Solenoid won’t engage after Alltrax and HD solenoid install

[JSS]

I have a 96’ DS with lithium leaf batteries, lipo charger (no OBC), BMS, MCOR conversion, Alltrax SR48600 controller, HD solenoid, Emp 2 speed motor and a few other things.

Got the cart stuck in water a few weeks ago and the potentiometer failed so I upgraded to the MCOR4 and everything worked as it should. A week after that I installed the Alltrax ST48600 with the FN1 switch and everything worked great. Then I upgraded to the HD solenoid and 2 gauge cables and now I can’t get anything to work.

I’ve gone over the wiring 100 times and I can’t find anything wrong. I reinstalled the old solenoid and still noting. When I turn the key all my 12 volt stuff powers up fine but I don’t get any response from the controller or the solenoid. I installed the diode on the solenoid per the drawing (ring towards the B+ side). I can hear the MCOR click but nothing from the solenoid.

Im getting full voltage at the key switch but I get no voltage at the solenoid small post on the positive side. The negative side small post is connected to Battery negative. The key switch leads to the MCOR then through thr microswitch and then back to the solenoid small + post.

Tonight I was trying to troubleshoot more and noticed I have 40 volts on pretty much any metal on the cart that is connected to the frame. Can’t say if that was there before or not but that shouldn’t be like that. I checked all over for wire damage but came up with nothing. When I unhook the positive the voltage is gone.

When I hook up the controller to the computer I get 7 blinking light which is the club car throttle so that is right. When I try to run the monitor in the program I get nothing.

I am running out of ideas here and seem to be going any circles. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Tom47]

Originally Posted by JSS

I have a 96’ DS with lithium leaf batteries, lipo charger (no OBC), BMS, MCOR conversion, Alltrax SR48600 controller, HD solenoid, Emp 2 speed motor and a few other things.

Got the cart stuck in water a few weeks ago and the potentiometer failed so I upgraded to the MCOR4 and everything worked as it should. A week after that I installed the Alltrax ST48600 with the FN1 switch and everything worked great. Then I upgraded to the HD solenoid and 2 gauge cables and now I can’t get anything to work.

I’ve gone over the wiring 100 times and I can’t find anything wrong. I reinstalled the old solenoid and still noting. When I turn the key all my 12 volt stuff powers up fine but I don’t get any response from the controller or the solenoid. I installed the diode on the solenoid per the drawing (ring towards the B+ side). I can hear the MCOR click but nothing from the solenoid.

Im getting full voltage at the key switch but I get no voltage at the solenoid small post on the positive side. The negative side small post is connected to Battery negative. The key switch leads to the MCOR then through thr microswitch and then back to the solenoid small + post.

Tonight I was trying to troubleshoot more and noticed I have 40 volts on pretty much any metal on the cart that is connected to the frame. Can’t say if that was there before or not but that shouldn’t be like that. I checked all over for wire damage but came up with nothing. When I unhook the positive the voltage is gone.

When I hook up the controller to the computer I get 7 blinking light which is the club car throttle so that is right. When I try to run the monitor in the program I get nothing.

I am running out of ideas here and seem to be going any circles. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm not very knowledgeable on the series cart hookups since the negative solenoid goes to battery negative instead of to the controller like on IQ carts.

However, the problem has to be in the MCOR microswitch or the wiring from the key switch to the micro switch or from the micro switch to the solenoid positive terminal. With cart in TOW, and the micro switch plug disconnected, check for micro switch continuity at the MCOR outlet. If switch closes properly, plug the cable back in. Switch Run/ Tow back to run.

Jack the rear of the cart in case it decides to take off while troubleshooting.
Hook one digital voltmeter lead to negative battery. Hook the other lead to the output of the MCOR micro switch. It would be a good idea to do the input to that switch also...could have a broken wire somewhere. It is easier to do all of these with cable piercing voltmeter probes. That way nothing has the be disconnected.

If you have 48 volts coming out of the micro switch but not to the solenoid, there is a wire somewhere that has pulled loose, maybe when it went for a swim. You can probe the wire wherever you can to find where signal voltage is lost.

