• Rascal 260 Le

Having trouble diagnosing a couple of electrical issues with this scooter. I would appreciate some assistance in determining whether the charger is (or is not) outputting the required voltage and how the failure of the ammeter (onboard) to register any amps during charging is (or is not) related. This is a 24 Volt scooter.

The two batteries have been tested as okay. The voltage readings discussed here are taken with a Voltmeter connected across the battery terminals. The on-board charger is a 24V DC charger with a 29.4 V max rating output. The on-board ammeter has a black and red wire connected to the rear of it with these two wires leading to the output harness of the on-board charger.

Polaris 2015 500 sportsman x2 manual,2007 nissan quest owners manual. Factory service repair manual,cpt code for piv insertion,rascal 260 le scooter. Electric Mobility Scooter (Rascal 260le). The owner manual references several times that the circuit board is programmable. Rascal mobility scooter 260 LE. EBooks Rascal 260 Le Scooter Manual are currently available in various formats such as PDF, DOC and ePUB which you can directly download and save.

This scooter also has an on-board voltage gauge. The first issue is the on-board ammeter is not functioning.

Rascal 260 Le

It is supposed to indicate 1 or 2 amps when the on-board charger is plugged in depending on how drained the batteries are. The batteries have been drained to various levels without any movement of the ammeter needle when the charger is plugged into ac power. The second issue is the batteries will not hold a full charge. After charging for 8 hours or so, the on-board voltage gauge will indicate 25 volts or so, but very little usage will drain off 2.0 volts. The batteries take a charge but never reach more than 12.7 to 12.8 volts each.

(As measured with a Voltmeter.) Voltage readings have been taken across the battery terminals with the charger connected and disconnected with a 0.1 V difference. This 0.1 V difference between charging and not charging test occurs at most every level of battery charge state. I am not sure how to go about testing the charger voltage output other that across the battery terminals.

Seems to me with the batteries in a 70% drained state I should get more than 0.1 V difference in voltage readings between charger plugged in and not plugged in. Do I have a faulty on-board charger or on-board ammeter? Having trouble diagnosing a couple of electrical issues with this scooter. I would appreciate some assistance in determining whether the charger is (or is not) outputting the required voltage and how the failure of the ammeter (onboard) to register any amps during charging is (or is not) related. This is a 24 Volt scooter. The two batteries have been tested as okay. The voltage readings discussed here are taken with a Voltmeter connected across the battery terminals.

The on-board charger is a 24V DC charger with a 29.4 V max rating output. The on-board ammeter has a black and red wire connected to the rear of it with these two wires leading to the output harness of the on-board charger. This scooter also has an on-board voltage gauge. The first issue is the on-board ammeter is not functioning. It is supposed to indicate 1 or 2 amps when the on-board charger is plugged in depending on how drained the batteries are.

The batteries have been drained to various levels without any movement of the ammeter needle when the charger is plugged into ac power. The second issue is the batteries will not hold a full charge. After charging for 8 hours or so, the on-board voltage gauge will indicate 25 volts or so, but very little usage will drain off 2.0 volts. The batteries take a charge but never reach more than 12.7 to 12.8 volts each. (As measured with a Voltmeter.) Voltage readings have been taken across the battery terminals with the charger connected and disconnected with a 0.1 V difference. This 0.1 V difference between charging and not charging test occurs at most every level of battery charge state.

I am not sure how to go about testing the charger voltage output other that across the battery terminals. Seems to me with the batteries in a 70% drained state I should get more than 0.1 V difference in voltage readings between charger plugged in and not plugged in. Do I have a faulty on-board charger or on-board ammeter? Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately the repair is on me for now GopherT. The batteries have been taken in for a load test and they were ok, auto parts houses do not have the right equipment to load test accurately AGM batteries. At least so I was told.

The batteries will take a charge and somewhat hold the charge, just don't think they are being charged fully IMHO. But, I am confused about the failure of the on-board ammeter to function and whether it is related somehow, or involved in the electrical issue. As I posted the on-board ammeter is directly wired to the output of the on-board charger. The little I know of electronics. Ammeters must be wired in series I think.

