Good morning. New to the forum and GEM community. Bought a 2013 GEM with issues and finding schematics a bit poorly put together. My charger is bad I know this already but car was operational for several weeks. I charged the batteries and now I have nothing. Main contactor is not closing when key switch closed and display screen blank. Any ideas?
Welcome to the group Doug,
First- What happened to your charger? How did you determine that it was bad?
Second- did you remove dead charger? Then I suspect that is the cause of your car being dead. Actually- if you look real close I bet your display may be showing a small yellow plug? This would be the charger interlock.
The charger needs to be installed or the interlock wire (green wire) needs to be run to B+ and the car should act normally.
edit: I thought the display would partially light up but I could be wrong. Is your main power switch on?
What happens when the brake handle is dropped with the with key OFF?
2013 are DCI chargers right? So if the charger is out there will be no 12v either.
2013 are DCI chargers right? So if the charger is out there will be no 12v either.
Ah- good point!
At the time of purchase I was notified by the seller the charger was bad. However it still operated part of the 12 volt system, just wouldn’t charge the batteries. I removed and disassembled the charger to find that two circuit cards have toasted components. Still trying to familiarize myself with the unit a bit so I can do more troubleshooting. Maybe the built in DC to DC converter crapped out 100% not sure. It has the DQ 922-7200-04 charger but hesitant to have it repaired yet until I am certain bugs are worked out so it doesn’t fry the rebuilt charger. Maybe I will try running the interlock wire to B+ as you suggest and see what happens. Do these units have complete schematics anywhere, or just the numerous wiring diagrams?
There are schematics, but the car will not run (well not without a lot of work) without the DC/DC converter.
Just replace the charger, I know it will be easier and probably cheaper than fixing it.
Actually sending the charger off to be repaired is far cheaper. The DC to DC converter components of the charger must have still been operational for the cart to work. But, maybe that portion is smoked now too. Cart worked fine, drove it and put the batteries on charge and the next morning when I went to use the cart I had nothing. Where are there schematics? All I can find is the wiring diagrams in the service manual?
Send a message to @Old_Houseboater with year and model of you GEM car and he can likely help you with the manuals. I don’t have copies.
I have not seen schematics for Delta Q’s.
if both the charger and DC/DC are smoked?? - Repair or replace your call.
Definitely $299 repair over $1400 replacement…lol. I will reach out to Houseboater and see what he has. Thanks Mike for your assistance.
Where are you having it repaired? 299 is a great price,
No way fsip will do it if it’s fried.
How about he sends it to you and you sell him a matching new one?
I think I’m out of DCI.
1400.00 for a replacement?? Holy Molly - Where are you looking? Not in the USA?
They are far less than half that if you look around, maybe some people on this forum 
I’m hoping somewhere besides FSIP. They are good at controllers but dismal on DeltaQ chargers. Hoping someone else is better at fixing them. I have few that I would like to have done if it is that cheap and reliable.
I have manuals and basic electrical schematics for most classic Gems. The Delta Q is a semi custom component purchased to serve a function on a completed GEM car. When the charger fails you send it out for repair or replace it. On a 2013 this applies to the Delta Q, the Controller, the Power distribution unit and the Throttle device. These are components not normally serviced by the dealer or user. The GEM Manual does not provide internal information for these components and they are normally replaced when they fail. I assume Doug is technically versed in electronics, The information he is looking for is not available from any GEM material that I know of. There are 2 or 3 of our members that have done obvious repairs to all of the units mentioned. None of them has tried to fix a smoked unit. The GEM manuals and electrical diagrams provide information to repair and maintain the vehicle. They do not provide information for service and repair of the purchased devices mounted on the vehicles. I suggest you replace the failed unit with a new or rebuilt unit. If this doesn’t fix the problem, bite the bullet and find a qualified dealer and let him do his thing.
Rodney
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If you have 12v available the car will run. Charger is not needed excepting the interlock circuit that allows car to run. Leave the bad charger connected and do your testing.
Maybe I will try running the interlock wire to B+ as you suggest and see what happens.
Actually, my suggestion is withdrawn as I spaced and forgot about the later cars being wired up different than mine. I agree with MikeKC that due to missing 12v the car will probably not pass some of it’s safety checks, close a couple of needed relays, and never close the main contactor.
The best I have come across are wire diagrams. You have probably seen them and noticed the big empty dotted boxes with only hints at relationships between some of the Inputs and outputs. Otherwise we just assume magic happens in there.
It is FSIP. Any other options?
Yeah I left the bad charger in to facilitate troubleshooting. Just wish there was a schematic to use in conjunction with these poor wiring diagrams. But now that I have nothing when I turn it on I am a bit confused. The main contactor is not closing but not sure what voltage should be at the small terminals on top of contactor. New to GEM still trying to figure everything out.
You need to see if it is outputting 12v
