Continuous Duty Solenoid Wiring Help

[richardb200373]

Hey guys, need a little help here. I thought solenoids were simple, cant be that hard. Anyway, how is the wiring supposed to be? Of course there are 2 large terminals and 2 small terminals.
2 Large termsinals - Battery power and power to cell - Does it matter
which one goes where?
2 small terminals - I know one has to be the power to activate the
activate the solenoid... what about the other, ground?
I messed with it a little last night, checked voltage with multimeter, power going to it was good, when I activate, it showed current, but not enough and it fluctuated alot. It was not mounted (grounded) on the vehicle as I was bench testing my cell. Does it need to be grounded or does the other small terminal need a wire too, maybe a ground? Thanks in advance.

[Jaxom]

You have it right, the other small terminal needs to be grounded.

[DaneDHorstead]

Hey guys, need a little help here. I thought solenoids were simple, cant be that hard. Anyway, how is the wiring supposed to be? Of course there are 2 large terminals and 2 small terminals.
2 Large termsinals - Battery power and power to cell - Does it matter
which one goes where?
2 small terminals - I know one has to be the power to activate the
activate the solenoid... what about the other, ground?
I messed with it a little last night, checked voltage with multimeter, power going to it was good, when I activate, it showed current, but not enough and it fluctuated alot. It was not mounted (grounded) on the vehicle as I was bench testing my cell. Does it need to be grounded or does the other small terminal need a wire too, maybe a ground? Thanks in advance.
Richardb200373

Yes! It is to go to ground.

Every circuit, eventually has to go to ground, or it will not work.

However, in the case of using a car's batery (or even a flashlight battery), ground does not mean an earth ground, like household current uses.

Ground in the case of the car battery, means current travels to the battery ground, or it can ground to the car's frame, as the battery ground terminal, also is grounded to the frame.

In the case of household current, the ground wires tie to bus bars at the house panel, that connect to 12ft long copper rods, that are driven into the earth, to make the ground connection. Note that some states only use 9 ft rods, but for the same purpose.

[richardb200373]

Thanks guys, I tried that out earlier and figured it out. Now, I've got it running, pulling a lot of amps and getting 3LPM+ using 1/2 cup KOH on dry cell, not sure on the amps yet but it's up there. Heat on the cell is not an issue, but the solenoid is getting pretty warm, I can still touch it but it's getting up there, is this normal for a continuous duty solenoid? By the way, it is 100amp. Thanks again guys!