Charger problem.

[timflury]

Alright, I have a Lestronic charger for my DS.

It works, but later on in the charge cycle, like four hours later, the thing buzzes SUPER loud, like "wake the neighbors" loud.

I'd hate like heck to find out that there's something wrong in the transformer.

Any thoughts or suggestions??

Also, how long should the charge cycle be??

[andy4639]

Chargers will get louder with age. Some you can fix with cardboard. Just find where it's vibrating.

The charger cycle depends on how long you rode the cart.

[pistolpete]

from dead your probably lookin at at least 10 hours.

[timflury]

I used to run the cart dead. This year, with all the hilly roads in our new campground, I'll be charging more often.

Looks like I'll have to pull the cover and do the cardboard trick.

[timflury]

Well,

I opened up the charger, plugged it in, and narrowed down the buzzing sound down to the iron core, right between the coils. There's no way to stuff carboard in to reduce the noise. I did squeeze the corner of the plates together and reduced some of the noise. I'm going to get some epoxy and try squeezing things together and see if that corrects, or quiets down the buzzing.

[89Gatorclub]

My old 36 volt charger does the same exact thing except it does it the whole time the cart is charging. I was going to use rubber as an isolator but instead since I needed new batteries I went to 48volts...

[timflury]

SUCCESS!!! I fixed the charger!!

How you ask??

I CAREFULLY picked around on the iron core of the xformer with a screwdriver and found the source of the buzzing. Then, I CAREFULLY squeezed the affected area with a needle nose vice-grip. I did these two steps with the charger ON. FYI, I'm an electrician, and I know where to and NOT to touch stuff with the power on.


I disconnected the charger, removed the pliers and took some super glue and spread it across the area that was buzzing. The glue penetrated in between the plates, dried, and the buzz was 98% eliminated!!

Alas, I was able to charge my cart with out keeping the whole campground up!!

[gaminde]

Good job tim
I like your persistence.

[andy4639]

Glad you found a fix for this I may need this later.

[UberDan]

I used to run the cart dead. This year, with all the hilly roads in our new campground, I'll be charging more often.

Looks like I'll have to pull the cover and do the cardboard trick.

the Club Car charger manual (available on this site) recommends charging everyday, even if you only drive 10 mins.