The other lead coming out of the charger has 3 wires that go into a white 3 prong connector, which is connected to a connector which has wires that go to the controller and other places. Dl324, how would I put a 1 amp load on the charger and how would I test the charger, other than connecting my test leads across the battery terminals? I do not have an amp meter, only a voltmeter.

I probably need to acquire one I suppose. If I had one I am guessing that I could connect the two leads in series with the on-board ammeter(between either the black or red wire connector and the tab the respective wire plugs into on the rear of the on-board ammeter).

Or, I could unplug both the red and black wire connectors on the rear of the on-board ammeter and connect each to the respective leads from the Ampmeter (which I currently do not have)? However, as dl324 indicated, I have read elsewhere that a small load needs to be applied to these type of DC chargers for the charger to output a voltage. Not sure how to do that. Thanks for the replies. Here are the specs on the charger, taken from the tag on the base of the device: Fast charge: 29.4 VDC Absorption: 29.4 VDC Float Charge: 27.6 VDC AC Input: 100 - 240 V - 2.5A DC Output: 24V - 4A After charging overnight, with limited usage this am the voltage reading taken across the battery terminals is 11.9V, 12.1V, and across both together is 24.1V.

Plugging in the charger I read 12.0V, 12.2V, and 24.2V. After a few minutes of charging the same readings are 12.1, 12.3, and 24.3V. Based on the specs on this charger, even if the charger was in 'Float Charge' state shouldn't the voltage readings taken across the battery terminals with the charger plugged in be something close to 27.6V? I am only reading 0.1V difference in voltages taken with the charger unplugged and then plugged in. Click to expand.Either your charger isn't working correctly, or it's current limited if the battery is drawing too much current.

Is there a current meter on the charger? PS I see from your OP that the ammeter is reading zero?

This could indicate a bad charger. You could try measuring the charger voltage unloaded (batteries unconnected) but some smart chargers won't charge unless it detects a battery. Another option is a load resistor connected through a 24V supply. I recon you don't have any of these items, though. Is the ammeter analog or digital? If it's digital, it could be a voltmeter measuring the drop across a sense resistor.

The simplest way is to put a 1 ohm 30W resistor across the charger. You can calculate current by measuring the voltage drop across the resistor. The charger output should be in the neighborhood of 28V. If you don't have appropriate power resistors, you could make an electronic load using a voltage regulator like an LM317 (heatsinked) drawing 1A and let the regulator dissipate most of the power. I'll post a schematic when I get to a computer with a schematic editor. Click to expand.Thanks dl324 for the schematic. The onboard ammeter is analog, it has a needle that is supposed to register 1 or 2 or 3 DC Amperes with the charger plugged in, depending on how discharged the batteries are.

According to the scooter manual it will not register if the batteries are fully charged. I believe it is not registering even 0.5A with the batteries less than 80% or 90% charged because the charger is simply not outputting enough amperes for the gauge to register and needle to move at all. Clearly, based on voltage readings taken this am the charger is 'charging' the batteries, albeit very little. Either your charger isn't working correctly, or it's current limited if the battery is drawing too much current. Is there a current meter on the charger?

PS I see from your OP that the ammeter is reading zero? This could indicate a bad charger. You could try measuring the charger voltage unloaded (batteries unconnected) but some smart chargers won't charge unless it detects a battery. Another option is a load resistor connected through a 24V supply. I recon you don't have any of these items, though. Thanks dl324 for the table showing voltages and% charged rates. I agree with the assessment of this table, but.

Call me hard headed, one of batteries is just a few months old. I understand one should replace these style batteries in pairs. Well, one battery could be pulling the other down, then again the charger could be going bad and not charging the batteries fully. And the on-board ammeter not functioning either is confusing this issue. On the surface, replace both batteries would seem like a solution.

This does not resolve why the on-board ammeter does not function as it should. Testing these style batteries should be done with a SLA battery tester, not what most auto parts shop have.

As I said in the OP, the batteries tested as OK at a local auto parts house. Unable to find a place locally that can accurately test an SLA battery. Thanks for all the thoughts on this.