Wiring a 3-pins solenoid valve

Thread Starter

mohadba

Joined Feb 1, 2017
10
Hello everyone!

I ordered recently a 12V DC solenoid valve, a valve that's electrically controlled (*The datasheet of the valve is attached). However, I received the valve without wires and I'm not sure about the wiring connection because there are three pins in the valve and I just want two wires out of the valve to connect it to a 12V DC battery. I looked for wiring connection on the internet and I tried to wire the valve as following (The red for +ve and the black for -ve and skipped the middle pin):


I tried to connect it then to a 12V DC battery, the red to +ve of battery and the black to -ve of the battery and there was spark at each time I try doing this. Today I tried again to connect it the same way but this time to the breadboard instead of connecting it directly to the battery. However, the wires burned out and there was a smoke!

Anyone can help me how to connect the wires to the valve and then to the battery? the valve needs 12V DC to operate and I have a 12V DC battery but I don't know how to connect the wires and then connect it to the battery. Thanks in advance, regards :)
 

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MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,706
Get an Ohmmeter and measure the resistance between two terminals. One terminal is likely wired to the body of the valve as a safety ground.
The two terminals feeding the solenoid should measure about 50-100Ω.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
According to the catalogue the supply voltage should be 24VDC, 110VAC or 220VAC. Why do you think the valve should work with only 12VDC?
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
The sheet does say 12v version also, and if one is ground then it still should not normally be a problem as it would be a open circuit to the coil in most cases.
Max.
 

Thread Starter

mohadba

Joined Feb 1, 2017
10
Get an Ohmmeter and measure the resistance between two terminals. One terminal is likely wired to the body of the valve as a safety ground.
The two terminals feeding the solenoid should measure about 50-100Ω.
I measured the resistance between the same connection I did before and I got a resistance of around 4Ω and sometime it suddenly be in the same range you said (50-100Ω) but it's not fixed and then return back to 4Ω (fluctuating)
 

Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
7,852
the resistance between the two is around 4 ohm, and between the third one is zero ohm
4 ohms between two of them and zero between the third ? ? ? Third what?

Assign each terminal a letter. A, B and C. You report resistance between two terminals 4Ω. OK, lets assume you mean 4Ω between A & B. What's the resistance between A & C? And the resistance between B & C?

If we assume that A & C opens the valve and that B & C closes the valve then C is the common. Assume between A and C the resistance is 4Ω. AND assume the resistance between B & C is also 4Ω. The resistance between A & B should be 8Ω.

At 4 ohms, 12 volts, you're drawing 3 amps (36 watts). I don't know how big or small your wires are but 3 amps is not a lot of current. I can't see your wires burning up at that load unless your wires are very very small. And don't ask me about gauge. I can tell you 12 gauge is good for 20 amps, 14 gauge is good for 15 amps, 16 is good for 10 and 18 gauge may be good for around 8.5 amps. (something like that). I'll assume 20 gauge is good for around 5 amps, so if your wires were 22 gauge (very small) then they might not handle 3 amps. That might be the reason why your wires burned up. Obviously your battery is capable of more current than your test wires could handle. Perhaps you need heavier gauge wire.

I've tried to look at the data sheet but can't make out any of the details. You'll need to know how much current it's supposed to be drawing. Also, I can't tell if (for instance) A/C opens the valve and B/C closes it. Some solenoids require a constant current to keep them open (or closed - depending on the design). I DON'T KNOW THIS, but I wonder if your three wire solenoid is supposed to be opened with a current, then the current can be shut down (saving energy), then another current is passed through the other set of wires to close the valve.

Please measure again. What's the resistance between A & B. Resistance between A & C. Resistance between B & C. I believe one of those three is a common and the other two are there for the purpose of opening or closing the valve.
 
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