Bah, latest mowing shenanigans... I stopped the mower yesterday, did some
stuff, went to start it back up - and the starter solenoid decided to jam
in the 'on' position. Cue starter churning away and turning the engine
over, with no way to stop the darn thing because the path from the
battery to the starter via the solenoid is all via bolted terminals.

I dashed up to the workshop, grabbed the relevant spanner, dashed back to
the mower, by which point there's smoke pouring out of the starter - grrr!

The windings are looking nicely cooked, although it was actually the
lower bearing (it's a vertical starter) which failed, and the shell
started spinning in the bakelite (so it appears) housing. Eventually it
wore enough that the starter jammed solid. Thankfully I at least got back
to it before the battery went bang.

Anyway, I'm now pondering a kill-switch between battery and everything
else, just in case. Any ideas if a domestic light switch might be up to
the job? The starter's pretty weedy, but OTOH I bet initial current is
pretty high. (The alternative, I suppose, is to just keep a 7/16" spanner
taped to the mower somewhere - I can isolate verything else by pulling the
crimp terminal off the main fuse, just not the starting circuit)

Thankfully I know where I can grab an identical starter (which *should* be
rebuildable if needs be), so that's no biggie...

cheers

Jules

"Jules" wrote in message
news

Bah, latest mowing shenanigans... I stopped the mower yesterday, did some
stuff, went to start it back up - and the starter solenoid decided to jam
in the 'on' position. Cue starter churning away and turning the engine
over, with no way to stop the darn thing because the path from the
battery to the starter via the solenoid is all via bolted terminals.

I dashed up to the workshop, grabbed the relevant spanner, dashed back to
the mower, by which point there's smoke pouring out of the starter - grrr!

The windings are looking nicely cooked, although it was actually the
lower bearing (it's a vertical starter) which failed, and the shell
started spinning in the bakelite (so it appears) housing. Eventually it
wore enough that the starter jammed solid. Thankfully I at least got back
to it before the battery went bang.

Anyway, I'm now pondering a kill-switch between battery and everything
else, just in case. Any ideas if a domestic light switch might be up to
the job? The starter's pretty weedy, but OTOH I bet initial current is
pretty high. (The alternative, I suppose, is to just keep a 7/16" spanner
taped to the mower somewhere - I can isolate verything else by pulling the
crimp terminal off the main fuse, just not the starting circuit)

Thankfully I know where I can grab an identical starter (which *should* be
rebuildable if needs be), so that's no biggie...

cheers

Jules


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Battery-Isolat...d=p3286.c0.m14

http://tinyurl.com/l68fgb

Baz

On Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:52:44 +0100, Baz wrote:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Battery-Isolat...d=p3286.c0.m14

http://tinyurl.com/l68fgb

Aha, I had one of those - exact same, by the looks of it, on one of my
cars. Price doesn't seem bad either, so it's possibly an option - just
curious as to whether a light switch stands a chance of working (as I have
several in the workshop liberated when we changed from cream to black
switches). Either way I think one or t'other will fit nicely under the
seat though, where it can be reached easily but not accidentally knocked.

cheers

Jules

"Baz" wrote in message
...


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Battery-Isolat...d=p3286.c0.m14

http://tinyurl.com/l68fgb

Baz

Great link! I have one that looks just like that on my horse lorry and
people keep telling me you can't buy spare keys. Even if it isn't right,
it's worth having one of them in the spares box.

On 5 Aug, 22:28, "newshound" wrote:

Great link! I have one that looks just like that on my horse lorry and
people keep telling me you can't buy spare keys.

No, but you can make them pretty easily. It's a plastic stick with a
pin sticking out of the side, and a handle on top.

I used to have one on the front wing of a rallycar. Gave a mate a lift
to the station one day, and as he set off through the barriers he
thought it would be a jolly jape if he pulled the key and did a runner
with it...

Showing a pencil down there, and a bit of gaffer tape, got me home.

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 5 Aug, 22:28, "newshound" wrote:

Great link! I have one that looks just like that on my horse lorry and
people keep telling me you can't buy spare keys.

No, but you can make them pretty easily. It's a plastic stick with a
pin sticking out of the side, and a handle on top.

I used to have one on the front wing of a rallycar. Gave a mate a lift
to the station one day, and as he set off through the barriers he
thought it would be a jolly jape if he pulled the key and did a runner
with it...

Showing a pencil down there, and a bit of gaffer tape, got me home.

I did try making one, but made the peg a bit too big and never quite got
round to trimming it. Hadn't realised it's an axial push to operate, I'd
assumed the peg was operating something.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Jules
saying something like:

Anyway, I'm now pondering a kill-switch between battery and everything
else, just in case. Any ideas if a domestic light switch might be up to
the job?

Norfolk and Chance.

Use a rallysport battery isolating switch and don't **** around.