'80's Emergency Start (battery parallel) switch question:

[tobnpr]

Boat is an '85 390, but I'm sure similar switches were used on other models...
So, after I finish building the new dash/electronics installation I'm clearing out some 20 years worth of old wiring.

I'm tracing wires all over the place trying to figure out what needs to go and I notice the wires from the one of the switches for the emergency start aren't connected to anything. This is really weird because I had my mechanics replace the battery solenoid during annual service last fall and we tested the system and it worked fine.

The system consists of two switches- the lower one is an SPST switch that says "Emergency Start" , the upper switch toggles up/down to select Port/Stbd.

There are no wires interconecting the switches. There are three sets of wires going to the "Emergency Start" switch, which I don't understand since it's only a single throw switch (?) All three are small gauge (probably 20 or so) with black/red leads. Grounds are interconnected at the switch. Only the lower wires were connected to anything, and even that seemed wrong- the power was connected to a NMEA wire for an old Garmin but the ground was connected. After untangling a mess of wires I determined the other two leads were connected to- nothing. So, near as I can tell that switch seems to do nothing since there are no wires connected yet the system still works by selecting port/stbd on the upper switch and turning the key...

Anyone who has one of these- can you please trace these wires to tell me where they're supposed to go?

 

[JAndrewG]

tobnpr,

It's been awhile since I've messed with this part of my 340 project, but as I recall, when I changed out the solenoid, my boat is wired with a single pole, single throw (SPST) toggle switch on the dash that runs down to the continuous duty solenoid. It's light guage, probably only #14 or #16, as it doesn't carry much amperage, it only 'trips' the solenoid, connecting both banks temporarily for an emergency start when one bank is dead.

It's been even longer since I had my 300WE, but it seems to me that it had a two position toggle on the dash, where you'd pull it down to for port side, and push up for starboard. I never had it apart to see how it was wired, but I never understood why it toggled that way, as connecting both banks would seem to be what you were doing either way.

I don't know if that helps or not. I'll try to make some time to look at mine again to confirm that the above is correct...