Troubleshooting chargeing system on 85 gas club car

[SLYS FARM]

I have an old 84 club car that for years has never seemed to charge the battery efficiently. Over the years it became a habit to simply hook a charger up to the battery every few days, or when the battery just didn't have enough amps to turn over. A few months back I replaced the battery. All was well until recently the cart would not start. The battery had drained slightly... I removed the starter generator, changed brushes, and polished up the commutator, All checked out. No issues with the starter. All roads led to a defective voltage regulator. Simple enough, so I replaced the VR....... twice! Figuring the china regulator I purchased from amazon was junk, I purchased a slightly higher price model.No change, the battery was not charging. Doubting the likelihood that both regulators are bad, and I know the starter is fine, it's time to dive deeper into understanding the charging system. Before ruling out bad regulators.. can they be bench tested?? Is there a way to test a voltage regulator outside the cart??? AfterRuling out the starter generator, defective wiring, or grounds to be an issue, assuming a good voltage regulator, where would I turn my attention to next? to solve the mystery of an inefficient charging system??

[slonomo]

What kind of voltage are you getting from the starter/generator when it's spinning? It's a generator, so when it spins it makes voltage, you'll have to use a voltmeter to check the contacts etc. Once you know that's good, then you can trace the wiring and find where the issue is.

[sho305]

The gen charges by making the field hot. So the VR will ground or power the gen field (usually a small wire to it) to make it charge as needed. The other wire from the field is either connected inside or goes to power or ground. Look yours up to see how they wired it, most all carts are very similar other than wiring as it could be wired differently but does the same thing. The rest of the time while running the motor/gen is spinning above its design speed (turn over engine speed) and does much of nothing even though the solenoid is powered on and it has power. So on my yamaha that is similar you see battery at around 12.5v rest and when its running it will go up to 15v charging at higher rpm or back to 12.5 range not charging when the VR is not calling for it. The gen charges more at high rpm, it will not charge much at fast idle, this is why cars moved to alternators that charge better at lower speeds. Most carts charge 15A max. This yamaha is a solid state VR so its on or off. Also make sure you don't have a drain on the battery. But it should show well over 12.5v at battery if it is charging while running, a normal car is 13.5v usually while charging. Normally a cart has limited draws on battery so even with short trips this system would charge enough to keep the battery up while using less fuel by stopping engine when the cart stops.

So Id look for a wiring diagram for your cart, if you don't see battery voltage go up running then figure out how to find out if the VR is letting power through the gen field. Find out if the VR has good power connection so it can sense voltage. See if you can test ohms through the field on the gen, which is just a winding inside it. First look for any fuses or bad connections in the system of course, it may be something simple.

[slonomo]

Ghosted us.....hate when that happens