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How To Pick The Right Golf Cart Battery Charger For Your Golf Cart

How To Pick The Right Golf Cart Battery Charger For Your Golf Cart

Pete’s Golf Carts have years of experience with bateery chargers of every make and model. Remember, if you can’t find what you need here, get in touch.

Troubleshooting your existing charger

First things – first. When your golf cart battery charger stops working you will need to determine why. It is also important to know because it is not always the charger that is bad. There are a lot of common problems that can cause your golf cart battery charger to stop working.

Check the charge

Most common are things like the AC power supply has been interrupted. ( Power Surge, blown or popped fuse or breaker ), DC side voltage to low – Meaning the batteries in your golf cart are so low the charger does not know it is even plugged into your golf cart to start to charge. See our FAQ for more in depth information on this scenario and how to remedy the situation.

Checking wires

If these are not common problems related to why your charger is not working you will need to move forward with your search. Pete always recommends checking the conductor wires between batteries. They are all connected to create the combined power supply for your golf cart. If one is bad or lost connection with the batteries it will cause everything to stop working. So if your golf cart is not moving anymore this could be the culprit. Or could just be the wires going from the charger receptacle to the batteries on the cart where you plug in the charger.

Picking a new charger

After these basic searches have been done you can assume the worst ( your charger is dead ) and now you need to start looking for a replacement. Things to know before you start the search.

What year, make and model golf cart do you own?

If you do not know you will need to find out what kind of golf cart you have. The big three makes are Club Car, Ezgo and Yamaha. There are numerous ways to determine the make and model. Usually you will find some sort of branding or badging on the golf cart. The determine the year or model specifically you will usually be able to find a serial number sticker ( On Club Cars above the pedal assemble under the dash or on the passenger side dash support upright – which looks like a white sticker with a barcode on it) Ezgo carts you can usually find a serial number plaque inside the passenger side glove box area. Yamaha depending on the year and model are usually somewhere under the seat in the battery or engine hold area.

Note – this step is usually only required to make sure you get the right charger for the Club Car carts that use the round three pin charger connectors because some carts (between 1995 and 2014 have a OBC or Onboard computer to tell the charger when to turn on and turn off)

What is the operating voltage of your golf cart?

This is easily determined by looking under the seat of your cart and counting batteries and cell caps.

For example if you count six (6) batteries and each battery has three (3) round caps on each you will now know those are 6 volt batteries. So 6 x 6 volts = 36 volt system. So you would need a 36 volt golf cart battery charger. ( The voltage of the cart must match the voltage output on the charger you purchase.)

On 48 volt golf carts some come with four (4) batteries which are 12 volts each. Or six (6) 8 volt batteries. Again this can be determined by the individual cell caps on each battery. A 12 volt battery will have 6 and a 8 volt battery will have 4. All golf cart batteries are comprised of 2 volt cells. So being a 6 volt battery will have 3 cells, and a 8 volt battery will have 4 cells then lastly a 12 volt battery will have 6 cells.

Confirm and compare the connector the you will plug into the golf cart charging port

Basically you can determine all thee above by just knowing what connector your current golf cart battery charger uses. Though is is wise to double check by looking under the seat and counting batteries to be sure. This is basically because most people buy the golf cart used and do not really know what the previous owner did to it. We have seen numerous times where a customer had a charger that used a 36 volt plug on a cart that was converted to 48 volts.

Popular Connector Shapes and Styles and what they represent

Club Car Golf Cart Battery Chargers have either a crowsfoot connector which means it is older and came as a 36 volt golf cart. or a round three (3) pin connector which means it is a 48 volt golf cart.

Ezgo golf cart battery chargers will also use a crowsfoot connector which means it is also an older cart and 36 volts. But they also use what is known as a D36 or TxT connector that is rectangular shaped and rounded on one side with two round pins one inside each of two slots in the front of connector. This is also a 36 volt connector used on the popular TxT model golf cart. Now if you have an Ezgo golf cart that has a rectangular 2 pin connector with a slot cut out right down the middle or a triangular 3 pin connector you have a newer style 48 volt golf cart.

Yamaha golf cart battery chargers are also found with a crowsfoot connector which means it is again an older cart and 36 volts. ( Prior to 1990 alot of the golf carts manufactured where 36 volt systems and all used the crowsfoot connector system.) But usually Yamaha golf cart today are all 48 volt systems. One uses the Nabson plug connector which looks like a fisher price pair of toy binoculars. 2 pin design. Or the newer Drive carts came with a 3 pin connector that looks kinda like a three leaf clover. or some say a square with rounded edges. either way these are 48 volt systems.

What if you cannot find the connector on the battery charger or see that it is wired directly to the batteries on the golf cart?

No Worries. This just means your golf cart has what they call an Onboard battery charger. So you will need to either locate the charger itself and read the specifications off the charger or count the batteries and the cell caps as described in this article above. Either way it is still not big of a job to replace the charger in your golf cart. Most are very straight forward and easy to install and use. Most common today are the Delta Q brand chargers found in onboard applications on carts like the Ezgo or the Tomberlin brand golf cart. Lester electric actually has a great new onboard battery charger called the Summit Series II which even comes with Bluetooth connectivity. So times are changing and the golf cart battery charger of yesterday is almost gone as companies make newer safer more efficient chargers. Which is great for the golf cart owner because some are even designed to charge or maintain your batteries while you are away on vacation or elsewhere for long periods of time.

Use Pete’s easy to navigate golf cart battery charger section to find your charger

Pete offers all the major brands of golf cart battery chargers at reasonable prices and all ship free in the United States ( Lower 48 Only) Find yours today and SAVE BIG!!!!

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