I have no clue why you are reading 40 volts on the frame. Is this all the time or just when you push the accelerator? Most times this would be due to a short in the motor. I doubt it here with the new motor, but who knows?

[JSS]

Thought I found the issue but I was incorrect. My battery gauge has a shunt and I had that grounded out to this metal mounting plate. I corrected that but still no change. I replaced the MCOR and as soon as I put it in gear I heard a pop coming from it so it is blown.

With the key on or off in neutral I'm registering around 38v on the frame. When I put it in fwd or reverse I get over 43v on the frame.

I get no voltage at the microswitch which I would expect with a blown MCOR.

On the motor with the cart in neutral measuring from battery ground I got these readings:
Ground to S2 = 28v
Ground to A2 = 55v
Ground to A1 = 55v
Ground to S1 = 28v

Cart in Fwd I get these readings:
Ground to S2 = 55v
Ground to A2 = 55v
Ground to A1 = 55v
Ground to S1 = 55v

Ground to anywhere on the motor frame I get 44v. All these measurements don't change with the key on or off. I'm still getting 57v at the key switch which is correct (running 58v system)

On the solenoid I get 57v on the battery positive input but on the other side is get 55v. Shouldn't I only be getting voltage on the output side to the controller when the throttle is activated?

I'm running out of ideas here on what to check. If the motor is shorting to the frame could that cause the MCOR to blow? I've checked all the wiring come from the dash to the battery compartment and everything is good. No bare, rubbed or pinched wires. All the 2 gauge wires are brand new so no issue there (double checked anyway).

The only thing I can think of next is to Ohm out the motor terminals and see what I get. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.

[Tom47]

Something on your cart is shorted to ground. There should be no voltage readings to ground on your cart. You might get some ghost voltages but certainly nothing like you are reading.

Disconnect the positive and negative cable from the batteries and proceed with ohm readings of the motor terminals to each other and to frame ground. Make sure you use a low and a high resistance scale for each. You could have a high resistance short to ground that won't show up on a low resistance scale.

Log every resistance reading you take regardless of which component in your reply. It may enable one of the members to further assist you.

There is no way the MCOR should have popped unless the control wiring is shorted somewhere. I think you have more than one problem. Did the motor get wet or was it submerged at all? How about the controller and solenoid?

If this cart were mine, I would disconnect every wire connector and plug and start ohming everything until the short or shorts are found.

Keep this thread alive by reposting every day or two until others can jump in with their suggestions. I may be missing something here.

[JSS]

The motor was submerged for a few minutes. It ran right after and then for at least 20-30 miles after I changed the potentiometer to MCOR. Wasn’t until I added the 400 amp solenoid that I started having issues. Could be coincidence.

I checked the motor and something is wrong. I get continuity between A1 and A2 but I get no continuity between S1 and S2 which there should be. I get no continuity between A1 or S1 and the casing so that is right.

Took the motor apart and there was some surface rust on the casing. Cleaned everything up and reinstalled, same results. Worth a shot. Tried to bench test it with a 12v battery and nothing so it looks like the motor is dead. Hopefully that was back-feeding and causing my frame voltage issue and blowing the MCOR.

[JSS]

Did some more testing and found out a few things but not fixed yet.

The diode on the solenoid failed and I could get continuity from one side to the other. Changed that out but no improvement.

I have a EMP 2 speed motor so I had to get some advice from EMP. I checked the terminals and all that should have continuity did which was good. Then when I checked each one to ground 4 of them the multimeter didn’t move off 0.L. Two of them started at 44 m/ohms and eventually climbed to 61m/ohms and then 0.L. Sent this information to Chuck at EMP so we will see what he can come up with.

One thing I did notice is that when the 2 speed lever is in the neutral position I get 1.5-2 volts on the frame. When I engage it to either side the voltage on the frame jumps up to 40v+. This doesn’t change if the key is on or off or fwd/rev switch position.

Before this I changed back to my old controller and nothing. Also installed a new solenoid and nothing. Once I figured out this voltage issue I can install a new MCOR and continue from there.