards a bad relay in the charger, and dirty connections. When I would plug the charger into the cart the relay was not clicking. It only clicked when I jumpered the gray wire. Of course during the diagnosis I cleaned all connections, Did this fix my issue... I doubt it, but it couldn’t hurt.
Previously when plugging the charger into the cart, there was a delay before the charger would turn on... now it’s immediate... not sure what changed. I’ve not left it on to where it should reach a full charge and shut off... I’ll do they when I can monitor the charger and the batteries voltage
 

eprovenzano

New Member
HotRodCarts you called it... the charger did not shut off... I was watching and listening while I was reinstalling the rear seat that I removed to gain access to the OBC. The cart's volt meter was showing +52 volts, when something in the charger clicked, but did not shut off... I watched the charger's needle was at zero... so I believe the charging potion of the cycle was complete, but the charger was still humming... I let it run like that for another hour... still did not shut off, so I pulled the plug for the night. At this point the carts volts were +49, the same as this morning.

One thing I noticed... When plugging in the chargers plug into the receptacle, you have to wiggle it cord a bit to get the charger to turn on. I used my meter to check the voltage at the receptacle it was was +36, while the volt meter was +49... That has me thinking the receptacle needs to be replaced.

I'm stumped...
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
I'd test your batteries, the voltage numbers you posted are low. You need to test the voltage of each individual batter with a digital multi meter. You should have been seeing 50.9+ volts and 8.49 volts on each battery the next day after the charge cycle. If you spray contact cleaner on the DC charger plug and the charger receptacle on the golf cart it may help eith the connection when plugging in the battery charger. It's also normal for the charger to keep running when the amp meter hits 0 to equalize the batteries.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Thanks HotRodCarts... I did check the batteries, most were close to 8.0 while one was under 7. Tonight I will give clean all terminals (including the plug and receptacle), make sure all the batteries have adequate water and will run the charger again. I'll then test the batteries after the charge cycle. I agree. I don't think the batteries have been getting a full charge

Just an FYI I purchased this cart last last year, the batteries are only a year old. After I purchased it, I expected to see the voltage at 52 to 53 volts. after a charge. To me... the batteries have always seem to be under charged... again, tonight I'll clean all connections, ensure water is at the correct level, and will run it on a charge cycle. I'll then manually test the batteries and will make a list of their status.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been doing a lot of reading...

I'm back to thinking my OBC has failed... When I plug in my charger, it starts immediately.. it should take a few seconds before it starts to sense the battery voltage.. this is a sign of a bad OBC. It's never charged the batteries above 53 volts.. this is another sign of a bad OBC. So tonight I will clean all the connections, including the receptacle, I and will then bypass the OBC by jumpering the gray wire from the receptacle through to the fuse to the neg post battery 6. I will also add a jumper from the black wire on the receptacle to the neg post battery 6. If I charge the batteries and it goes as I expect, (charging voltage gets to +55 volts), I will then know the OBC is toast.
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
It's very possible the OBC is bad but that doesn't explain why one battery is under 7 volts. Let us know what happens once you bypass the OBC and charge the batteries.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
I plugged in the charger... after 2 seconds it kicked on. Still the amp meter was at zero. Started checking batteries. All right at 8.0. Started checking wires, and saw a small spark from the black wire on the passenger side of the receptacle... then the amp meter jumped to 20... and the tone of the charger changed... I rechecked all batteries, they’re above 9 now. My cart has a digital volt meter, started out at 49.5, after 20 min is up to 55... I think I found the issue... I’m going to let it charge...

The charger just turned off... volts holding at 50.5. I’m going to pull the wires and clean every connection.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
The sparking wire at the receptacle was loose (from me fiddling with the wires). I tightened the wire and rechecked voltage. Based on my hand held meter, all batteries are between 8.2 & 8.3, total volts all batteries was 49.7. Total volts per the carts digital meter is 49.8. I even checked the voltage at the receptacle, 39.5 volts (so far so good). I reconnected the charger, after a few seconds I hear click from the relay, then nothing... I waited 10 min, nothing... Tried it again, unplug the cord, wait a few min and reconnect... again nothing. This time not even a click from the relay. So instead of breaking something, I decided to call it a night. Before I left for work this morning, I plugged the charger into the cart... again nothing... so I opened the fuse on the gray wire (keeping the fuse in the receptacle wire), jumpered it to battery 6 post negative, and boom, the charger kicks in and the needle goes to 20... I shut everything down and went to work. I'm now pretty confident the OBC has given up, and it's time to either replace it, or replace the charger with a new version and bypass the OBC.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Cleaned all the battery terminals, topped the batteries off with water. Charger will not start unless I jumper the gray wire... going to charge the batteries I’m babysitting the cart so I can monitor the voltage.
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Ok... after even more research, watching YouTube videos and testing every component I can get to, here’s my findings.

The charger does turn on and hum, but it’s not putting out any volts. So I tested the fuse, good, tested the relay, good, tested the fuse, good. Then I tested the diode / heat sink... according to my research when I disconnect the center leads and test the outer two, I should have continuity in one direction. I’m not getting continuity in either direction. From my understanding, this part is known to fail. My thought is... since I’m in the charger should I replace the diode, or just spend the $$$ and go with a new style charger that will eliminate the OBC and will also be a smart charger?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Normally if a diode is bad the circuit breaker will trip as soon as you plug the battery charger in to the golf cart. Have you plugged the charger in and checked if the battery pack voltage is going up?
 

eprovenzano

New Member
Yes I had it plugged into the wall socket and on the cart for 12 hours... the meter on the charger didn’t move off zero and the meter on the cart didn't change. Previously the 15 amp fuse on the charger has popped. I’ve reset it 2 times over the past few days.
 
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