I have a 2020 Gem eL XD. When i connect the unit to the charger, the display starts flashing and i can see the “C” to the left of the battery percentage but i have left the charger on all day and the display is showing no improvement in the state of charge for the battery. I would assume the “C” means it’s charging. Even leaving charger on all night i come back and it has no bars to indicate that the batteries are charging. Can someone please help me? I have checked all the fuses, relays, connections to the controller and still can’t figure this out. I remove the plug from the charger and drive the vehicle and it appears that the batteries are fully charge because it has plenty of power but the display is showing “Low Batt”.
When this happens you need to get a look at the CHARGER display itself.
The C in the dash display indicates that it recognizes that it is plugged in and the interlock is active so you can’t drive away with it plugged in.
Locate the charger in the front of the car. It has it’s own status panel on it and observe what the lights are showing. If there is a red blinking light, count the number of blinks between the pause.
Then, unplug the car, wait 60 seconds, and plug it in again to see if this will either reset the charger or go back to the error flash pattern.
This unit just has a special handle type plug coming from a 120 volt outlet and looks Kinda like a handle you would see in a gas station when filling up your gas tank but smaller. I believe there’s 4 holes in the nozzle but the other end is just a normal 120volt a/c plug like you would see on an extension cord. I was able to retrieve a fault code from the unit. Here is the code i found on the web and the suggestions based on this code. A GEM fault code “520499:1” typically indicates a problem with the “Generic Electronic Module (GEM)” related to a “loss of communication” with another vehicle control module, meaning the GEM is unable to properly communicate with another system within the car, potentially causing various electrical malfunctions depending on the affected module. The display on the dash has the wrench light on and the triangle light is active. This charger setup has been like this since i started working here at the airport last november and has had no issues whatsoever. This problem just occurred last week. I pulled the rear bed covers off to access the batteries which are 8 (6 volt lead acid batteries). I’ve inspected all the batteries for water level, all the battery cables are clean and water levels have been well maintained by me. I work at the San Diego airport and service and maintain a small fleet of Gem polaris golf carts. I’ve inspected all the fuses, relays, wiring to the controller. All appear to be in good condition. I measured voltage at the battery pack and I’m getting 48 volts which i believe is what i should have for 8 6 volt batteries. What is unusual is when the charge cable is connected to the unit, i’m seeing a flashing battery display but it’s not showing any bars for battery state of charge, just a display of a battery but no bars for state of charge. I’ve tried driving the unit after being on a charge for a day and it seems to have plenty of power like a full charge but the display is showing the message “ Low Batt” so obviously something isn’t right.
When was the last time this car was running OK?
Do you know if this car has the small 12v start battery under the dash?
If that is under volt/tired then it tends to cause all sorts of odd issues.
To my knowledge the last time this unit was running was the first week of December. I came back to work on December 3 from 2 days off and thats when my supervisor told me this unit was not charging. I read some post in here about those batteries but i’ll need to look under the dash and also pull the front grille/cover off where the controller is and see if i can find a small battery somewhere. This problem definitely sounds like a communication issue based on the code that is stored in the display. Today is my friday so i won’t be back to work till Tuesday. I’ll let you know if i make some progress on this issue. Thanks
Just FYI- 48v on a 48v lead acid pack is considered depleted and in need of a charge. You should be seeing more than 51v.
Again, locate your charger and see if it is active.
I found a bad charger relay. It sits in front of the charger. I found the terminals in the relay severely burnt so i ordered a new one but the unit is still not charging. The dash display shows a “C” as if it is charging but after being on the charger for a minimum 4 hours, i’m not seeing any bars on the battery display to indicate the it is taking a charge. Also, when i plug the cable to the charger port, after a few minutes, i can feel the relay is getting warm and the case on the charger is getting warm so i know its beginning to charge but i wait for about maybe 30 minutes and go back to feel the charger case and relay and its cool to the touch as if it just stopped charging but the dash display is just flashing and still getting that “C” on the display. I went ahead and ordered a 6-12 battery tester so i can test these batteries. I measured all the 6 volt batteries and I’m getting 5.8 volts so they are definitely discharged and need of a charge. I’m wondering if the onboard charger on this unit is defective and shutting down after a few minutes of being plugged in. I followed the owners manual on an alternative method to get the batteries back up to a sufficient charge so the charger would recognize the cable was plugged in. It says to charge 2 batteries at a time on a 10-30 amp 12 volt setting for 15-20 minutes. I did this and then checked each battery for open circuit voltage and I’m reading 5.8 even after being on the shop charger for over 30 minutes. A read online that a fully charged 6 volt battery should show 6.3-6.4 volts. These batteries appear like they won’t accept a charge so that’s why i’m waiting for my 6-12 volt battery tester to arrive so i can verify whether these are good or not. Any tips or clues to help me fix this nightmare would be appreciated.
First step would to test all your battery’s make sure they are in good working order and your pack voltage is correct. When that’s done and you’re sure it’s not the pack I would move to the charger itself. If that’s good then I would think about having the cars BMC flashed.
I ordered a 6-12 volt battery tester to check the battery pack to see if they are any good. Thanks for the useful information. I had a feeling these batteries where not sufficient enough to take a charge. I’ll let you know after i get them tested.
Ok, so i tested my batteries and they are all measuring around 5.8-5.9 volts each. I’m thinking they should be higher for a 6 volt battery. I flipped the charger around so i could see the panel lights on the charger what it is showing and I’m getting a red flashing light on the charger LED where the triangle symbols are located. Does this mean i have bad batteries? I have another unit out at the ramp that is showing the same flashing red light on the charger next to the triangle symbols. Could it be as simple as one if the batteries are defective and i need to change them all out? Help?
