[C320-list] Wiring and power on old 320

[Jeffrey Hare]

Hi Nick,

  Sorry to chime in so late,  (been out sailing in your neck of the woods). 

The Red power wire to your starter motor and Black ground wire between your
batteries and engine block should really be "2/0" gauge, (hopefully not "2
awg").  If so, this contributes to the problem.   2/0 wire is thicker than
2awg.  

If the batteries are good, the starter is new-ish and the soleniod is also
in decent shape, then what else is likely happening is:

1) The lugs on the battery cables and the mounting terminals are not clean
enough.  They should be cleaned of *all* corrosion and dirt and reattached
snugly.  

2) The connection between the cable and the lug clamped onto the cable has
probably begun corroding and adding significant resistance.  You can check
this by feeling the lugs before and after cranking.  Any that feel warm are
serious resistance points.

-Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Nicholas Ward
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 11:48 AM
To: c320-list at catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Wiring and power on old 320

We have old 320 (1993).  We've had a lot of trouble with engine starting and
after replacing just about everything related to ignition we still have
problems.  A good boat electronic guy and a good deisel mechanic told us our
problem is with insufficient wiring (curiously our surveyor
said the wiring was ok).   We have a brand new starter battery and two
huge truck batteries but.. They are on the starboard side, far from the
engine.  The wiring is ?2g (about as thick as a #2 pencil).  It takes all
the batteries to start the engine.  We have now begun the task of re-wiring
and have (at least) 3 questions for the group.
1. what route do your wires take from battery to panel?  Our house batteries
appear to go forward into the V berth, then up the starboard wall then
dissapear somewhere. Its got to be like 30 feet of wire to get to the panel.
Our starter batter cable also appear to take some crazy route back into the
aft cabin wall. I would hav ethough they would just run under the cabin
floor. 
2. As one solution we are contimplating moving the starter battery back to
the engine so it only has a short cable distance.  Has anyone ever done
that?
3.  Given the monstrous length of cable , what guage do you all use?

Nick
(almost named) #1