Ironhead How to Bench Test a Solenoid, pic & vid

[mcgoral]

Here's a good info about how solenoid works: www.aeroelectric.com/articles/strtctr.pdf

[randy3934]

cool; what I read there tells me that if I test with the solenoid body grounded that's the primary coil working, if I test with the voltage out terminal grounded I've just tested the secondary "hold" coil.

[rangerman]

I would always ground case to negative side of batter and use just the smaller post to check if solenoid is work or not if its pulling in its working.I would never use the bigger post to make a complete short of the negative and positive post on the solenoid to batter this could damage the copper washer in side solenoid plunger unit.

[IronMick]

Originally Posted by IronMick

... So i should hook up the ohmmeter during the test, and watch it while i have the jumper on the terminal? Or i could hook up the continuity section and hear the beep when the socket is drawn in?

Originally Posted by IronMick

So this means that the -ve battery cable should be connected to the short stud, not to the solenoid case? And perhaps i should keep the momentary contact on a little longer to test the hold in coil?

So i need answers to these questions. What i want is answers with no explanations or theory of why it works. Those theories are often opinions, often not well expressed, and are confusing to those who do not understand.

What i do want is to post a simple, correct procedure, what wires to hook up where, and what to do, to test the solenoid.

[2007Low]

Originally Posted by IronMick

So i need answers to these questions. What i want is answers with no explanations or theory of why it works. Those theories are often opinions, often not well expressed, and are confusing to those who do not understand.

What i do want is to post a simple, correct procedure, what wires to hook up where, and what to do, to test the solenoid.

Originally Posted by IronMick
... So i should hook up the ohmmeter during the test, and watch it while i have the jumper on the terminal? Or i could hook up the continuity section and hear the beep when the socket is drawn in?

You could connect a lamp type continuity tester to the long stud (Batt) terminal of the solenoid and the pos side of the battery. This will conduct the battery neg through the solenoid contact plate to one side of the test lamp and with the other side of the test lamp connected to the pos side of the battery, light the test light.


Quote:
Originally Posted by IronMick
So this means that the -ve battery cable should be connected to the short stud, not to the solenoid case? And perhaps i should keep the momentary contact on a little longer to test the hold in coil?

Yes that is correct. That will test the pull in coil. To test the hold in coil you would ground the case to battery negative and put battery positive to the starter relay terminal of the solenoid.

[rangerman]

hope this helps mick?

Photobucket (Videos)

Photobucket (Videos)

[Yellowstone Kelly]

Originally Posted by IronMick

So i need answers to these questions. What i want is answers with no explanations or theory of why it works. Those theories are often opinions, often not well expressed, and are confusing to those who do not understand.

What i do want is to post a simple, correct procedure, what wires to hook up where, and what to do, to test the solenoid.

The problem here is that with only the solenoid body and a socket, you can't fully test the operation of the solenoid. You can only test the pull-in and hold-in coils. Without the battery connected and the plunger installed, you can't tell if the solenoid is shorting the two large studs together internally to apply a lot of current to the starter motor, which is the solenoid's job.


To test the pull-in coil:

1. Connect ve - to short, large stud of the solenoid.
2. mometarily apply +12 volt jumper wire to small terminal. Socket should pull in. Leave it pulled in to test hold-in coil


To test hold in coil:

1. Move ve - wire from short large stud to solenoid case.
2. apply +12 volts to small terminal. Try to pull the socket out of the solenoid. The hold-in coil should resist your effort to pull the socket out while +12 volts is applied to the small terminal. Remove the +12 volts from the small terminal, and the socket should slide easily back out of the solenoid.


That's all you can test using just the soleoid body, a battery, jumper wires, and a socket.

[2007Low]

Originally Posted by Yellowstone Kelly

The problem here is that with only the solenoid body and a socket, you can't fully test the operation of the solenoid. You can only test the pull-in and hold-in coils. Without the battery connected and the plunger installed, you can't tell if the solenoid is shorting the two large studs together internally to apply a lot of current to the starter motor, which is the solenoid's job.


To test the pull-in coil:

1. Connect ve - to short, large stud of the solenoid.
2. mometarily apply +12 volt jumper wire to small terminal. Socket should pull in. Leave it pulled in to test hold-in coil


To test hold in coil:

1. Move ve - wire from short large stud to solenoid case.
2. apply +12 volts to small terminal. Try to pull the socket out of the solenoid. The hold-in coil should resist your effort to pull the socket out while +12 volts is applied to the small terminal. Remove the +12 volts from the small terminal, and the socket should slide easily back out of the solenoid.


That's all you can test using just the soleoid body, a battery, jumper wires, and a socket.

You could load test the contact plate of the solenoid by connecting a lamp between the battery term of the solenoid and the positive term of the battery. The contact plate will conduct battery negative through it to the lamp. Using a headlight would do a pretty good job of it.

[IronMick]

Originally Posted by 2007Low

You could load test the contact plate of the solenoid by connecting a lamp between the battery term of the solenoid and the positive term of the battery. The contact plate will conduct battery negative through it to the lamp. Using a headlight would do a pretty good job of it.

? To be clear on this ...

1. jumper from batt +ve to to +ve of light
2. jumper from long stud to -ve of light
3. jumper from batt -ve to short stud
4. push the plunger in using your finger

The bulb lights up.

[IronMick]

Originally Posted by Yellowstone Kelly

...
To test the pull-in coil:

1. Connect ve - to short, large stud of the solenoid.
2. mometarily apply +12 volt jumper wire to small terminal. Socket should pull in. Leave it pulled in to test hold-in coil

To test hold in coil:

1. Move ve - wire from short large stud to solenoid case.
2. apply +12 volts to small terminal. Try to pull the socket out of the solenoid. The hold-in coil should resist your effort to pull the socket out while +12 volts is applied to the small terminal. Remove the +12 volts from the small terminal, and the socket should slide easily back out of the solenoid ...

In my testing it did not matter whether the batt -ve was connected to the short stud or to the sol case. Either way the socket both pulled in and was held in.