Inline fuse in ignition popped

[Skipper]

Stu, the diagram shows that power is only available to the start button when the glow button is pushed. The power-out side of the glow button is connected to the glow plugs(gray) and the start button.
On mine, I can say that the start button is inoperable unless you hold the glow button.

By the way, I agree that there are benefits to not having to hold the glow button. I actually had planned on rewiring it, but realized that there is a small safety feature inherent here: if the start button ever sticks, I can just let go the glow button :-D
In any case, if the batteries are ever flat enough I can't turn the motor over with both buttons pushed, I can quickly and easily open the panel and jump that glow button. Just remove that short wire from the power-out side of the glow button, and reattach it to the power-in side of it.

 

[Stu Jackson]

By the way, I agree that there are benefits to not having to hold the glow button. I actually had planned on rewiring it, but realized that there is a small safety feature inherent here: if the start button ever sticks, I can just let go the glow button :-D
In any case, if the batteries are ever flat enough I can't turn the motor over with both buttons pushed, I can quickly and easily open the panel and jump that glow button. Just remove that short wire from the power-out side of the glow button, and reattach it to the power-in side of it.

The small safety feature would require you to open up the cockpit panel and jumper something.

I continue to wonder about the thought process that says: "I could rewire something so it works simply with a switch, but I'll maintain what I have so if it goes wrong I'll have to first figure it out, then go open a panel and then find a jumper wire, and then do the jumping." [We get this a lot around battery banks, too.]

Look, there is already a perfectly good indicator if your starter motor doesn't stop: your voltmeter right in your cockpit panel.

And all you have to do is to go shut off your main switch.

KISS.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Some people hold both buttons down at the same time. .

Yes, but the question is "Why?" if you don't have to.

And the reason the question is there to begin with is this:

The glow plugs draw a LOT of amps, albeit for a short time.

So does the starter.

If you do NOT HAVE TO have both those large loads on at the same time, and can avoid it, then why would you.

In addition, it's not "some people...do" but why do they do so? If they know their system, they'll learn that they may not have to do so at all.

And with a slowly failing battery bank, you may find if you do both your engine won't start, but it WILL if you do one then the other. Magic!

 

[Skipper]

And all you have to do is to go shut off your main switch.

Yep.
I think they wired it this way to ensure the motor starting. To avoid hydro-lock etc. Lot of newbies entering the market back then. Fiberglass was still a novelty that was booming the boat industry.
Anyway I've never had a problem. Works as designed. 33 years.
Although I still may rewire it. Would take 10 minutes.

Edit: Although, with it wired as is, if the start button stuck I could still run the motor with the main switch on. If I kill the main switch, that would stop the lift pump. Plus, well, everything else on the boat.
I guess if I rewired it and it did stick, I could wire it back for the trip home.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I think they wired it this way to ensure the motor starting. To avoid hydro-lock etc.

Hello again. Could you please explain these? Ensure starting: How? A larger load on old boats with smaller wiring is simply the backwards way of dealing with it. Why not one at a time? I have a 1986 boat and that's the way mine works. What does hydrolock have to do with it?

if the start button stuc

My two buttons are 30 years old and covered with canvas. If you're concerned about yours, consider replacing now as part of preventative maintenance, rather than during an emergency. I just replaced my 30 year old key switch during thorough preparations for a cruise while I was checking EVERYTHING out before I left. Easier to do at my home berth than on the road.

Good luck.

 

[Maine Sail]

Stu, the diagram shows that power is only available to the start button when the glow button is pushed. The power-out side of the glow button is connected to the glow plugs(gray) and the start button.
On mine, I can say that the start button is inoperable unless you hold the glow button.

This has been the standard Westerbeke/Universal wiring for decades and still is to this day on their current models.. They don't want folks to ignore the glow plugs, extended cranking times, wear & tear on starter, hydrolocking etc. so they force you into it by requiring the glow circuit be activated for the start button to work...

Many owners bypass that feature so you can do;

press glow>release glow>press start

The solenoid wire for the starter motor, yellow/red w/20A fuse on older models, and white on newer models (no in-line fuse), does not carry any glow current just solenoid excite current..

 

[Skipper]

Hello again. Could you please explain these? Ensure starting: How? A larger load on old boats with smaller wiring is simply the backwards way of dealing with it. Why not one at a time? I have a 1986 boat and that's the way mine works. What does hydrolock have to do with it?



My two buttons are 30 years old and covered with canvas. If you're concerned about yours, consider replacing now as part of preventative maintenance, rather than during an emergency. I just replaced my 30 year old key switch during thorough preparations for a cruise while I was checking EVERYTHING out before I left. Easier to do at my home berth than on the road.

Good luck.

For your questions, see Mainesail's answer above.

Re: preventative maint, I don't have a problem with the start button, nor am I worried about it. I said inherent benefit, not acquired benefit. I like that it's there, but am not concerned about needing it. Like the secondary tube in the dinghy.
That is, I don't mind how it's wired, and don't see enough alternative benefit to change it yet. The loads do not exceed the design, and there is no concern regarding losing starting capability given my power setup and knowledge of its limits.
Again, if the batteries ever go (won't) to the point of not being able to use glow simultaneously, I can rewire it then. Edit: Or jump the solenoid with a screwdriver while operating the decompression lever.

 

[SG]

I guess you can leave it just as you have it. Check to make sure your connections are clean and tight the various devices and make sure the wire doesn't look corroded. Buy some extra fuses, just in case, and...

:^))))

If it continues to work, then the reason it failed can be chaulked up to a anomaly in the fabric of the Universe.
Determining what this issue is like diagnosing an affliction that is idiopathic. In those cases you have to determine the cause often by simply ruling out things it could be -- Like Shurlock, the remaining possibilities (or possibility) becomes the likely culprit.) :^))))

• id·i·o·path·ic1
  /ˌidēəˈpaTHik/
  adjective
  1. relating to or denoting any disease or condition that arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown.