From Darling to Dead.. what to do?

[flafishergal]

After much effort and bloody knuckles, we got the new m/s in the vglide. But it didn't do anything. We tried jumping the solenoid again but still not click, no sound.

What in the world should we try next?

[scottyb]

You can break out the test meter and see if the solenoid is getting the activation signal. This will tell you if it is a broken signal or broken solenoid.
You should read the battery pack voltage between the 2 small terminals when you try to go.

[flafishergal]

There's a good reading between the small posts on the solenoid.

[tag50]

If you put one lead of the meter on a small post and the other lead on the other small post, you didn't rule out a bad coil in the solenoid ( the meter is acting like a jumper with a meter in between).

First let's get the back tires safely off the ground in case you do get the cart fired up.

Next, on one of the small posts there should be a wire from the diode and a small wire (mine is yellow). Disconnect these from the post making sure none of these loose ends can touch anything. You should now have one small post with nothing on it and the other small post with 2 small wires and one side of the diode on it.

Attach the neg. lead of the meter to neg. end of the battery pack.

With the key on, F/R lever in forward and peddle down some, touch the pos. lead of the meter to one small post and then to the other taking note of the voltage readings of both.

[tag50]

I may have jump in too soon. flafishergal started saying this is 2003 36v. series cart. scottyb came up with 2002 36v. resister cart and in flafishergal's first post about charger problems there was a reference to resetting an OBC (48v.?). How about starting with a serial number?

[flafishergal]

Golf Cart Serial AB0321-288826

We did the test that tag50 suggested and got a full voltage charge of 62 on each of the small posts.

[tag50]

Believe it or not, you're making progress . You verified that your solenoid coil doesn't have a dead short. It could have a live short however. To check for a live short, set up the solenoid like for the last test but instead of using the meter, use a jumper wire attached to neg. end of the battery pack and momentarily touch the other end of the jumper to the small post that has no wires on it. Listen for a click.

Also, from the serial number, the cart started out as a 36volt but the meter reading is too high for that. Please confirm how many watering holes a battery has. I'm guessing someone converted it to 48 volts.

[flafishergal]

We jumped the solenoid and the negative post as you advised and the only sound we could hear was the micro switch inside the vglide click. We did the test both with and without depressing the foot pedal but all while in the run position.

BTW Thanks for all your help so far. We really love our cart and use it often, so it's been sad without it these last weeks.

[tag50]

The good news, you found your problem.

The bad news, you need a new solenoid. You can probably can get one locally BUT if you're running on a 48v. battery pack you want a solenoid built for 48 volt. The easiest way to tell how many volts you're working with is by counting the number of water holes. 2 volts per hole (cell) X 18 cells = 36 volts, 2 volts per cell X 24 cells = 48 volts. That is why I asked you how many "water holes" there are.

Regardless of where you get a replacement solenoid, you should click on Carts Unlimited's site to get their phone # and talk to scottyb. I suspect this is an incomplete 36v. to 48v. conversion. If it is then you have other components that are subject to failure. Scotty has helped 100's with their conversions and he will be very honest with you whether you like or not.

Welcome to BGW and good luck.

[flafishergal]

We installed a new solenoid and still have a dead cart. The old solenoid shows a reading of .08 across the small posts and nothing across the large when checked on the continuity setting.

Any other thoughts?