shaved doors - poppers failing?

to all those who do shaved doorhandles....we did a set of 35 lb solenoids in the doors of a 1994 Ford Ranger (the one with the mirrors).  Full K9 Classic alarm install, using triggers 2 and 3 to control the doors, and it works great.  Learned quickly that these are THIRSTY 'noids, and had to run a 10 ga. power lead right to the battery, fusing each relay separately.

The other day while he was here for his M3 mirrors, the driver door didn't wanna open.  The alarm triggered, and the 'noid popped, but the door didn't push open (he's got the door-poppers too).  Passenger side works fine.  Noticed customer had lost one of the three bolts that hold the hinge assembly in place, and this had caused the strong 'noid to slightly "buckle" the metal of the door where the hinge mounts.

To me it seems as if the hinge/striker are binding instead of releasing.  Problem is intermittent, as the hinge is loose.  Has this happened to anybody else?  All wiring, relays and fuses are in perfect working order, so its GOT to be a mechanical issue.

any ideas?  experiences?

b

The doors MUST be lined up properly and working smooth to keep from putting an added strain on the opener solenoids or actuators. Replace the hinges, bushings, stike pin, or whatever else is worn and line up the door so it opens up real easily. I would also run a ground from the solenoids or actuators to an area inside of the vehicle. Grounding them inside the door is not the right way to do it.

If you can, make or extend the arm on the latch assembly as long as you can to get full travel out of the solenoid or actuator. The closer you are to the pivot point the harder the solenoid or actuator has to work. A further away point requires more travel from the solenoid but requires less pulling force. Closer/more force.

Glad to see you thought ahead and seperately fuse each door. That's how it should be.

Jim/Saint Louis

hey custom_jim....thanks for the reply!!  I figured it had something to do with worn door parts rather than anything else.  Each 'noid has 12 ga. wire running to it, with separate +12V and chassis ground (inside the truck) for each. 

to power the beast, I ran a 10 ga. power wire (fused underhood) and fed a pair of 40 amp relays which are separately fused at 30 amps each to trigger each door to ensure maximum current flow.  Relays and 'noids share the same factory grounding stud.

Unfortunately, the way this door is setup, there was really only one place just below the latch that the 'noids could go, which has about 1.5" of cable to the latch connection. Window tracks, supports, etc were all in the way otherwise (I initially thought these pop-can-sized pigs weren't going to go at all!!)  I will instruct the customer that in order for the system to work, some parts in the door need replacing....

thanks for the input!!

b

HamiltonAudio

Not having a door lined up properly I think is the biggest problem. You may also want to take out the latch assembly and clean out all the old grease and junk and relube it. Just because you put on new parts doesn't mean it can compensate for old worn out things. 

I guess from what you said you are using a cable to attach the solenoid to the latch. You may want to try using a hard rod between them instead. The only reason I'm saying that is I'm working on a 56 Chevy for a customer and there seems to be a lot of slop using the cable that someone else installed between his solenoid and the latch assembly and I will probably replace it with a solid rod thinking it should make it last longer. It's looped through a hole in the latch and the solenoid and there seems to be a lot of travel from the solenoid until the latch arm starts moving. I think a solid rod would transmit the solenoid action quicker to the latch. I guess I'll find out when I redo it.

Hey anyway, I'm glad I could help.

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AudioBAHNvlcm

If the buttons on the truck work better than on the remote then I would think there is a voltage drop with the remote system as the buttons are allowing more power to get to the solenoids. It could be connections, wire size, contacts, or other things. Get out a meter and see where the voltage differences are between the two setups.

As far as using those large solenoids, I would do the same thing as I said before, make sure the door is working nice and smooth and if needed, extend the arm on the latch so the solenoids have more pulling force. Here's how I can explain this. Take a see-saw with 1/3 of it past the pivot point and put on a 300lb person on the end on that side. On the other side of the see-saw we have 2/3 of the board. It now only takes 200lbs of force to lift the 300lbs on the other side. If the length of the arms on both sides of a pivot point are the same and we apply 75 lbs of force to the one end, 75 lbs will be generated on the other end.  

Jim/Saint Louis   

Jim/Saint Louis