Solenoid has positive but no negative. Wont activate.

[Skuntz1]

Hello, new to this forum and golf carts in general. I picked up a used golf cart from a buddy. It is an ezgo txtpds 36v. When I bought the cart the controller was bad and so was the solenoid. I had the controller rebuilt and purchased a new solenoid. Installed the new parts and still nothing. I have 36v on the yellow wire for the solenoid trigger but no ground on the blue wire. The f&r tests good. The micro switch in the foot box is good. The its seems to test good, has .9v right when the micro switch is engaged and 2.8v at full throttle with 14.49v coming in to. I have 36v at the red wire on the 10 pin plug. Solenoid will not engage when the throttle is pressed. So my question is, what do I seem to be missing?

Now when I ground the solenoid with a jumper wire to the batteries the solenoid will engage and the cart will move, but only about half speed. I drove this cart 2 years prior to purchasing and it would get up and go pretty well. Now it will move but does not have anywhere near the power it once did. With all that being said I would appreciate any and all feedback. I have been messing with this thing for about 6 months now on and off and have made very little progress. Thanks in advance.

[JohnnieB]

Here is a schematic of a PDS showing all the wires that have to have battery pack voltage on them to get the solenoid to click.

If you have B+ (38.2V when fully charged) on all those wires, you should have B+ on J1 Pin-6 with the pedal up and 0V with pedal down, which energizes the solenoid.


If it doesn't, the controller is bad, or the blue wire is.

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Running slow when blue wire is jumpered to B- is most likely a separate issue.

Put controller in diagnostic mode and listen for beeped error codes. Text at bottom of attached label tells you how.

[Islandrunner]

I have the same problem but when I jumped the negative on the solenoid and press the pedal, controller started smoking at the run/ tow switch connector.... not sure what’s going on

[cgtech]

You need a new controller. That's what that method of diagnosis sometimes does. Also, if the tow run switch has been changed, it must be a DPST type switch (has 4 seperate screws on the switch).

[Skuntz1]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Here is a schematic of a PDS showing all the wires that have to have battery pack voltage on them to get the solenoid to click.

If you have B+ (38.2V when fully charged) on all those wires, you should have B+ on J1 Pin-6 with the pedal up and 0V with pedal down, which energizes the solenoid.


If it doesn't, the controller is bad, or the blue wire is.

-----------
Running slow when blue wire is jumpered to B- is most likely a separate issue.

Put controller in diagnostic mode and listen for beeped error codes. Text at bottom of attached label tells you how.

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate the help. I will check on all of that and see what happens. Seems weird it would be the controller since I just had it rebuilt by what seems to be a reputable source.