SPendrey Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Perhaps I already know the answer to this... but last night I accidentally flicked the switch that powers-up my winch as I got out of the car. Specifically, a switch that energises the solenoid connecting the winch to the (only) battery. This morning, I tried starting the car and there's 11V or so measured across the battery and nowhere enough power to turn the engine over. What I did notice was the solenoid was hot. Is electrical energy simply lost through heat while the solenoid is energised? I think there's a magnet or something in there making the contact and I suppose therefore there's an electric coil which is energised and dissipating heat? Lessons learned are "be more careful", and "thank goodness for a spare charged battery!". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 4 minutes ago, SPendrey said: ... Is electrical energy simply lost through heat while the solenoid is energised? ... Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 Yes, it's a coil that's constantly drawing a little bit of power when it's on. Measure the resistance across the actuation pins, apply some of Ohm's law to it, and you know how much current it's taking. It'll be ~150mA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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