Looking again (small phone scrern) i might be remembering wrong about the location of the plastic cover up dot. The spot I just sent you to might be for an onboard led. The dial might be next to the connector. It’s been a while and I no longer have my old zivan. If you wipe the dust off, you should be able to see it
I’m hauling the GEM on a trailer but pulled over (cold and windy here so snapped a quick photo). Seems to be a circular disk under the red wire (LED?) and no sticker in sight.
You guys are a great help. I also attached a picture of the disabled key (old owner likes kill switches). Unfortunately no key came with the GEM for the back latches. Hoping that code # on key allows me to make a key.Uploading: 20210108_104951.jpg…
The early gems used Medico double bevel cut security keys. Be easier and cheaper to get a whole new “ignition” switch than get a new key for that one. EBay if you want Medico, or NAPA auto has a normal one that fits. It’s in the “alternate and superseded parts” thread.
Btw, only trailer it forward facing or the windshield could pop out. Also pull up any seat bottoms and put them in your truck or they’ll fly out at highway speed
Well… crap. I hate giving out bum advice. Even worse if it makes someone get out of his tow vehicle on a cold windy day to snap a picture proving me incorrect.
I trolled the archives and found a few pics that must have been an older Zivan model with the selector dial right in that exact spot. You have a status LED there. Next time you plug in the car to charge see if it is working. If you are keeping that charger I found a manual for it. It might help with understanding what it is telling you.
I suppose if you were really ambitious you could dismount the whole charger, pop the cover off, and look around for the new home of the selector dial. Looking close at your front facing pic, I see two warning labels and one has a little dimple in it. It is either a hole back there or a casting/eject pin in the case. Maybe that is it?
My car also did not come with a set of keys. If you read through the archives, the outlook reads as fairly grim at getting easy/cheap replacements. Your column key looks kinda butchered so it may already be changed out anyway so going NAPA might be best. Also- that toggle on the column looks like a real knee basher. If there is a number on it that I am not seeing, and it happens to be CH751 There is a member on here that had a wad of extra keys he was giving out. They were for a late model car and I doubt it would fit.
Personally, I am tempted to just put a switch on the dash and call it done. But that is best left as another thread.
You aren’t totally at fault for putting an arrow pointing at the wrong something that I described vaguely.
That actually looks like it might be an older Zivan NG-1. All the newer ones that I’ve seen have a hole with a cover-up to get to the selector dial, part of this has to do with Zivan adding more battery types and profiles to the chargers over the years.
The tri-color status LED on the steering pod above the BDI is a remote for the on-board LED on the charger. It gives all the exact same codes. Some, or maybe all, of the GEM chargers didn’t even have the LED on the charger itself.
The dial won’t be on the “front” where the stickers are (which is technically actually the top of the unit, GEM mounted them vertically) as, if memory serves, it’s on a sub-board with the eeprom that is plugged into the main backplane board.
While I don’t really recommend taking it apart, it is pretty easy. Just pull the plate out and the cover is held in place by re-useable plastic rivets, just push the core pin in a bit. Have to be careful when you are in there because of all the little stuff and when putting it back together because the daughter boards can move around and not end up being held in place properly or break contact.
Also the interlock connector is kind of a problem. If they didn’t scrape the extra varnish off on the pads on the PCB when they did the upgrade, when you reconnect it might not make contact and you’ll have an open circuit which makes the cart think you are charging so it won’t run.
Overall, the 2000-2004 GEMs have little in common with the later models. I have an '02 and a '10 and the improvements were massive.
Suspectinh the 2 setting choices for this model Zivan charger are accomplished by terminal chois on the red and green wires.
So…being/brave (or stupid) I decided to plug in the charger. No beeps…nothing. hmm. It worked before the battery exploded…Wonder if that incident fried something (charger or controller?)
The cart works…and shows 79% charge. I verified with meter, 12.6V on all batteries.
Just re-read jrjava’s full response. I’ll take a look for setting locations tonight and hey…maybe it’ll decide to charge like it did before the new batteries were installed 
Red and green wires are the interlock. Their order isn’t relevant. When the charger is plugged in, it opens a relay between them, this prevents the cart from coming on. If you change the charger to something without an interlock, just wire nut or crimp them together.
If your charger is dead, there is an internal slow-blow ceramic fuse, but it’s an odd value that’s hard to find. You have to special order it by calling mouser or digi-key. If they even have it anymore. It’s also soldered in. Not a high success rate either, most people who replaced fuses just found that the charger would blow that one too. When it goes, usually the charger is done. Better off replacing the charger at that point.
Wow, you really know these vehicles and people able to troubleshoot electrical vehicle issues are a dieing breed.
I found that the charger is fine. I plugged it in directly under the dash and worked right away! Something must have shook loose in my 400 mile trailer transport of it. Between the seat plug and the charger (oddly).
Btw. It seems to have great range so far.(drove it pre’charge for 10 miles and it only dropped to 74V on these new batteries) it was plugged in all night with unchanged charger profile. Hopeful its set okay
I wouldn’t say I know these vehicles so much as I know the '02 I bought which had been run pretty hard and put away wet by the previous owners (UC student bus line), so I’ve had to replace or repair a a lot on there and I’ve also used it as an experimental test bed for some things for INWO. Lot of guys on here who know way more.