When that light flashes, the charger has detected an error. You need to count the number of blinks to see exactly what the error is though.
It will blink x-many times then pause, then repeat the same x-many blinks then pause and repeat. I don’t think they throw multiple codes, at least I’ve never seen one do that and I don’t recall anything in the literature about it.
The number of blinks can mean different things depending on what company ordered the charger, Most of them are the same codes but for example 1 blink means (IIRC) Pack temp out of range on the old 72V GEM only chargers, but on the generic 1000 & 1500 chargers it means the pack is over voltage.
If it’s comming on immediately when you plug it in and you are seeing < 6V per battery with your tester, it’s likely 2 blinks which is low voltage (too low to start the charge). You’ll have to charge each battery individually with a simple dumb charger to get them up to the start voltage for the DQ.
If it’s 6 blinks, your charger is toast.
IF you are going to replace all the batteries, you may want to consider a lithium pack that is tailored specifically for GEMs. (not the LFP / LiFePo4 lead acid look alike “drop ins” that they sell on line, those are just headaches). Cost is close, ,performance is better and you’ll never wear it out. We can steer you to the right people if you want to go that way.
What kind of a battery “tester” did you get?
A full work up of your batteries is in order. There is more involved than just a voltage check. You should also load test them. But first you need to get some charge into them.
You also say they are 6v, so there must be 8 of them in this car? ← Confirm.
Back up around post 7 you mentioned this:
5.8 volts so they are definitely discharged and need of a charge…
I followed the owners manual on an alternative method to get the batteries back up to a sufficient charge so the charger would recognize the cable was plugged in. It says to charge 2 batteries at a time on a 10-30 amp 12 volt setting for 15-20 minutes. I did this and then checked each battery for open circuit voltage and I’m reading 5.8 even after being on the shop charger for over 30 minutes.
When you hooked up your 12v charger to a pair of batteries,
- did you note how many amps it was putting into them?
- how long did you leave them to charge? ← (Depending on the answer above, this needs more than 15-20 mins.) Using a normal car charger, this is probably an all day procedure (per pair), and you NEED to see a difference. Starting off at 5.8 and ending with 5.8 means something it wrong.
- how many of the pairs did you charge? ← (should have been ALL of them)
These batteries appear like they won’t accept a charge so that’s why i’m waiting for my 6-12 volt battery tester to arrive so i can verify
- How old are these batteries? Look for a two digit code sticker with a letter and a number. They should all be the same.
- What type? Do you need to add water?
I purchased a KINGBOLEN BM580 6-12 precision battery tester. It’s really easy to use and had a lot of positive user reviews. I found out from a tech next door at Southwest that is familiar with these golf carts that these batteries need to be on the charger for quite a while and needs to have the algorithms reset. I removed the screws to the onboard charger and flipped the charger around so i could see exactly what the LEDS on the charger were displaying and it was flashing a red led light 2 times which means the batteries are too low and need to be charged. So i charged 4 batteries last night and after charging all night checked them and measured 6.5. I will charge the other 4 today and know more but he said the algorithm will need to be reset since the charger cannot recognize the batteries. I found the instructions for this delta q charger last night and gives the procedures for resetting the algorithm.
So i checked the number of flashes on the led panel and I’m getting 2 flashes which means the batteries are too low for the charger to recognize the batteries so i guess the first thing to do is to charge all the batteries up to a normal charge and go from there. I charged 4 batteries last night and was reading 6.9 after the charger stopped which is pretty good so now i need to charge the other 4 and go from there.
he said the algorithm will need to be reset since the charger cannot recognize the batteries.
No- you only need to reset the charger algorithm if you change battery type. Leave that alone. Your factory BMC (Batt Management Computer) sets that and if it detects that your manually changed the charger profile, it will attempt to change it back.
Perhaps you misunderstood your tech neighbor. Since you are charging these batteries with an outside source, the BMC is not seeing this and may wake up confused. It may still show Low Batt and one bar on the display even tho your batteries are charged. You may need to disconnect your small pony battery and let everything reset.
Make sure that fried relay you found (and replaced) is functioning or your charger will still not see it and give you a Red(2). The error represents Battery out of range, but could also be “Battery Not Found”
How old are these batteries?
Thomas Edison has got to be turning over in his grave… Lol
I hooked our battery charger to charge the other 4 batteries today until i was satisfied that the batteries were atleast 6 volts. Once i was sure my batteries were sufficiently charged, i plugged in the charge cord to the onboard charger and went abouts my usual business. I came back several hours later and noticed that the battery display on the dash was showing 3 bars. I haven’t seen that in a while. But then there was also a message on top of battery bar that said “charger fault “ now I’m confused. the led display on the charger is also flashing 2 red blinks indicating an error. Either i have some bad batteries or i got a bad charger. These batteries were made in 2022 so they are not that old. Where do i go from here?
And the small pony battery i already tested that one and its got 12.5 volts. Do i need to disconnect the positive side cable on my pony battery for some time to reset the system?
Ok, You need to start reading my suggestions completely. It seems from the beginning you are grabbing one paragraph and running off, ignoring the rest of the text.
As an effort to speed this along, I am giving you several steps, and I am not seeing the results from half of the suggestions.
Maybe I need to offer one thing to try at a time?
Today’s task-
- unplug car from house supply.
- Wait 60 seconds. Look at the CHARGER Display. (It should be dark)
- Plug the car back in and observe the display again. You should have a yellow AC Present light and the lights should do a little show as the charger boots up and does a self check.
- Then what?
- If it sees a valid packV, it SHOULD ramp up the Stage lights (1 through 6) and begin charging.
Or - do the green lights start blinking a sequence, repeat, then faults to a Red(2).