Quickly Trouble Shoot An Intermittent Solenoid Valve Coil

Intermittent

When Troubleshooting an Intermittent Solenoid Valve Coil sometimes the following problem occurs, and when it does it can shut a manufacturing production line down for hours. Whenever I test a solenoid valve with the Magprobe and the LED light does not come on it’s an electrical problem. So I measure the voltage applied to the coil to see if it’s present. Next, I turn the power off and make a continuity measurement of the coil to see if it’s OK. But how is this possible if the coils resistance checked okay and the voltage was present? You should have current flow through the coil and you don’t. Why is that?

Because:

The LED should light up when voltage is applied to the solenoid valves coil because current flowing through the coil is what generates a magnetic field. The magnetic field in turn energizes the MagProbe and the light comes on.
Now you know the coils windings must be opening when the voltage is applied. This Intermittent problem was caused by a tiny opening in the coils winding that occurred when voltage was applied. When current flowed through this tiny spot on the coil it caused heat and resulted in expansion of the tiny contact which caused it to Open and Interrupt the current in the coil. When this happens a magnetic field Will Not be Produced and the Magprobe LED will not light. No Schematic is needed to make this test.

When the voltage is removed, the coil cools down and results in wire movement causing the tiny separation to reconnect. Once it reconnects you can now measure continuity with the Ohm Meter.
Intermittent Problem Solved.

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About the Author

Bob Bartol has spent his whole life working with electronics in almost every capacity and spent many hours in Physics classes.

He currently holds 4 U.S. patents and has been making a living off one of the patents “The Bartol Mag-Probe” for over twenty years. Bartol Research’s Mag-Probe now has a global reach and is dramatically reducing trouble shooting downtime anywhere a solenoid valve. relay, or contactor is used.

F111 Air Force Projects – European Flight Competition
January 1968

Bob attended electronics school in the Air Force. Upon graduation he was assigned to a fighter wing in Germany. During his assignment he prepared seven aircraft for European competition. The fighter wings aircraft won the competition.

Bob then returned to the United States and taught advanced radar for two years.

Two years later, he returned to Europe. During this assignment, Air Force headquarters Europe selected Bob to open a Precision Measuring Equipment Laboratory (P.M.E.L) in England. It was the first of its kind in the Air Force.

Upon his return to the United States, Air Force headquarters assigned Bob to Air Force research command in Florida. This was strictly a scientific assignment for research and development.

After three years he moved from Eglin AFB in Florida to Edwards Air Force Base in California where he had direct contact with the National Bureau of Standards and supported research and development aircraft.

During this assignment, he designed a modification for the TF X fighter (F-111). This modification made possible an additional 9800 flying hours per year. The F111 was the first swing wing aircraft in history. General Dynamics completed the modification prior to acceptance by the U.S. Air Force.

Modification of F111 Aircraft
General Dynamics
March 1963

As a result of increasing this flying time Bob Received an award from Edwards Air Force Base for Increasing flying time of the F111 by 9,800 hours per year. The Award was Presented by Colonel Grumbles to TSGT Bob Bartol on June 17, 1963