jumped solenoid works

[mathemagician44]

1988 marathon shuttle with full and new 48v upgrade, Alltrax 400, HD Solenoid, FnR, wiring

Nothing moves or clicks hen I press the gas. All seems to work fine when I jump the solenoid. This solenoid is ~4 months old, but is it bad now?

If the solenoid is bad, are there any general problems that cause this that I may have caused when I replaced everything early this summer? Any things I should check to make sure there isn't a problem that will cause the next one to go bad?


Here is a bit more back story that you don't really care to know unless you are just in the mood to read:
All was great this summer, then a paper flew out while driving up hill. I let off stopped, and switched it to reverse as it was already rolling back downhill. Would go again though. No solenoid click or anything. I let it sit a day or two and the solenoid would click and it would go for as long as I held the gas (whether 6 inches or 6 miles) and then would not click or go again until it sat for a long while. Now no go and no click at all.

I appreciate all the help that many of you offered earlier this summer. Y'all definitively made our summer a lot more fun by helping me get through the 48v upgrade.

[bmr4106]

When you say "jumped", are you just shorting the two large terminals?

[mathemagician44]

Yes. I just ran the 2awg wires to the same terminal (battery side) and left the other terminal empty.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by mathemagician44

Yes. I just ran the 2awg wires to the same terminal (battery side) and left the other terminal empty.

When you do this you are bypassing a whole lot of things; basically the whole low voltage side of the system and part of the high side (solenoid).
Doing this does tell you the controller, motor, and throttle signal is good.
But it eliminates the whole solenoid activation circuit and the solenoid..... that leaves a lot to be sorted out yet.

The solenoid should click when + and - are present at the 2 small terminals.

1. is 48v present between the 2 small solenoid terminals when you try to go?