cart works with no key

[peachhead]

I must have honked something up somewhere. 36v, series txt. I just installed the SR48400, big solenoid and hd f/r switch. Cart goes fine, forward and reverse. I just realized though, cart still goes when switch is off. Cart still goes when there is no key in it.
I swapped the switch with a good one, no change. This cart actually has a factory charge meter which hasn't worked for years. Today I went all through the wiring and found what looks to be the blue wire from the ignition was actually broken (looked old) so I fixed that. No change. I have been through wiring diagrams until my eyes hurt and it all looks right. The only thing I have not connected is what I believe to be the orange and black for the backup buzzer and half speed reverse maybe, at least that's what I think it is. It was not hooked up previously either.
I looked it up and found some reference to a stuck solenoid? Not sure why that would be the case if it is new but how do I test for that? I still hear it click when I press the accelerator.
I'm not that worried about it except for the fact that I don't want to burn something up down the road.
Anybody seen this before or can give me any hints I would appreciate it.
I will try to post some pictures of the wiring in the next post if that would help.

[GATORB8]

The solenoid is just a relay. Four posts, two are the coil (small) those switch the relay on, two are the switched circuit ( in from batteries, out to controller). If there is voltage across the small terminals, it means it’s being switched “on” to output to the controller.

If the solenoid were stuck on, it would continue to output 36v+ to the controller, even when no signal on the small terminals was there.

Check out the directions on ScottyBs site a couple paragraphs down: https://www.cartsunlimited.net/troub...ting-tips.html

[peachhead]

So there shouldn't be any voltage across the small terminals when switched off? I can check my other cart tomorrow and compare.

pack voltage = 38.8
voltage across small sol terminals = 36.1

[GATORB8]

Originally Posted by peachhead

So there shouldn't be any voltage across the small terminals when switched off? I can check my other cart tomorrow and compare.

pack voltage = 38.8
voltage across small sol terminals = 36.1

If I’m looking at the right wiring diagram, blue wire would feed the Power From the direction switch to the key, then green feed the solenoid turn on signal to the accelerator Then red to the solenoid.

Any chance the key is bypassed and the blue from the direction switch is connected to the green to the accelerator pedal?

[GATORB8]

Correction to that, if neither your key or accelerator control the solenoid coil voltage, they could have been bypassed straight to B+.

Would have been a shortcut solution to finding the broken blue power lead to the key.

[peachhead]

I was wondering about that too, I didn't find that broken blue wire until today. I will trace those back again tomorrow. When I got the cart it was not running at all. I had to splice a couple of wires to the f/r switch and replace the stock solenoid. It worked fine for a while (the key worked then, as I recall but maybe that's selective memory) then the controller died and that is when I bought the new parts. I will have to dig a little deeper into tracing everything back tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far.

[GATORB8]

Good luck!

[peachhead]

results of trying to trace wires. I hope this doesn't make your eyes cross, maybe someone can see something that doesn't look right.

Blue from key switch to F/R switch
Green from key switch to 4 way plug going to footswitch
Sol - black to Black J1
Sol + red to 4 way plug to footswitch
Orange to blue J1. other end not connected. goes to reverse buzzer I think
Sol + red to J1 red
J1 green - empty
white from charge port to pack +
black from charge port to pack -
red from charge port to F/R
also the two cables from the charge indicator, black to pack -, red to pack +

controller b+ to sol +
sol + to pack +
the cables from motor to controller are correct per the diagram.

i tried to wire everything based on the instructions I got from ScottyB when I bought the controller/sol/f/r switch. they are good instructions. plus the wiring diagrams in the controller manual and cart service manual. I also checked the footswitch and everything looks right in there.

What did I miss?

[GATORB8]

Sounds right. The first two Sol references are the smaller coil leads, right?

Pull one lead off the key switch, and it shouldn’t go. If it doesn’t the check continuity on the key switch. Resistance should be almost nothing when on, and off the charts in off.

[peachhead]

took switch off entirely, still works. continuity from blue wire goes to F/R a, also to any positive post in the battery pack.

Going to look at it some more after work today, even if I have to unwire everything and start over.