Out of the blue - No Solenoid

[Hunter450]

Hey Guys,

Like the title says I get in the cart back it out of the garage, do a few things, get back in the cart and no solenoid.

A little background....A couple of years ago I installed a simple on/off switch on my dash that by-passed the micro switch in the MCOR (switch blue to green wire #6 pin) so the solenoid would not engage or drop out every time I pushed down or let up on the foot pedal. When I get in the cart I turn the key switch on, flip the by-pass on and then place the FNR switch in F or R and the solenoid clicks once and the cart moves. As long as I switch from forward to reverse without resting too long in neutral, the solenoid never drops out until I stop and put the cart in neutral, turn off the by-pass switch or key switch.

Can someone provide a straight forward sequence of test so I can determine why my solenoid is not activating? BTW I have an Alltrax XCT500 controller and HD solenoid.

I appreciate any help. Thanks

[Fairtax4me]

Key On, Check voltage on the small wires at the solenoid.
Should have pack voltage on both sides. Blue wire is 48v + from key switch. Blue/Wht stripe is negative to the controller. When the solenoid coil is good voltage will pass from key sw all the way to controller and will be the same the whole way. If the coil is bad you may see lower voltage or no voltage on the Blue/wht side. If you have correct voltage here (48+ on both small terminals) move on to next step.
If No or low voltage on Blue/wht, turn key Off, remove that wire from the solenoid and check the resistance across the small terminals. It may show O.L. or ~ to indicate the solenoid coil has failed.


With meter probe on Blue/wht terminal, Place in F or R and press the pedal, voltage should drop from 48+ to 0v. If voltage does not drop, check other controller inputs. Controller is not giving activation command either because it's not seeing Key/ FnR/ T/R, or throttle switch inputs, or because it has failed.
Also you can plug in the laptop and check in the Toolkit for any errors that may indicate the controller is not getting correct inputs.

[Hunter450]

Thanks Fairtax....I'll start the testing and report what I find. I assume I can disconnect the 16 pin connector to the Alltrax to check other inputs from key, FnR, T/R & MCOR correct? I'll try the laptop
/toolkit inputs first....sorry, brain got rusty over a few years,

[Fairtax4me]

You don't have to disconnect any part of the harness for testing.
The back of the connector is open enough to stick meter probes into easily.

I would check everything in the Toolkit first before poking around with the harness. Any missing inputs will be visible there.

[Hunter450]

Here is what I have:

Solenoid small post - 50.1 v on each post

From Alltrax Toolkit:

Key Switch input - good
Foot Switch inputs - good with either pedal or the by-pass switch on.
FnR Switch inputs - good for F & R

No error codes showing in Toolkit.

[WalterM6]

The main purpose of the solenoid is for use as a Safety Contactor. Its only purpose is to shut down the car rapidly should the car get into an unsafe condition like a runaway car situation. There isn't any reason to have the solenoid energized all the time. You might want to wire it back the correct way, it might even be the Controller shutting you down because it thinks you have a welded contactor.

[Hunter450]

Originally Posted by WalterM6

The main purpose of the solenoid is for use as a Safety Contactor. Its only purpose is to shut down the car rapidly should the car get into an unsafe condition like a runaway car situation. There isn't any reason to have the solenoid energized all the time. You might want to wire it back the correct way, it might even be the Controller shutting you down because it thinks you have a welded contactor.

Understood on the safety aspect of the solenoid. Just to clarify, I installed the by-pass switch 2 years ago and it has worked great. I use my cart strictly for hunting to get me out there and get me back and the solenoid usually stays engaged until I park it. Sometimes I stealth hunt with the cart where I often stop and listen or glass along the trail and the loud HD solenoid unlatching and latching every time I stop was affecting the wildlife so I installed the switch.

What I think I have is a bad Chinese MJZ 400 solenoid. I disconnected the small negative wire from the small post and made a jumper wire straight to the battery pack negative. Turn the key switch and solenoid (if good) should engage but it didn't. I need to find the best quality HD solenoid and contact Alltrax to discuss the by-pass switch.

[Hunter450]

Final outcome regarding the solenoid.

After talking with Alltrax about my switch and how I use the cart, they didn't see an issue with the additional switch and agreed that minimizing the engage/disengage cycles would probably increase the life of the solenoid. I decided to go with a SW200 Curtis/Albright solenoid as a replacement after consulting David @ Revolution Golf Cars. I appreciate the feedback!

THANKS

[ImplantLabTech]

While it probably will not matter because David is a stand up guy and knows the stuff he sells, just to be clear since I have been down this road with another vendor, from his site it appears he is selling you an SW200 "STYLE" not a true albright. Most of the chineses stuff all over the net is just nowhere near as nice as the real mccoy but there is a price to be paid. Maybe he has found a decent vendor

Good luck on your repair

[Hunter450]

Originally Posted by ImplantLabTech

While it probably will not matter because David is a stand up guy and knows the stuff he sells, just to be clear since I have been down this road with another vendor, from his site it appears he is selling you an SW200 "STYLE" not a true albright. Most of the chineses stuff all over the net is just nowhere near as nice as the real mccoy but there is a price to be paid. Maybe he has found a decent vendor

Good luck on your repair

It's turkey season and the timing of my solenoid failure was terrible. I ordered the SW-200 from David's site before I had a chance to consult him. I thought I was ordering a true Albright solenoid but when it arrived there was no labeling. I spoke to David about it and he said it was a better switch than the MZJ. He said his supplier uses the SW-200 model # so that is why he shows it on his site. Yes, David helped me through my build and will stand behind what he sells. I appreciate your insight and comment.

The SW-200 is installed an my cart is back on the trail.