10-10.5V across the starter terminals - still too slow...

[Myles]

Spoke to Brise a week or so back to see if they could give me any test data to see if my Brise has developed another fault or not - despite a new Powervamp battery, it's still turning over too slowly for the Emerald to recognise rotation unless I really give it a kick with a jump-start or second battery.

 

They weren't able to give me any resistance readings or anything and asked if i could measure the voltage at the starter when cranking, So I finally did so today - was getting a good 10-10.5v between the main connection and the battery negative.

 

I did get the odd flicker of the Green telltale on the emerald, but the engine wouldn't catch.

 

So how does that voltage sound? I'd have thought it was actually pretty-healthy - in which case the Brise has probably developed another internal fault????

[Jonathan Kay]

Voltage sounds OK for cranking, but are you sure that there isn't still a possibly resistive connection between where you are measuring the feed voltage and the internals of the starter? What's the connection there? If it's a post then there isn't another connection. If it's a bolt etc I suggest you dismantle, clean, and try again.

 

Jonathan

[Fishy Dave]

I find this problem the only thing I dislike about the Emerald. I have no power in the carport to run a charger and if the voltage in the battery drops just a little I don't get the green light when starting, so the engine just turns over. Anyway we can get the Emerald to work at a lower rotation speed?

[Jonathan Kay]

Is the problem with the Emerald that it wants more volts or more revs?

 

Jonathan

[Myles]

The emerald should be fine at those voltages - but it expects a certain minimum speed of rotation before it will give the thumbs-up.

 

I measured the voltage with the positive dvm clip on the main starter (solenoid) connection where the feed from the alternator passes on the baton to the cable that (ultimately) goes to the battery positive. The negative lead was on the battery negative rather than a chassis earth point - and I can't recall if I've still got an earth lead leading from the battery negative direct to one of the mounting bolts on the starter. Did have at one point but I think the NI boys took it off in disgust.

 

I did meticulously (for me at least) strip and clean all of the major connections and wires (including the main chassis earth) a couple of months back when I started to try and sort the cr@p starting out in order to get to the MOT (car hadnt turned a wheel since the previous MoT as the Westie was getting all the action).

 

I've had at least two issues with internal high resistance connections in this starter since I fitted it many moons ago - its a shame I haven't (to my knowledge) still got the original starter as that would be a good test.

[CageyH]

Are the actual wires feeding the starter in good health?

They don't like the heat of the exhaust much, and start to corrode, giving a nice high resistance to starting power.