On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:47:34 -0800, Peter Bennett
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:14:56 -0500, Marley wrote:


If you inboard is hand crank equipped like mine was on a previous boat,
you REALLY don't need to hand crank it when the battery runs down.

I killed my battery at anchor a few times (thank you Espar!).

No problem. As long as you have two people aboard:

1 person lifts the decompression lever, which makes the engine turn over
fairly easily.

The second person pushes the start switch and once the engine is moving
and the flywheel is doing it's job, just drop the decompression lever
and she'll start like a charm.

Since I normally single-hand, on a previous boat I installed a starter
button in the engine compartment specifically for this reason - if the
battery was too low to crank against the engine compression, I could
open the engine room, lift the decompression lever, then press the
handy start button - with luck, the weak battery would then be able to
crank the engine, and once it was turning fast, I would drop the
decompression lever, and the engine would (hopefully) start.

For the same reason, I found (with a voltmeter) where the starter
button wires come to the relay that engages the starter. I have been
able to start with near-dead battery by crossing th econnection with a
screwdriver.

A button would be better if I were doing that all the time.

Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"Hawg Polo?" . . . "Hawg Polo"

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
....

For the same reason, I found (with a voltmeter) where the starter
button wires come to the relay that engages the starter. I have been
able to start with near-dead battery by crossing th econnection with a
screwdriver.

A button would be better if I were doing that all the time.


Isn't this called an "ignition switch"? What you're saying is that
the wiring though the ignition switch is too small (or corroded, etc.)
and is causing a voltage drop.

BTW, I played that game hundreds of times with my old VW bug.
However, a few years back a friend was working under his car and
shorted the solenoid. Since it was in gear, the car lurched and fell
off the jackstands, crushing his hip. A big Ooops!

Yeah,

You sure wouldn't want to do that and have your 14,000 lb yacht fall off
the jackstands!! ;-)

Jeff wrote:
Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
...

For the same reason, I found (with a voltmeter) where the starter
button wires come to the relay that engages the starter. I have been
able to start with near-dead battery by crossing th econnection with a
screwdriver.

A button would be better if I were doing that all the time.


Isn't this called an "ignition switch"? What you're saying is that the
wiring though the ignition switch is too small (or corroded, etc.) and
is causing a voltage drop.

BTW, I played that game hundreds of times with my old VW bug. However, a
few years back a friend was working under his car and shorted the
solenoid. Since it was in gear, the car lurched and fell off the
jackstands, crushing his hip. A big Ooops!

Dave wrote:
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 10:34:51 -0500, Jeff
said:


Isn't this called an "ignition switch"?


On a diesel? I don't think so.
My profound apologies. I should have said the "starter key switch."

I suppose it would be a bad idea to attach tie-downs to the propeller!

Don W wrote:
Yeah,

You sure wouldn't want to do that and have your 14,000 lb yacht fall off
the jackstands!! ;-)

Jeff wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
...

For the same reason, I found (with a voltmeter) where the starter
button wires come to the relay that engages the starter. I have been
able to start with near-dead battery by crossing th econnection with a
screwdriver.

A button would be better if I were doing that all the time.


Isn't this called an "ignition switch"? What you're saying is that
the wiring though the ignition switch is too small (or corroded,
etc.) and is causing a voltage drop.

BTW, I played that game hundreds of times with my old VW bug. However,
a few years back a friend was working under his car and shorted the
solenoid. Since it was in gear, the car lurched and fell off the
jackstands, crushing his hip. A big Ooops!

"Jeff" wrote
BTW, I played that game hundreds of times with my old VW bug.
However, a few years back a friend was working under his car and
shorted the solenoid. Since it was in gear, the car lurched and fell
off the jackstands, crushing his hip. A big Ooops!

That's why owner/repair manuals caution to disconnect the battery for ALL
repairs - even non-electrical ones.

Farm tractors are especially dangerous to attempt to start by shorting
at a starter mounted solenoid. There is often a graphic sticker applied near
the starter by the manufacturer to remind of the danger.

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
...

For the same reason, I found (with a voltmeter) where the starter
button wires come to the relay that engages the starter. I have been
able to start with near-dead battery by crossing th econnection with a
screwdriver.

A button would be better if I were doing that all the time.


Isn't this called an "ignition switch"? What you're saying is that
the wiring though the ignition switch is too small (or corroded, etc.)
and is causing a voltage drop.

BTW, I played that game hundreds of times with my old VW bug.
However, a few years back a friend was working under his car and
shorted the solenoid. Since it was in gear, the car lurched and fell
off the jackstands, crushing his hip. A big Ooops!

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 10:34:51 -0500, Jeff
wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:
...

For the same reason, I found (with a voltmeter) where the starter
button wires come to the relay that engages the starter. I have been
able to start with near-dead battery by crossing th econnection with a
screwdriver.

A button would be better if I were doing that all the time.


Isn't this called an "ignition switch"? What you're saying is that
the wiring though the ignition switch is too small (or corroded, etc.)
and is causing a voltage drop.

No - nothing to do with the ignition switch.

If the battery is fairly well discharged, it may not have enough power
to crank a diesel against the compression. If you lift the
decompression lever (opening the valves, and eliminating compression)
the starter may then be able to crank the engine - once the engine is
turning, the flywheel will (hopefully) have enough energy to get past
a compression stroke, and the engine may start.

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 23:29:44 -0500, Rodney Myrvaagnes
wrote:



I know a one-cylinder Volvo can be hand started, by a reliable
witness.

Apparently only by a 75-year-old Swede - not by a 40-year-old Canadian
:-)



--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

Steve Thomas wrote:

Farm tractors are especially dangerous to attempt to start by shorting
at a starter mounted solenoid. There is often a graphic sticker applied near
the starter by the manufacturer to remind of the danger.


The reason is because the farmer could short the solenoid with a
wrench and if the tractor was in gear it might well turn over and
move the tractor foreward until it stopped on the farmer's foot.

In pain, the farmer might well drop the wrench out of reach, and
then he could stand out in the bugs and sun until some one came to
rescue him.

Don't laugh! It happenned to my father in law, and he near died of
thirst, heatstroke and then exposure as it cooled down after dark,
not to mention embarrassment when the boys got to talking. He was
there most of a day and night before he was missed. He was 80 at the
time, working as a scarecrow in a large cornfield.

He just stopped for a pee, and the tractor moved, probably as a
result of dirt settling under the wheels.

He says he did nothing, it just rolled a foot and stopped on his foot.

The people driving by on the highway just waved back, all day.

I guess they didn't know the marine "arms up and down" distress
signal. He was within sight of the saint John River. He said later
"Never did well water taste so much like rum."

Terry K