As for the Zivan chargers, I’m 20 minutes from the sole US distributor and back before mine died, I had taken it in and had them tweak it. Them, lol, it’s one guy and big warehouse full of stuff. Can’t remember his name anymore, but really knows his ■■■■. Hard to follow at times, he talks really fast and goes on tangents about the chargers and how they work. It was a really informative hour that I was there for.
All of that and 25 cents will get a cup of coffee, a very, very small one…
Irony of it all is that I kind of hate the '02. Love / hate. Stress the hate. Someday I’ll get the time to put my '10 back together.
Ah, a 2002 GEM project education with emphasis on a chargers 
All left on mine seems simple as its only showing 5240 miles. AND you mentioned it has upgraded motor. Very happy with all that and how nice Interstate battery was.
Left on the list:
-2 seals delaminated @ front window (thx for the reverse trailer warning btw)
-left mirror (aftermarket) threads stripped
-charge cable from rear seat inoperable
-ingnition key and cylinders x 4
Headed out for some adhesive caulk and attempting a thru bolt idea for mirror today.
Any tips appreciated and the big question for your charger yoda-ness…can I ruin these new batteries with the way my charger is set ?(I assume this old one only has two settings anyway)
Wondering if they will poop out in 6 months also ;(
Is that an actual LED in that spot or a little plastic plug? Do you have a status led on the dash that you can watch? This may help with what mode it is in the charge cycle.
Otherwise, closely monitor you battery voltages with a meter. Report back your findings.
I also found a pic of the OTHER charger with the selector in that same spot. So we are thinking the selector is a later model?
And here is the other model with the status led in that spot
I have the steering wheel status indicator. It is solid red and at 75V …just started charging. The charger gave an indication on steering wheel indicator of yellow then green solid. I’ll monitor.
Charge does 2 x triple beeps when plugged in.
That circular thing is a plug…back shown in pic.
Thinking a jumper is missing for those pins next to DIN
Clearly a board change in generation. I wouldn’t touch anything. Close it back up.
What are your voltages on your new batteries?
Do a voltage check on all of them and a pack total.
Write them down, and note status of the light.
Voltages up to 79V total, 12.9-13.1 V each. The status LED on steering went from red at around 73V to yello then green. When it reach green, it flashed and made an 'alarm type sound. I unplugged then.
I was warned that lead acid are touchy, and see that the flashing green with audible (for newer chargers) is a “Timeout” Phase I or II duration maxed out? This is according to @JarJarJava’s chart above.
Having no idea what that means, I immediately unplugged and waited a few hours to plug back in. Now it’s back at yellow with no audible. Hoping its Okay to leave plugged in and charging doesn’t involve constant monitoring (someone having to catch this audible sound and quickly unplug?).
I’m a little concerned I’ll be converting to Lithium sooner than later. Seeing that these last Interstate Batteries (31-ECL ‘extreme cycle’) last only 7 months with prior owner, I’m non-optomistic. Wrong type battery maybe but haven’t deep cycle lead-acid have a long history in golf carts?
Sounds like its working normally. You can leave it plugged in.
Going back to partial charge when you plugged it back in is normal. That’s actually how you equalize the batteries.
Those batteries don’t appear to be deep cycles. Not sure how long they will last.
Don’t run below 40%. You’ll murder the batteries. 12.0v is depleted.
Just guessing but I’d say those numbers are looking ok, but maybe a bit low. Was it in a charge cycle when you took those numbers? Or was it unplugged and at rest for a while? Look around online for a spec sheet on your exact batteries. It should have recommended voltage range for charging.
At least it wasn’t too high. Excessive heat is your enemy. You risk boiling all your water out. This is the hazard of running a “Sealed/Maint” free battery that you cant check water level and top off if needed. They call it “sealed” but they still have a pressure vent. The reason you need to check voltages is if one starts to go low, the others will work harder(which means more heat). Whenever you check in on your cart listen for boiling in the batteries. Feel the battery for heat, especially since you don’t know your temp sensor is working. Get to know what is normal, then you will know when something starts to go awry.
It sounds like the Timeout/Max out is just the charger shutting itself down due to it taking too long to come up to an target voltage. Don’t worry about being there to yank the plug. Hopefully the light continues to blink indicating to you that it failed to complete its charging cycle without you being there. This error might be just because the batteries are new. Waiting a bit and plugging it back in is good because it will run it through another charge cycle and possibly top it off this time. If it continues to need a second cycle then yes- it may need to be addressed.
For now- Go use your car. Get to know it’s limits as it is and see if it fits your needs. Your car is 19 years old!! There will be other things needing fixed/upgraded/or just personalized. Don’t stress over lithium just yet. If you want to upgrade anything the next step would probably be the charger. You would probably need to do that for lithium anyway.
Hi all,
So I left my cart without use for 2 months (unplugged with brand new interstate batteries), but now I get audible double beep and flashing red LED.
It warns me of emergency brake so it’s not discharged … what is that flash red mean? Goes yellow, clicks (as usual), then the warning.
Left it unplugged for now.
Thx!
Scrolling back in the thread I see you have a Zivan charger.
You say you are getting an double beep and how many flashes on the red light? Is it a repeating code?
When you left it unplugged, did you also shut off the main breaker?
Guessing:
It may be that the overall pack voltage has dropped below the threshold of the charger. You will need to boost charge up each 12v cell with a separate charger and try again.
Verify this first by checking each battery with a meter and report back your findings.