How do I connect the starter on my house generator to the battery?

[Mex-Busnut]

Dear Fellow Busnuts:

I guess I am not the brightest light on the Christmas tree. I have the Honda EB6500 generator, which is amazingly quiet.



I am trying to figure out how to connect the battery for the starter. There is a drawing (which is NOT very clear to me!) on page 45 of the manual, which is here:
http://www.poweredgenerators.com/honda/manuals/31ZD1600.pdf But it is not very clear. Here is the photo of my starter. Would that be the terminal with the large nut that has the white/red cable connected?

Or maybe even better: Does somebody else have a Honda generator with an electric starter they could post a picture of?

Thanks a million in advance!

[Sean]

... Would that be the terminal with the large nut that has the white/red cable connected?

Yes.  That wire should be white; looks like it maybe has a red mark or some tape on it.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[eagle19952]

ok,100% technical accuracy is paramount to any discourse....

[wal1809]

Also when you tighten the termial nut, don't over do it.  Don't ask how I know this because I am still butt hurt over the $400 dollars it cost to fix a 1/4 over turn of a nut.

[Sean]

... and that the positive battery terminal is connected to the starter solenoid on the terminal with a PLAIN WHITE WIRE>

As I wrote.

the other terminal is not clear  on my computer screen display BUT it clearly shows me that the other or wrong wire is also white BUT with a colored stripe.

No.  It clearly shows the other wire is black, with a white stripe.  Which is exactly what is connected to the rear stud of the solenoid, under the heavy, booted starter wire.

...
LOOK carefully at page 40.IT IS APPARENT to me that someone put a red mark on the wire to indicate POS.

Actually, if you look carefully at the photo, there is a red mark on BOTH wires.  Which is why I speculated it might be a bit of tape, or maybe leftover shrink tubing.

The other wire being white with black stripe

No, again, the wire is black with a white stripe, as called out in the wiring diagram ("Bl/W" -- primary color is always listed first, stripe color listed second) and shown in the photo.

Beyond all that, the installation diagram on p45 also clearly shows that both heavy wires attached to the solenoid are booted, one coming from the battery, on the outer terminal, and one coming from the starter, on the inner terminal.  The booted wire from the starter is already correctly attached to the inner terminal, leaving only the battery-side terminal unbooted.

All of which is a lot of extraneous information beyond the simple "Yes" that I posted earlier.  Perhaps I should not have made mention of the red mark at all, as it seems to have confused things.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[eagle19952]

here i'll fix it....and simply refrain in the future.


ok,100% technical accuracy is paramount to any discourse..

[eagle19952]

   bye

[eagle19952]

  bye

[Busted Knuckle]

OH boy the heat is getting to us again. Let's all go down to the swimm'n hole and cool off a while!
  BK 

[Sean]

here i'll fix it....and simply refrain in the future.

If my corrections to your analysis came across as anything other than objective, I apologize.  I'm just trying to be clear and precise for someone who is having a great deal of difficulty, by his own admission, with the printed materials.  And I agree, they are hard to read, especially if reading wiring diagrams is not something you do day in and day out.

ok,100% technical accuracy is paramount to any discourse..

Well, actually, in this case I think it is.  Telling someone they are looking for a white wire with a colored stripe when the print says it's a black wire with a white stripe is a pretty major error.  To someone not familiar with the setup, that's exactly the kind of misstep that can lead to a costly mistake, or worse.  So, yes, I felt it was warranted to point out the mistake, and quickly.  Note that I've made errors of this magnitude myself on many occasions, and I am just as quick to correct those when I discover them.

For some, striving for technical accuracy is part of "discourse."

It's hard to continue discourse on any subject when one of the participants goes back and deletes his post, then storms off.  If you have a problem with me posting corrections to factual errors, or perhaps with the way I stated them, I am happy to discuss that and I certainly apologize if I offended you.  But these threads get archived forever and visited by people trying to fix problems sometimes years later, and we, collectively, should do our best to make sure the correct information is available to those who need it.

FWIW.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[desi arnaz]

Sean is the one to go to if you need proper help, I think he could write 5 pages on how to fart properly and make each page interesting and worth reading.I feel much better if he chimes in on one of my problems. So if you have a problem with this wonderful person you need to step back and look at the big picture, he was only trying to help with his vast knowledge of electronics and busses, not trying to upset anyone.

[Sean]

Upsetting or offending people seems to be the one thing that I can manage to do without trying.  But you are right, I was definitely not trying to upset anyone, just get the OP the correct information he needed.

Thanks for your other comments, I appreciate them.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[eagle19952]

But these threads get archived forever and visited by people trying to fix problems sometimes years later, and we, collectively, should do our best to make sure the correct information is available to those who need it.
Hence my "storming deletion".
Not offended sorry etc.
Should have known better. bye again
PS, you pasted the pertinent misconceptions/mistakes so really nothing is missing...

[desi arnaz]

b.t.w i was told that every white wire on a Honda generator is a positive wire except for the one that goes to the brushes.

[Sean]

... Not offended sorry etc.
...

Glad to see you are still here.  I would not like to think I ran someone off the board.

Thanks for the clarification.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com