Solenoid coil terminals - positive/negative?

[Momentum]

I'm trying to wire up an Alltrax SPM 225, however I'm not sure which terminals of the coil of the solenoid is positive/negative.

I'm using this exact one.

And wiring according to this diagram. On the solenoid itself there are no indications of positive/negative. Does it matter at all?

 

[friendly1uk]

It probably won't matter as a bar magnet will pull with either pole and I see no diode internally. It won't hurt to try it both ways briefly. Just flash some voltage across the terminals. Very short term testing till your happy.

Edit: I'm having second thoughts about simple testing due to pack voltages needed. The temptation to use no fuse is high. Hopefully your waiting for a second opinion anyway

 

[Momentum]

It probably won't matter as a bar magnet will pull with either pole and I see no diode internally. It won't hurt to try it both ways briefly. Just flash some voltage across the terminals. Very short term testing till your happy.

Edit: I'm having second thoughts about simple testing due to pack voltages needed. The temptation to use no fuse is high. Hopefully your waiting for a second opinion anyway

Figured it out, positive terminal is the one closest to battery side, negative is the one closest to controller +

 

[dnmun]

try AC current too. see what happens. do you even dare to reverse polarity on a bare wire?

 

[Nehmo]

Figured it out, positive terminal is the one closest to battery side, negative is the one closest to controller +

You're referring to the small center 2 terminals in the pic, the ones that go to the coil. So are you saying there is a polarity-preference to those terminals of this device? HOw did you figure it out?

 

[friendly1uk]

Glad it is all sorted.

It is unwise to take the picture for granted. Making testing awkward. First the existence of a diode should be checked, rather than believed. Then we must consider that polarity reversal could reverse operational direction. So we need to try both ways to really know what is in hand. Thankfully a limited supply won't cook a simple coil in an instant, so brief testing is OK.

If polarity effects direction, then the device might smoke on ac. Often you get a big inrush before the armature moves and chokes the field up. AC at 60hz is unlikely to move the armature before the next power reversal, so the armature just vibrates and the choking action never takes place. However..... it's all just silly talk as who would use ac to determine anything about there DC solenoid anyway. I'm just talking it though to clean up the thread following dumun mentioning it.