What’s the diode actually do ?

[Dregency98]

To start , thanks for all the knowledge on this site that has allowed me to get aas far as I have with this thing. I have a 95 ds 36v with a controller, bought it as a basket case with the intent of making it a second cart for the campground. Put it back together and kept blowing microswitches. Removed diode from the solenoid and all now seems to work properly. Is the diode actually necessary? I have a new one I can install, just not sure which way it goes as the old one was so faded I couldn’t tell one end from the other. Any help would be appreciated

[pattyandrick]

I think it prevents the reverse beeper from working in forward

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

[DaveTM]

Watch this video. About the 2-min mark he discuss's what direction the diode goes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVDYvEIOPxk

[Fastest1]

A diode in general only allows electricity to flow one direction.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[HaulnA$$]

The diode is necessary for the long term health of your carts electronics. A reverse biased diode placed in parallel with the solenoid protects the other components by absorbing the current spike created by the solenoid de-energizing. When a solenoids large coil is energized, it is “charged” with a current sufficient enough to create a magnetic field strong enough to pull in the plunger. When the coil is de-energized, the collapsing magnetic field causes the current to rapidly spike back into the supply circuit. The diode dampens this current spike and without it, over time, this spike will eventually damage sensitive components. HTH

[DaveTM]

So....like the post above say.....YES, you need it unless you like to buy electrical components way more often than I do.

[Dregency98]

Thanks, guess I’ll be installing a diode,

[Roxyflash]

They also cause the coil to denergize instantly so the contacts in the solenoid to snap back to neutral.With out the diode the coil will store energy and make the solenoid lazy when power is denergized,can help to lead into a welded solenoid contacts.

[Sergio]

Originally Posted by Roxyflash

They also cause the coil to denergize instantly so the contacts in the solenoid to snap back to neutral.With out the diode the coil will store energy and make the solenoid lazy when power is denergized,can help to lead into a welded solenoid contacts.

You have that backwards, the diode will slow down how long it takes the contacts to open and it can be a problem when making/breaking high current (You need a different form of fly-back like a Zener and a regular diode in those cases).

[Roxyflash]

Sergio learned something new I was thinking about the fly back theory thanks for correcting me