Hey guys, my Zivan charger in my 2002 e4 cart has gone bad. It is tripping the circuit breaker when I plug it in. I have removed the charger from the cart and when I plug it in the breaker still trips. I’m looking either for repair of this charger or a economical replacement. Any advice? I currently have flooded lead acid batteries.
Ive been looking into this all week myself. Electric Conversions in Sacramento, CA will look at it for $145, then give you a repair estimate. They can sell you a new one for $525 plus shipping and tax.
These guys https://www.ride-4-fun.com/gem-car-charger will sell you a new “super charger” for $639. Delta Q chargers seem to work well, but are pricey and you need to program them to work with your battery type. Their programming method is absolutely dreadful!
A number of people on other forums are using this one, on amazon for $159, I just ordered one myself and will post up how it goes.
72V Smart Adjustable Battery Charger
1 Like
I guess if you really had to get something, that Beleeb unit would be ok to get you out of a bind.
Specs say it only does 4A @72v (and that is just the start. It probably even tapers down as you get closer to top V.
Plan on this charger taking a while to charge up your car.
2 Likes
And in 4 months, maybe you will get the estimate for your charger repair back… Add another 3 on to that for the repair.
I’ve been to their shop, it’s a one man and his dog operation. He’s brilliant, the dog is old. And so will you be before you get the charger back… They are just overloaded.
The R$F SuperCharger$$$$$$ is nothing more than a rebranded QuickCharge Corp SCO-7210 with a $200 mark up.
I don’t ever recall seeing Dave or Michael charging anywhere near R$F prices for a DeltaQ, and they they always send them out programmed for your battery type.
3 Likes
Dq are best available. Programmers are bug free.
Can usually buy for much less than ballast style charger.
Just look for a deal on ebay. Contrary to some opinions, dq are all the same in ability to charge your battery. Any 72v model is fine.
2 Likes
I recently put 72v lifepo4 batteries and the new charger for these and i have a nearly new Zivan from a 2002 that had 345 minutes on it.
contact me if you want a working unit.
we can discuss a reasonable price for you.
1 Like
Thanks for the info! For the savings, and the seldom use of the car, Im OK with an overnite charge time.
Is it possible I can setup the Beleeb charger to use the original chargers connectors? I dont know what they call this connector (in Red). Its about 1/2 the size of the Beleeb connector (in Blue)
Or is this a bad idea? I could also use the alligator clips that come with the charger. If so, exactly where would/could/should I connect to? Direct to the 1st and Last battery posts? I think there’s one under hood, and one under the drivers seat on my '02 e825.
The blue arrow points to what appears to be an Anderson power pole connector or a copy thereof. You would be better off adapting the GEM charge leads to that, then modifying the Beleeb to use the old Zivan connector, since it’s PCB mounted. The catch with Anderson power pole is that you need to either solder the wires in or have one helluva crimper. Also, FYI, different color anderson connectors are not cross compatable, ie: red ones won’t plug into gray ones, etc. You can tell which one you have from the info on the top (amperage rating).
Not sure if this is the one you have, but here’s an example
https://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Power-Products-Connector-Housing/dp/B07CHD4JCK/
Yes #1 is under the bonnet and #6 is under the seat, I forget which one is #1 (upper or lower) and if right or left is #6, it’s easy to trace though, just follow the heavy battery cables and check with a meter.
Cut the alligator clips off and crimp on ring terminals, screw them down with the GEM power cables on the appropriate batteries. IIRC, the zivan grabs B- at the controller, not the battery terminal.
2 Likes
Oh Man, thats great intel!
Wow, had no clue. Thank you 
What do you think about this Anderson Connector Kit?
Comes with 2 connectors, both sides (red), built in LED light and a Volt Meter!
Innovative Quick Screw system eliminates the need for soldering or crimping.
https://amzn.to/3T4ZWxM
1 Like
Haven’t used it, but might be ok. I tend to avoid the Chinese made connectors for power distribution, but this is low amperage charging, so it might be fine if the screws don’t strip out
1 Like
I’m not sure how useful the little LED is going to be. I didn’t see how you were supposed to hook that up. (It’s probably set for 12v and not a good idea to hook it to 72v as it is).
