Newbie on board

[Jedi]

Hello Forum;

I just purchased a 2004 Club Car DS with IQ system. Seller told me batteries might be shot. Cart didn't come with a charger either.
I purchased a PowerDrive3 charger and connected it up but got nothing from charger or batteries. Charger didn't hum or buzz when I plugged it in. Needle on charger didn't budge or flicker, absolutely nothing.
Does this mean batteries are completely dead. I thought charger would have made some noise when I plugged it into receptacle.

Someone said it might not be doing anything because batteries are completely dead.

Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.

[Larry1950]

Many chargers need to see a voltage from the batteries in order to charge. You can put a standard car charger on each battery(8 Volt) but watch the battery. To see if they will wake up. The car charger may show nothing for a while and gradually start showing a charge. Put a volt meter across each battery and get a reading first. Chances are the batteries are toast if been sitting for awhile and nothing will revive them. Hope you bought is cheap! Cause is will be another $600 to $800 to see if it will run.

[Jedi]

GM Larry. Thanks for the reply.
Do I need to disconnect the batteries before putting the 12 v charge on them? I see the batteries are connected in series to one another (pos. to neg.)

[timflury]

What happens in a "smart" charger is that there is a small relay that will pull in and make a connection to turn the charger on when there is a voltage present.

If this is the case, you can jumper the contacts on the relay and "fool" the charger into making it turn on.

I had to do this when I got my cart. I let it charge for about an hour before disconnecting the jumper and letting the cart charge on its own.

Before I fired the charger back up, I checked individual battery voltages and found out I had four out of six dead batteries.

[Jedi]

Hey Larry, I did as you suggested and put a 12v car charger on each battery for about 40 minutes. 3 of the six batteries came to life. What I did encounter when I switched from "tow" to "run" was a constant buzzing noise. If I returned the toggle switch to "tow" the noise would stop.
Charger (PowerDrive3) still didn't start charging after using the 12V charger to revive the batteries.
I guess I'll be needing batteries.....

[Jedi]

What happens in a "smart" charger is that there is a small relay that will pull in and make a connection to turn the charger on when there is a voltage present.

If this is the case, you can jumper the contacts on the relay and "fool" the charger into making it turn on.

I had to do this when I got my cart. I let it charge for about an hour before disconnecting the jumper and letting the cart charge on its own.

Before I fired the charger back up, I checked individual battery voltages and found out I had four out of six dead batteries.

Thanks Tim;
What's the procedure to jump the charger?

[timflury]

You have to open up the charger.

Without knowing the innards of your charger, it's very difficult for me to give you any direction as to "fooling" the charger.

Do you have a schematic?

I broused some images and it looks like some of the PowerDrive chargers also have a relay on the AC side for safety reasons. So it looks like you will need two jumper wires to "force" the charger on.

[Jedi]

No need to jump the charger now, I purchased 6 new batteries today.

After replacing the batteries (switch in tow position and schematic properly adhered to), I then switched back to run position and still had a continuous buzzing sound coming from cart. The key was in the off position and still buzzed. I turned key to on position and depressed accel pedal and cart didn't budge an inch and got a spark from solenoid area.

Checked solenoid and found that wire going from one side of solenoid to other side was "HOT". Buzzing sounds similar to sound when cart is switched into reverse position.
QUESTION:
1) What is causing buzzing sound when cart is switched from "tow" to "run" position?
2) Is solenoid most likely fried?
3) Where do I go from here?

I'm no mechanic but I'll try some remove and replace things that are not too intricate.

Thanks again forum.......

[gaminde]

what is buzzing the backup beeper ? where is the noise coming from battery area or dash area ?

[Jedi]

Area very close to solenoid. Did find that solenoid and resistor were shot. New ones have not arrived yet to install and then I'll know where i'm at so far.