solenoid

[osagehun]

a solenoid needs a ground right? is the frame the ground?

I ask because my solenoid is definately getting the hot return from the switch. using a test light. yet it doesn't seem to be working.

thing is brand new

it has four posts
if the hot is on the right, the next closest post is the hot return from the switch right? if so what is the other smaller post for? It's wire seems to go to the motor. is that the kill?

The battery is above 75% charge

 

[drewpster]

Re: solenoid

You are correct. One of the small posts is the hot wire and the other small post is the ground.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: solenoid

Is this a starter solenoid or an electric choke solenoid? If you use a ohm meter you will probably find one of the leads is tied to body ground. If you measure the ohms between the hot lead and the ground lead you could be looking at close to 0.6 ohms. Wiring to the solenoid and battery connections become very important with low ohm devices. If the wiring is not correct and the voltage from the battery is low enough you can create a voltage divider and not get enough voltage to the selonoid to fire it off.

Four lugs would probably voltage from the battery, ground then the other two are the switch that the solenoid becomes when it is engaged.

 

[SFT2]

Re: solenoid

If I remember right, having not messed with a divorced solenoid starter in ages, the big terminals batt + and starter, the small ones are ignition + and ground. I'd make sure all the connections are clean and tight. I was having a starter problem last week, turned out to be a bad connection on the positive battery cable right at the terminal. Cut and stripped the end, cleaned up the terminal, and it fired right up. Could be the same deal on the solenoid ground.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: solenoid

90% of starter problems are bad connections. remove and clean both ends of the battery cables, so that they are shiney, also the cable from the solenoid to starter. check for nicks in the cables. and make sure the connectors are on the wire good. the cable tend to corrode from the inside out, if nicked, corroded wires, and connections, heat up and cause resistance to the follow of electricity, thus the starter doesn't get enough. you can also take jumper cable pos battery post to large post on starter. with a good connection, the engine should spin. then if the starter is good clean everything and retest. then trouble shoot solenoid. starters can be rebuit at a starter/alternator shop, much cheaper than a new one.

also have the battery load tested at the auto parts store, free, i've had new batteries go bad

 

[osagehun]

Re: solenoid

Thank you. I will check the voltage carry tonight.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: solenoid

Most solenoids are 3 or 4 terminal. The larger high current contacts are insulated from the case and have to be of very low resistance as euro stated cause you are pumping 100 to 200 amps through a junction and you don't want to loose more than 1 volt of your available 12.....which, as tas stated, requires all terminals to be clean, bright, and tight (inside where the metal touches, not necessarily outside where you can see it).

The coil (that closes the high current contacts) is a low current circuit that energizes on roughly 5 amperes (give or take). You have a 12v terminal being supplied by the START switch (sometimes), or is hard wired to the ON switch of your ignition switch. On 3 terminal units, the case is ground so the case has to be connected to the engine block with a clean connection. On this arrangement START is what energizes it.

On 4 terminal units, usually the 4th terminal is floating (not connected to the case) and you have to get your ground elsewhere......like on a farm tractor, for safety, there is a transmission neutral switch that supplies ground to the 4th terminal. In this case, the ignition key it turned to ON and the coil is energized by pushing a button (switch) on top of the transmisson.....cause people like to stand next to their tractors and start them and without a safety switch, and if the tranny were in gear, it will start up and run over the owner. Happens too frequently in older tractors.

NAPA has a solenoid sales catalog that has the schematic on all their solenoids so you can pick out what you want....and NAPA sells marine parts.

Mark

 

[osagehun]

Re: solenoid

???

 

[osagehun]

Re: solenoid

more confusing. the voltage off the battery reads 27. I thought it should read 12.7? I am using a sperry dm-210a voltmeter.

A battery is a direct current right?

 

[flabum]

Re: solenoid

more confusing. the voltage off the battery reads 27. I thought it should read 12.7? I am using a sperry dm-210a voltmeter.

A battery is a direct current right?

What is it that you are working on? If you are reading 27 volts, then you have a 24 volt system. If this is indeed a 24 volt system, then you need to be sure your new solenoid is rated for 24 volts on the primary windings.

The two small posts are to activate the solenoid, one is for a ground and the other goes to what ever switch is to activate it. The two large posts are the high amperage contacts the circuit needs to make, one will go to the battery, the other will go to whatever device it is powering up.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: solenoid

Yup! A 27V AC battery has not been invented yet. Nor is there a 27V DC battery. So the logical conclusion would be that you are doing something wrong. Meter is set to the wrong scale or wrong function. You want DC Volts. Red probe on the positive terminal and Black probe on the negative terminal. With a good battery you should read 12.6V give or take a little.

 

[drewpster]

Re: solenoid

My meter has a symbol to represent the DC setting. (see attached thumbnail)
Or some I have seen have the letter V over or under the symbol.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: solenoid

Here ya go! Can't make it any clearer.

 

[achris]

Re: solenoid

It don't get any simpler than that... Can't even get current on that little baby.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: solenoid

As I recall the Douglas Aircraft Co.'s DC-3 (gooney bird) ran inverters off 28V batteries.

Mark

 

[osagehun]

Re: solenoid

Should I get a voltage reading of 11.53, at the starter, by touching the green wire and the white wire to the solenoid?

then it goes to 0.00 if I turn the starter to start

 

[achris]

Re: solenoid

Let' start with - What engine are you playing with so we all know what colour code we are talking about? On most engines the feed to the starter solenoid (we are working with a starter solenoid, right?) from the ignition key is yellow/red and the ground is black. The 2 heavy leads (the switched terminals) should be red battery leads.

If you have green and white we are talking about something completely different. You need to find out which is ground and which is from the operating switch.

Chris.............

 

[osagehun]

Re: solenoid

the green is the lead from the lug connected to the battery(pos) and the white would be the switched lead. yes a starter solenoid.

The engine is a 1961 evinrude lark 3 40hp

 

[eurolarva]

Re: solenoid

Should I get a voltage reading of 11.53, at the starter, by touching the green wire and the white wire to the solenoid?

then it goes to 0.00 if I turn the starter to start

This sure sounds like you solenoid is working. Before you turn the switch on the ignition you are looking at an open switch on the solenoid. That is why you are reading 11 volts from lead to lead. When you switch the ignition switch on you energize the soleniod creating a closed switch between the green and white lug. First off what does your battery read from the minus to the plus terminal. If it is only 11.53 volts your problem is not the solenoid but your battery is fried. You should read about 12.6 volts on a battery a day after it has been charged.

 

[HondaPower]

Re: solenoid

Don't know if this is any help. I recently found this generic remote solenoid starter wiring diagram on the net. It helped me install an electric start system on a friends old pull start 20Hp ruddy. For a switch we used a heavy duty momentary push button .