Starter solenoid

[dennis]

Have to buy a starter solenoid for new electric start engine on wood splitter. I know there are 3 terminal...that ground through mounting bracket, and 4, that require a wire to grounded frame or directly to negative battery terminal. Any suggestions on which is better?

[Skywatcher]

Hi Dennis

Does the negative cable from the battery go to the frame of the machine, or is it bolted directly onto the engine? If the system grounds through the machine's frame, a 3 wire solenoid bolted to the frame will work. If the battery grounds directly to the engine independent of the machine's frame, then use a 4 wire solenoid and ground the solenoid to the engine or back to battery. Hope this makes sense,

Sky

[dennis]

Thanks, Skywatcher...The log splitter was recoil start. Had no provisions for electric start. I am putting an electric start engine on it, and making a bracket on frame to hold battery. I will probably run negative cable to frame. I could run it to the engine. I understand what you are saying, I think, but either way...neg cable to frame or engine, it's all connected as long as bolts are tight and clean. The starter gets it's ground through the engine, so there has to be a good connection between engine and frame, if the neg cable goes to frame. I could use a 3 wire solenoid on frame, or a 4-wire, and run ground wire from either end of the negative cable to the ground terminal on the solenoid. I guess I am trying to make up my mind which is best, which often ends up in procrastination! I appreciate hearing different opinions.

[Skywatcher]

Hi Again Dennis

Here out in farming country, the old generation farmers still had it in their heads that if an electric starter didn't crank the engine, you hit it with a hammer. Doing this on a Kohler K-series engine just broke the ceramic magnets in the motor. The problem was the battery was grounded to the grain auger frame and as the engine block rusted, the connection would fail.

I had one farmer buy 5 starter motors within 2 years at $250.00 a pop before he finally agreed to bring the auger in for me to have a look at it. what I ended up doing was to remove the engine mounting bolt closest to the battery and cleaning the paint from around the bolt hole on the engine. Replace it with a bolt 1" longer, but insert the bolt up from the underside and thread a nut onto the bolt torqueing to spec.

Next was to replace the battery negative cable with a longer cable that would reach the new bolt. Set the cable end over the bolt and secure the cable to the bolt with a second nut. The last thing to do was to design and print a decal of a red circle with a diagonal line through it over a black hammer and apply that to the starter motor. The old farmer later told me that he laughed every time he saw that decal on the starter motor, but knew to never hit the starter motor again. That auger started and ran perfectly for the next 7 years until he retired and had a farm sale. The long and the short of it is that a good ground is vital to any electrical system. All the best,

Sky

[bobodu]

Keep it simple.....use a starter switch.

[KE4AVB]

I had one farmer buy 5 starter motors within 2 years at $250.00 a pop before he finally agreed to bring the auger in for me to have a look at it.
Sky

Boy that must have been one of those special NASA hammers.

[dennis]

Enjoyed the story, Sky. You are right, good ground connections are important. Thanks.