Solenoid problems

[83liftedezgo]

If you jump the 2 main legs of the solenoid on a 48 volt controller cart and it does nothing does that mean the controller is bad

[Bmatlock00]

No, it could still be a number of things... Is the solenoid not clicking when the pedal is pressed? Also the year/model and what type of drive system you have?

[83liftedezgo]

The cart is a yamaha with the tow run switch it was running fine we just bough it Saturday and put batteries in it rode it for about 10 minutes stopped and that was all it don't it has power on both the small terminals on the solenoid

[Bmatlock00]

I'm not familiar with yamahas, you will probably get a faster response if you post this in the yamaha section. If they are like ezgo's I hope you had the switch in tow mode while replacing the batteries.

[83liftedezgo]

I've posted stuff there but nobody responds I did have the switch in tow mode I found out today that the yamaha a were bad about burning controllers I hope y'all can atleast give me an idea cause the yamaha side of the forum don't answer questions to good

[JohnnieB]

In the other place you described it as a 96 G-19E 48V cart.

Here's a schematic and Owner manual for it.

Getting the solenoid to energize when the pedal is pushed is the first step.
Looks like B+ is applied when Run/Tow switch is in Run and B- is applied via Pin-11 on the controller.
You mentioned you had voltage on both sides of the Solenoid coil (Small terminals). If you are saying you have B+ on both sides of the solenoid coil, it means the solenoid coil is okay (has continuity) and the controller isn't turning it on.

My guess is that the keyswitch has to put B+ on Pin 6, the pedal switch has to put B+ on Pin-3 and the F/R switch has to put B+ on Pin-4 or Pin-5, or maybe both depending on whether it is in F or R, to get the controller to apply B- to Pin-11.

If you have B+ on those pins and the controller isn't turning the solenoid on, I suspect the controller is bad.
The good news is that Alltrax DCX controllers work in it.

[scottyb]

If the solenoid has a precharge resistor on it, as it should, then you will read 36+ on both sides of the solenoid regardless of whether the solenoid is engaging or not.
For clarity remove one side of the resistor for testing.

[83liftedezgo]

scottyb there is no resistor on the solenoid and it has 50 volts on both small teminals if i jump the 2 big terminals it dosent engage anything and still wont move

[83liftedezgo]

johnnieb it gets positve when u put the switch in run but has 50 volts on both small lugs no ground and no precharge resistor

[JohnnieB]

Okay, the solenoid coil has B+ applied and the coil is intact, but the controller isn't supplying the ground (B-) to energize it.
Either the controller isn't being told to energize the solenoid by the pedal switch (key switch also has to be on and maybe some other things) or the controller is being told to energize the solenoid and isn't doing it (Bad Controller)

The fact that the cart won't run when the solenoid contacts are jumpered points to a bad controller, or a bad throttle input to the controller.

The throttle appears to be a potentiometer, with the ends connected to pins 8 and 9, and the wiper connected to pin 7. If you get a varying voltage on pin 7 when the pedal is pushed (referenced to either pin 8 or 9) the throttle input to controller is probably good and the controller is bad.