Atomic 4 Starter

[Catch the Sun]

Last year my starter was sketchy and this year I’m not putting up with it. I tried to start my Atomic 4 in the cradle yesterday in preparation for launch sometime in May and nothing.
I cad connected the starting battery, the deep cycle house battery and my backup booster pack. All batteries were near fully charged.
When I pull out the ignition switch the lights come on on the control panel and when I try the starter switch the lights dim but nothing. Not a sound. The solenoid doesn’t click, nothing. The fact that the ignition lights dim is telling me that the power is going somewhere. Is the solenoid seized? Is the starter cooked? I was thinking of connecting the booster directly to the starter module and see if this would bypass any bad wires. The booster has a switch on it that could work as a ‘safe’ starter switch?
Am I missing anything obvious?

 

[CalebD]

Sounds to me as though you need to take the starter motor off the engine and bring it to an alternator repair shop for bench testing/repair. It is an electric motor after all and it has 'brushes' which can wear out and may need replacing.
I don't know how to debug the solenoid. If you don't get a good answer for this here you should try the Moyer Marine forums as the folks there know quite a bit.

 

[Benny17441]

First check your battery voltage and then check all connections for corrosion and tightness. It sounds like the solenoid is not getting adequate power or could be toast.

 

[Kevin3447]

Last year my starter was sketchy and this year I’m not putting up with it. I tried to start my Atomic 4 in the cradle yesterday in preparation for launch sometime in May and nothing.
I cad connected the starting battery, the deep cycle house battery and my backup booster pack. All batteries were near fully charged.
When I pull out the ignition switch the lights come on on the control panel and when I try the starter switch the lights dim but nothing. Not a sound. The solenoid doesn’t click, nothing. The fact that the ignition lights dim is telling me that the power is going somewhere. Is the solenoid seized? Is the starter cooked? I was thinking of connecting the booster directly to the starter module and see if this would bypass any bad wires. The booster has a switch on it that could work as a ‘safe’ starter switch?
Am I missing anything obvious?

The solenoid is very simple, at least on the one I took apart last year. I'd try to take the starter off, and open the solenoid and see if the plunger's free to move. While you're in there, check for wear on the copper contacts. Mine were worn, and I could hear the solenoid move, but the starter wouldn't engage. Luckily, I could just turn them around, and hopefully they'll be good for another 40 years.

 

[Catch the Sun]

Thank you all for your input. I’ll be sorting this out this weekend. The starter module seems easy enough to remove. There are only two bolts and three wires. I have to plead ignorance though. I don’t know what the wires are. I haven't traced them yet.
Heavy gage post has one heavy gage wire and a medium gage ware both red.
Light gage post has one light gage white wire.
Any hints?

 

[Catch the Sun]

Answering my own question here and logging for future readers. It's pretty simple but I still haven't figured out the second wire on the battery terminal. It may not be important to the starting function.

 

[GeorgiaBII]

It's fairly common to get power for the rest of the installation from the battery terminal of the starter. This way there is only one large cable going to the positive terminal of the battery its self.

 

[Catch the Sun]

This evening I removed the starter and bench tested it. I tested it by mounting it in a bench vice with soft jaws and jumpered the starter terminal to the battery terminal with a piece of copper. I connected my booster pack by attaching the negative to the housing and the positive to the battery terminal and flipped the switch on the booster. It worked like it was new so I’m not going to mess with it. The problem is in the wiring.
When I removed the unit, I discovered a new terminal and wire that I couldn’t see before. I’ve circled it on the image. The wire coming off of it is brown and I can’t tell yet where it goes.