Sparks Under Seat Now Golf Cart Won't Run or Charge

[oldcartfart]

A friend brought his daughter's 94 EZGO golf cart to me and asked if I would check it out for her. She was using at her farm and it quit. She looked under the seat and said she saw sparks shut it off and pulled back to the barn. Now the golf cart won't run or charge. On first look all the battery cables were corroded and when I yanked on them one was not connected it looked like it because of the corrosion. He can make new cables and is in the process of doing so. I told him it had to have heavy duty cables. THE CART IS A 94 EZGO 36 VOLT 6 inch lift 20 inch tires looks like a 4oo amp Alltrax controller and a beefed up motor as well. He said it would do a wheelie from a dead stop. I cleaned all connections on the batteries put a basic set of cables on for testing and charging. I plugged in his charger nothing. I plugged in my charger I know is good and still nothing. when I put the cart in forward I hear the solenoid click and a green light that is on the controller comes on but cart will not move. When I put it in reverse the backup alarm goes off but no movement. The battery chargers are automatic and the one I have has diagnostics on it and it comes up dead no power on at all. It would usually show no connection or bad connection. The bad cable was in the middle of the pack and looked like it had been burned. How do i check the controller out to see if it is good or do I swap out the 36 volt solenoid to rule that out first. WHAT ELSE COULD it be?? I did check the wiring to the charger plug looks good. What else is there to check on this beast. I do not know if it has a run tow switch. Do the batteries have to have a minimal amount of charge for the charger to kick on? I never had a problem with my charger not turning on. The batteries look to be 2005 but he said it ran well before it quit. I think it has been sitting for 6 months as she is using his Club Car for now. Sorry for the long post and thanks for any help or ideas that can help with this beast.

 

[HotRodCarts]

A bad controller wouldn't effect the charger but if there was cables arching it could have taken the controller out. Are you sure you have all 6 batteries wired correctly? Are the two wires coming from the charger receptacle connected to the right batteries with good clean connections? What is the total pack voltage at the charger receptacle? If the battery pack voltage is to low the battery charger will not turn on when plugged into the golf cart

 

[oldcartfart]

Yes I have the connections cleaned and wired correctly. I have not checked battery pack voltage yet. I was going to try and charge them with a 12 volt charger 2 at a time to see if that helped. I found a solenoid in my spare parts was going to try that to see if it would help. I am checking the micro switches on the forward and reverse switch tonight and I am going to check the accelerator switch tomorrow if I have time. I did find E 5 on the batteries as I cleaned them. If I am correct that would be mean 2005 they are Trojans but it may be time to replace. I will find out after i charge them with the 12 volt and load test them. I have not looked on the internet but what do the Altrax 400 controllers go for? I hate to tell him it is fried and at 6 yrs it might be a good idea to put new batteries in also but I am not at that point yet. I will check it all out before I tell him. Thanks for the reply HotRod, I hope that the controller is alright but is there a way to check it out by itself or do I have to send it to Alltrax? I am just trying to give him an option before a new one is purchased. Thanks!

 

[oldcartfart]

HI, all thought I would update this. I used an older charger with manual timer to charge the batteries, they were almost stone dead. I was able to check a few things out. The controller is good the brushes in the motor are shot and throwing sparks. The new cables are 2 gauge. Can I use a stock motor with the Alltrax controller? The owner wants to slow it down some and I can get a stock motor for $250. I thought it was a little high for a used motor but the ones I buy are for resistor carts and not the newer ones. The owner is considering trading the cart in and not fixing it since it needs batteries and a motor but I told them 6 years is a long time on a set of batteries and a stock motor would last awhile if they did not try to pop wheelies with it. Any ideas on the motor swap or how to program the controller for a slower speed? Thanks for your help and input.

 

[HotRodCarts]

What model Alltrax controller is it? With a series motor you should be fine with the Alltrax controller and a stock motor. $250 is a lot of money for a used stock motor though.