| Ahhh. The old slant 6 trick….
Dave - clean all your grounds and clean and tighten all connections. The bouncing meter is a clue to an intermittent or loose connection. It can also be a switch oxidizing or otherwise failing.
I assume you are measuring your voltage with reference to a local ground. (Meaning near the switch). Measure that but also measure with the meter connected to the battery ground (-) terminal directly. If the values differ you know you have a bad (high resistance) ground. You can also verify this by measuring the resistance between those points. Mine had little problems due to loose contacts in switches, poor diy terminations, and a big problem most importantly, due to an oxidized lug connecting the entire control harness to the engine. It has been bulletproof since I worked on it - cleaning, tightening, protecting with dielectric grease and re-doing the prior owners substandard work. I assume you are working with a schematic, stepwise through each circuit.
Dave Sent from my iPhone On Oct 25, 2022, at 9:11 PM, CHARLES SCHEAFFER via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
You need a better meter that registers volts in tenths or hundreths of volts. Sounds like the batteries are OK. Eventually you will find a bad connection between the battery and the switch and the starter. Best to eliminate those control wire harness quick connects and wire the red lead straight from the battery to the control panel and then back to the starter.
I keep a large screw driver onboard and the rare times the panel button didn't work, I simply shorted the terminals at the starter, to override the solenoid and engage the starter. I've since rewired that red wire and it starts every time using the panel start button.
Chuck S
On 10/25/2022 10:10 PM David Knecht via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
More diagnosis- I found that when I checked the voltage at the engine panel ammeter (where power comes to the panel), it was 12V. When I checked at the input side of the key switch it was 12 V. When I turned the key switch on, I got 10V on the other pole of the key switch and everywhere downstream. I am presuming it should be 12V on both sides. I do not understand what that means and hoping someone else does. The other weird thing is that as I have worked on this, there are times when the battery meter in the cabin bounces all over the place from 9V to 12V and back and then finally settles at 12.9V. At the same time, the batteries are measuring 12.5V. Something very strange is happening. Dave
S/V Aries
1990 C&C 34+
New London, CT
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