Hooking up shifter solenoid to 7al3

[scott3029]

I have a two wire solenoid,one white and one black,when I hooked it up to the box ,the white one to battery power,and the black wire to the RAS output side of the box,with a 12 volt jumper wire from the ignition to the RAS input side.and when i tested it,It did not seem to have enough voltage to fully engauge the solenoid,I also noticed that when I put a test light on the ground side of the RAS output,my test light was getting some power to light up,could this be a feedback problem with the 7al3 box,or could it be the solenoid.I connected this according to the MSD instructions,all connction are tight,and battery was fully charged.any help would be greatly appreciated,Thank you Scott.

[Tod74]

Are you running it through a relay or straight to the shifter? Mine has a relay and it cuts the ground to the solenoid and a spring actually does the shifting...I know some aren't that way.

[scott3029]

The shifter solenoid I have is not spring activated,it kicks forward with 12 Volt power,According to MSD, with the 7al3 it grounds the RPM activated switch so it powers up,once you hit the right RPM,

[rob41willys]

With the 7AL3 box the the ground drops out when you reach a specified rpm ( what ever chip you put in ) so you would have a closed circuit ( meening that your solenoid would be energized ) until the rpm switch activates and then it would be an open circiut. If indead your shift solenoid is not spring activated then you would have to re-wire so that it is energized at the shift point.

[Duane2XX2]

The 7al3 does provide a ground and a closed circuit when the desired chipped rpm is reached.If you put a test light on the ras output terminal you should have voltage.This is normal. Your wiring is correct, however With an electric shifter I would wire the shifter to a relay and let the 7al3 energize the relay to activate the shifter. The rpm switch in the box may not be able to handle the current required to activate the shifter. Also the car may need to be running and the alternator charging to kick the shifter.