Can you fry a solenoid?

[MSHardeman]

I have been fussing with my rear door popper for part of the day and I just can't seem to get it to work. It used to work just fine, but it just stopped one day. I even by-passed my in car wiring and wired a switch directly to my auxillary fuse block (with an inline fuse for safety) and still can't get it to trip.

I checked and I know that I'm getting power to the auxillary fuse block, through the fuse and to the switch. When I press the switch I'm getting power through it so I know it works, but I don't hear or see the solenoid trip. The one thing that I need to double check tomorrow is that I had the wire off of the rear door latch so the plunger in the solenoid was all the way down to begin with so if it DID work then maybe I wouldn't hear it because it was already bottomed out and wouldn't move. I'll try and hook the wire up so the plunger is up and see if the exterior wiring works that way. I'm also going to make darn sure that the ground is touching metal and not paint.

With all of that said, is it possible to fry a solenoid? Should I try and find another one to see if it would work?

[pbkid]

I have been fussing with my rear door popper for part of the day and I just can't seem to get it to work. It used to work just fine, but it just stopped one day. I even by-passed my in car wiring and wired a switch directly to my auxillary fuse block (with an inline fuse for safety) and still can't get it to trip.

I checked and I know that I'm getting power to the auxillary fuse block, through the fuse and to the switch. When I press the switch I'm getting power through it so I know it works, but I don't hear or see the solenoid trip. The one thing that I need to double check tomorrow is that I had the wire off of the rear door latch so the plunger in the solenoid was all the way down to begin with so if it DID work then maybe I wouldn't hear it because it was already bottomed out and wouldn't move. I'll try and hook the wire up so the plunger is up and see if the exterior wiring works that way. I'm also going to make darn sure that the ground is touching metal and not paint.

With all of that said, is it possible to fry a solenoid? Should I try and find another one to see if it would work?

well, i dont know all that much about these...but i believe it is pretty darn difficult to fry one.. my guess is a grounding issue... "grounding issues are result of over 90% of car electronics problems" (MECP- mobile electronics certified professional, ya thats the nationally recognized electronics exam and certification)

[MSHardeman]

Jack,

I'll definitely check my ground tomorrow, but it doesn't make sense to me that the popper would work, ground and all, for a few months and then suddenly it wouldn't. Maybe the ground wiggled itself loose, but I could swear that I had checked that before. Guess I'll find out.

Thanks.

[pbkid]

Jack,

I'll definitely check my ground tomorrow, but it doesn't make sense to me that the popper would work, ground and all, for a few months and then suddenly it wouldn't. Maybe the ground wiggled itself loose, but I could swear that I had checked that before. Guess I'll find out.

Thanks.

ya, like i said, im not an expert by any means about selonoids...so its just my objective opinion...

grounds have a tendency to loosen up because lots of people use self-tapping screws which DO loosen up over time...

even I, after years of installing was using self tapping screws until i became MECP certified, now i realize that they arent the best solution. anyhow, try to check the ground, it may just be a bit loose and there is all your problems...also, did you use a star washer when you grounded?? they help to 'cut' into the metal a little to make sure you get a solid ground.

http://www.midwestmil.com/lockwashers.jpg

let us know how it works out..

[Triathlete]

yes you can fry a solonoid. I changed plenty of them that had gone bad when I was an aircraft electrician. But I would check the ground and wiring first.

[pbkid]

yes you can fry a solonoid. I changed plenty of them that had gone bad when I was an aircraft electrician. But I would check the ground and wiring first.

well....

/eatfoot

[Marlin]

yes you can fry a solonoid. I changed plenty of them that had gone bad when I was an aircraft electrician. But I would check the ground and wiring first.

x2, only on an aircraft carrier in the power plant.

A solenoid is nothing more than a coil of wire, a moveable metal core and stationary core and a spring. ALL current flow creates a magnetic field.(Thats how a junkyard crane works) When current flows through the coil (when you close the switch, push button etc...) it creates a magnetic field that is enough to overcome the spring and move the moveable core as it is attracted to the fixed core, and voila, that is connected to a pin or whatever and you just opened your trunk or whatnot. When current stops, the spring pushes/pulls the pin back to original position.
This happens to be what I teach here at the Naval Nuclear Power School.
Sorry to thread jack, but blowing a solenoid happens all the time, too much current or heat, friction from the moveable and so on will quickly burn up the coil. The best way to check, use am ammeter (has to be in series across the switch, so that the ammeter becomes the switch, if there is current flow, then it isn't a wiring problem, its the solenoid, if no current, then it could be a wiring/ground problem, or the coil got hot enough that there is an open. Next would be to check resistance, shouldn't be too high, after all, it is just a coil of wire, I would think a couple hundred ohms or so. Just a thought.

[MSHardeman]

Marlin,

Thanks for the explanation. Currently my solenoid doesn't seem to have a spring to return the plunger. If the solenoid isn't hooked to any power the plunger stays at the bottom (depending on which way I have it oriented) and I can grab the wire coming out of the top and pull the plunger to the top of it's stroke. When I let the wire go, the plunger falls back down. I don't remember if this is the way that it always was, and if someone has a popper kit out of the car could you verify this?

I have a volt meter (measures ohms, volts, etc.), but I'm not terribly sure how to use it to check the coil as you describe. I'll re-read your explanation and see if I can't figure it out (I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to electricity, and car wiring in particular). I'm headed down to the garage to take the solenoid out so I'll do the tests soon. I'm also going to pull the solenoid out and wire it outside the car to a good known ground and power source to see if I can't get it to work. If not I'll have to find a new solenoid, I guess.

[Triathlete]

yes you can fry a solonoid. I changed plenty of them that had gone bad when I was an aircraft electrician. But I would check the ground and wiring first.

:bwgr::bgwp:

Glad you got it figured out!

[MSHardeman]

Billy, the ground wire was fine it was the chopped in half power wire that was messin' with the whole works, but YES, checking the wires first would have been the way to go.

Oh well.....live and learn.