lowering lift, electronic solenoid question

[PoorOwner]

I am looking at this lift, the pump uses a solenoid to lower the lift, just let the fluid back to the tank. simple enough.

Their lift doesn't really rest the car on locks and the hydraulic is holding the weight all the time, the down button is pre programmed to raises up a bit, kick off the lock actuator and then goes down, it is all preset in the controller board.

I asked if I can just manually lower the lift myself so I can rest it on locks, they told me you can, the solenoid comes off and you can open this valve (red knob in the second picture) and it lets fluid back to the tank and lift descends.

My question though is if it's is ok to use this valve all the time (meant to lower the lift in case of power outage), or is this action going to cause a wear and tear to the valve some point?

I am thinking, maybe it's easier to put in a DPDT switch and supply a voltage to the solenoid wiring that will also lower the lift onto the locks as well.

 

[JohnnyK81]

Interesting, I bought a Chinese scissor lift that has a similar setup. But I have 3 buttons. Raise, Lower (Which does what yours does. Raises it for a second before dropping it), and a third button labeled LOCK, which lowers it on to the lock.

I believe (but don't quote me) the LOCK buttons just powers up the solenoid to let fluid drain back. If that's the case, couldn't you just wire up a switch to do that simply enough? There must be a 24 (or 12?) take off from somewhere inside of there.

 

[PoorOwner]

Interesting, I bought a Chinese scissor lift that has a similar setup. But I have 3 buttons. Raise, Lower (Which does what yours does. Raises it for a second before dropping it), and a third button labeled LOCK, which lowers it on to the lock.

I believe (but don't quote me) the LOCK buttons just powers up the solenoid to let fluid drain back. If that's the case, couldn't you just wire up a switch to do that simply enough? There must be a 24 (or 12?) take off from somewhere inside of there.

Yes.. I think your lock button just triggers the solenoid. I am not sure how I can tap off the power as it is inside the black control box somewhere. I think I need to have diodes in line too so the voltage doesn't not travel back to the original and tapped terminals.

The other way may be to add a switch to disconnect the actuators temporary so it lower down onto the lock. (so, in the case of air locked model, simply disconnect the air)