Dual battery solenoid

[bazinoz]

Hi all.
I've installed a 100A continuous Heavy Duty solenoid between my batteries (on a GQ Patrol).
I took the truck for it's first run since, everything seems to work fine, but I noticed the solenoid got extremely hot. I only went for a 5 or 6k journey.
Is this usual?

Baz in Oz

[bazinoz]

Bump

Usual for solenoid to run 'extremely' hot?

Baz

[mickyd555]

you need to find out the max operating temperature of the solinoid that you have, then check what temperatue it is actully getting to, "extremely hot" doesnt really help that much. some will be fine, others wont. if its rated at 100 amps, i cant see what would be causing it to heat up, its not too close to exhaust manifold or something is it??

[Tas_Dean]

Are you certain it's a continuous duty solenoid and not a starting solenoid? They do come in an identical housing, but the starting solenoid has a much higher current through the coil, which will cause a) more heat, and b) the solenoid coil to burn out reasonably quickly.

It would pay to check, if you have picked up the wrong one (extremely easy if you got it from supercheap, they're all thrown on the same shelf), you may still be able to exchange it before it burns out!

Cheers, Dean

[bazinoz]

Thanx for the replies fellas.

It says it is a 100A HD solenoid on the box, and the speil on eBay when I brought it said it was continuous duty type. So unless I've been duped...

Also I don't think it is too close to anything else hot. It's at the rear of the engine bay on the passenger side.

I'll keep my eye on it.

Cheers
Baz