Does anyone know or can check the power driving requirements for an Ice Maker water dispensing Solenoid Water Valve or similar part. It is labeled 115Vac 50/60 Hz, but I would have thought that you would want to drive it with DC. I don' t have a refrigerator with this configuration that I can easily check. Thanks in advance.
If its rated for AC mains, then the equivalent DC voltage is not trivial to determine -
a solenoid is an inductor and inductors resist AC current more than DC.
So as a first point you'll need to measure the rms current through the solenoid when
its running on the mains - and measure it safely...
Thanks MarkT for the reply.
I guess I will have to pull out my physics and or controls books and figure out how a solenoid works again. I thought if the current is reversed in the coil of the solenoid the changes direction and travels in the opposite direction. The solenoid vibrates a lot when 120 volt ac is applied I guess this is due to the 60 Hz frequency.
I'm hoping someone on the forums that sees this has either measured or can measure the power to their solenoid on their fridge and can tell me whether it is AC or DC.
purza:
Thanks MarkT for the reply.I guess I will have to pull out my physics and or controls books and figure out how a solenoid works again. I thought if the current is reversed in the coil of the solenoid the changes direction and travels in the opposite direction. The solenoid vibrates a lot when 120 volt ac is applied I guess this is due to the 60 Hz frequency.
I'm hoping someone on the forums that sees this has either measured or can measure the power to their solenoid on their fridge and can tell me whether it is AC or DC.
You said it was AC - I can't find a datasheet for it though, so are you sure?
And if it is AC yes the current reverses, that's not the issue the issue is how much current
flows. The magnetic field depends on the current.