Do you have an automatic fire suppression system? The control unit for mine went out and shut off the solenoid. The starting circuit was trying to open the solenoid until the short melted the wire and burned out the solenoid.
Butch
Regarding the fire suppression, I have important info for anyone who has a FP genset, and the Seafire system
The automatic fire extinguisher located in the engine compartment has a heat sensor which activates the extinguisher if there is a fire. As well, there is a switch contact built into the sensor.
Now, this switch has Normally Closed (NC) contacts, which complies with all safety systems. What this means is that the extinguisher switch opens if there is a fire. To ensure the system is redundant safety-wise, an alarm is also triggered if there is a break in the wiring. That is why safety related systems (like burglar & fire alarms) work with NC contacts. Any wiring fault will trip the system.
The FP genset has an automatic shutdown feature which is activated if the Seafire alarm triggers. The FP safety shutdown also works on the principal of a NC loop. Hunter installed a relay near the FP which is activated by the seafire alarm. So, if the Seafire trips, the relay closes.
To make the logic work, Hunter wired the FP shutdown loop to the common & NC contacts of the small black relay they installed.
The problem with NC contacts on relays is that they have less contact pressure than the Normally Open (NO) side of the relay. Here's why...
The NC contact is actuated by a small spring on the relay armature which flips open in the absence of coil current. When the relay coil is energized, it "pulls" the contact arm closed with considerably more force than the spring activated NC action.
If you were to physically knock a relay while measuring contact resistance from the common to NC, there is a good chance you'd see a very fast interruption in continuity. Now, the relays that hunter uses are common automotive relays (cost about $5), and they aren't sealed.
This means that salt air, etc slowly Pitts the contacts.
What this leads to is the vibration from the genset, (or other physical disturbances) causing enough of a chattering on the NC contact to shut down the genset.
Unfortunately, FP didn't build a delay into the shut down loop, so even a really short "blip" shuts it down.
There are several solutions for this, including using a better quality sealed SPDT relay with gold contacts. These are less than $10.
