Club Car On-Board Computer FAQ
The original charger on a Club Car consists of two parts; the on-board computer (OBC) and the off-cart charger. The on-board computer's function is to tell the charger to turn on or off based on the battery condition. It also turns off the cart when charging to avoid damage.
How To Determine If You Have An On-Board Charge Computer
Follow the cable back from Battery Minus Cable on your battery pack to the motor controller. If the cable goes through a hole in a square box (see the picture below), you have an On-Board Computer. If it doesn't you don't.
On-Board Computer By-Pass
Most replacement chargers have built-in computers and some people by-pass the on-board computer on the cart. Normally the on-board computer is not removed because it is so integrated and would require a major rewire. To by-pass, splice a wire from the negative line coming from the back of the battery charge receptacle plug to the negative side of the battery pack.
Compression Lug Installation For New Cables
If you get a new cable set from us, and you do have an on-board computer, we will send you an open ended cable that goes through the hole in the computer, and then you will need to install an included compression lug on the other end. Here are instructions and pictures for how to do this. This is only necessary if you are not by-passing the computer with an upgraded charger as described above.
Resetting The OBC To Solve Controller Problems
Sometimes the OBC gets in a fault mode and does not reset itself properly. When this happens your controller will not power up. Removing the controller has the effect of a soft reset of the OBC. This can lead to a mistaken diagnosis of a faulty controller. A manual reset of the OBC will eliminate this problem. Read this document for instructions on resetting your On-Board Computer.