2 Likes
where it’s located seems to be as a night time locator/indicator since it won’t be visible while charging. A resistor to limit the current to ~10-15ma should be all that’s needed there. Offboarding the charger would be best for non-mobile consumer chargers. Making something for a bench is far different than making an electronic device for a vehicle.
2 Likes
Thanks for the details guys… If it werent for you, I would have definately put 72V thru that LED!
While Im waiting for the connectors, I just got the charger today and made a video using the aligator clips.
First Charge
It stopped charging on its own after a few hours. OFF is displayed on the screen and shows 70.5V on the meter
So that went well, but my batteries need balancing because my charger fried (as ive learned many of these old gems do) and I was re-charging each batt seperatly the last couple weeks, tryign to bring them all up so my charger would kick in. Which it never would, because the charger fried. This all came to light when I thought it was a temperature sensor issue (which was also fried on BOTH sides!).
Anyway, this charger has a balance mode “H” on it, so after the first charge, I ran a
Balance Charge
I tested all batts after the initial charge and most were around 11.96. The loweest one was only 9.8. I just dont know if that one will come back. I was going to charge that one up seperatley, but thought Id test out their “Balance H” mode and see if it can do anything. I’ll update on that feature as soon as its done.
FYI… here are the batteries Im working with.
I dont use the cart much, and when I do, it’s very short runs, so im running $250/ea cheap batteries (Amp Hours (20 Hr Rate): 110) and now a cheap charger. If I can get back up to 72V for another couple years, I’ll be happy.
Dial that Beleeb down to 12v and give that low battery it’s own hit.
Don’t cook them.
Can you pop the caps off the top and check the water on these things?
1 Like
Yes I topped off water before anything. It’s still charging on lowest amp setting. It should autostop soon. It tested 13.2v, but not fair the charger was connected. I’ll check that low batt after it’s rested in am.
2 Likes
YES! That worked! The balance charge put all batts pretty close to 13.15v, after a rest. I never got to that with the original NG1. Even the low one that was 9.8 came up. Dam thats awesome. The quick connects are coming today, I’ll get those in next.
Top V is one thing. Now to test for capacity and load.
Now that they are back up you should keep a log and monitor them for at least a few cycles until you are sure they are ok.
Take the car for a short drive (making longer run tests as you figure the range). Watch how fast they drop off. Use your meter and ref it to your PID on your dash (which may no longer be accurate). On a perfectly balanced/matched pack the batteries all go down and come up the same. If one drops faster, keep an eye on that one. It will be your weak one.
As soon as the first battery gets close to 12v you better be close to home. The rule is to not take LA Wet cells down past 50% SOC or you will damage them. (Yes- a 12v battery is considered dead at 12v ← SHOCKER!!! ).
As you cycle these batteries they may come up a bit in range, maybe not. It depends on their history. Make sure any low ones come back up when charged in a group. You charger can’t tell which ones are low and how low they might be. It just applies power until it reaches it’s goal. This will over charge the high ones and boil their water out.
2 Likes
It’s likely that because Lithium batteries are sooo sensitive to over and under charging they build special Battery Management Systems(BMS) which monitor not only the full pack voltage, and sometime current going in and out, but they also monitor every battery in the pack. And often they have special bipassing shunts so high batteries don’t get over charged while the low batteries are brought up.
Pb/Lead Acid batteries don’t have this ‘I’ll blow up if you look at me wrong’ feature so it’s very uncommon to see a BMS on a Pb based system.
1 Like
Thanks so much for all you’re really great knowledge on this. I really appreciate everyone’s help with this, and I know many people will be following along and gaining huge insite on this for a long time to come.
So, just got back giving her a good wash, put the seat on, turned the key, dropped the brake… pressed the pedal…
… Nothing
switched the main on/off twice…
Hmmm, main switch is on, alarm buzzes when toggling switch to Road/Turf.
Do I need to complete the circuit here before it will move?
When you removed your Zivan charger, besides pulling that battery connector(left in the pic above) you also pulled a round plug which was like an old keyboard connector(had batt temp sensor and dash LED wires) AND you pulled two individual wires which had female spade receptacles. Those 2 wires were your safety switch so you did not drive off when your charge plug was plugged in. So if you don’t have a charger onboard, you can just jumper those two wires( white and green?) together.
I forget what that feature is called, Interlock?, you’ll find many discussions about this throughout the forum.
1 Like