I have a 2001 gem 825/2. Was working fine. I plugged in the charger, went to dinner, came back and charger was off, no indicator light. I check to see ac cord was secure and nothing. I bypassed car an checked incoming voltage at charger and it is 117v ac. charge indicator reads 80 percent. the car drives perfectly. 75v at the controller, 75 volts at the DC plug to the batts. All battery connections are clean and tight as is evidenced by the 75.5 volts and normal performance. The thermal probe is connected, but not sure how to test it. The ground and “field” are connected but not sure what voltage it should have to energize charger. I hate to condemn the charger and find out it was a controll issue. If I unplug the thermister and the field wires should the charger power on? How can I test charger outside of car? Also, on my dash, the green light is blinking. ( 4 flashes, then a long green, then 4 fast then 1 long). Any ideas??
Thats an error code. It thinks your batteries are too hot. Its not uncommon for the thermal sensor to fail.
On the top of the zivan charger, find the round din-5 cable / plug (looks like a 1980’s keyboard plug) and unplug it and leave it unplugged. Unplug the 120v extension cord from the car, wait q few minutes and plug the car back in. See if the charger comes on.
You will not have a tri color led on the pod. The zivan will run fine without the sensor
Thanks, I’ll try that in the morning. If it works, I’ll cancel the charger I just ordered from Amazon. Any ideas on the best place to purchase a replacement thermistor?
NP.
Fry’s Electronics. Your best buys are allways at Fry’s…
You dont need the thermistor. Aside from the issue you just ran into, all it does is make minir adjustments to the voltage output iduring the charge. If its found by the charger, it just runs the default program fir that profile, which is max charge / volts. Which, for 6 big batteries in series is not a bad thing. You’ll find that the middle batteries in the series almosr always lag the others or vome out slightly lower in the finish voltage.
Also the temp of battery 2 is not necessarily representive of 5 or 6.
With everything rurned off, you can cut the end off the cabke, strip it back and cap off the two leads and then plugh the din.back in so you get the tri color led back.
If you really want the temp sensor, a couplr years back, someone posted a thread with part and pictures of how to repair
Ok, so I unplugged the thermister and left the interlock wires in place. Waited , drive it around a bit, then plugged the charger back in and it is still not powering on. Also, with thermistor still unplugged, I am still getting the four flashing lights. Does it still think the batts are too hot? Does it have to be reset manually? Is there even a reset option? I definitely have 115 going in and it’s not powering on. I can’t imagine the charger turning off on command would blow a fuse unless it powered off then back on again repeatedly… Is it worth taking it apart or should I just send it in for repairs? Thanks
What does your charger look like?
I was not aware the Zivan does any of these things upon error.
Also- when the round DIN connector is unplugged, the dash light would not be working.
Where are you observing these flashing lights?
The only thing the din connector powers is the charge indicator at the top of my dash. I am getting 4 flashing green lights on the round gauge under the numbers which is showing the hours and the e brake status. . It’s an 01 825/2. Car functions perfectly. Just charger not powering on.
I think there was a point missed. Also found on that DIN connector is the Temp Sensor. If this was a temp sensor issue, unplugging the sensor would let the charger run without it. It is intended to be a test to see if charger was hanging up on the temp sensor fault.
Two other points of note:
When the charger boots up, it goes through a sequence of beeps. If it sees something it does not like and faults for (whatever reason), and it signals with a two tone beep and blinking the light at the top of the dash pod.
It is NOT connected to the round display on your pod at all. The round display (PID) is a stand alone display.
My thoughts-
Since it appears your charger is still not booting up, It needs to be pulled. Remove the cover and show us what you find. Inside may be blackened by vaporized components. If so, this one is most likely a write-off.
If the inside looks good, you might get lucky checking/replacing the input fuse. The fuse usually doesn’t blow unless it has a reason to. I have seen two versions of the board where one has the fuse in a little holder and easy to swap. The second has the fuse soldered to the board and more difficult for the normal garage/mechanic to hack at without his boy scout soldering badge.
Yes, we covered that three posts ago. Unplugged the din and charger does not power on. No noise, no fan, no nothing. As if it had no power, however I tested AC at the charger and it has 115 volts.
Let me phrase this a bit differently,
That DIN connector has the connections for the Temp sensor AND the LED charge indicator. Unplugging the DIN deactivates both.
Your comment from post 7-
The only thing the din connector powers is the charge indicator at the top of my dash
and post 5
Also, with thermistor still unplugged, I am still getting the four flashing lights.
made me think you did not fully understand that connector.
Ok fine, regardless of my understanding, I still have no power up with the din connected or not… Thanks, I’ll pull the charger and inspect the input fuse. If it’s anything more than that, I’ll send it to zivan for a rebuild. It is obviously a charger issue and not a control issue.
Could you post a picture of your charger?
Is it bare aluminum cased or is it a black plastic rectangle?
It’s an aluminum case with a black plastic cover
Clean off your workbench real good or put a nice clean towel down and hold the charger over it and give it a little shake/bumps.
Looking for any loose components/bits that may fall out.
Do you see any damage at all? Get a light in the dark areas and look closely.
Does it smell like smoked electronics?
Inside that finned heat sink is a tunnel. Look in there too.
If you don’t see anything obvious, then yes → Check the fuse.
It is in that tall black tube/cylinder with the screwdriver slot.
Everything clean and apparently normal. Replaced fuse an it blows immediately with a spark at bottom of fuse holder. I suspect a bad 23 year old fuse holder. I’m just going to send it in and have them check everything. No update sticker, so might as well. Thanks for your help.
Question… Charger out of car. No power to car. Connected interlock wires and everything came on fine. CAN I CONNECT THE TWO INTERLOCK WIRES Thus BYPASSING THE CHARGER WITHOUT CAUSING MORE PROBLEMS?? I hVe a 72 volt charger and can charge the batts independently.
CAN I CONNECT THE TWO INTERLOCK WIRES
Yes you can. What charger are you now planning to use?
Adjustable 12 24 36 48 60 72 volt 10amp off of Amazon. Should be fine while I get this one sent out and back. Seems like nobody does anything in a hurry anymore…