Told my wife to flick the switch then wires started smoking...

[ripperoo187]

Thought that I had a dual battery setup finished but I ended up smoking some wiring. Did i do something wrong? Should I have not used this solenoid?

I'll use a fuse next time.

 

[Russell]

You'll have to give us a little bit more detail on what you've done here man -- A picture of a solenoid and a burnt wire isn't a whole lot to work with :P

 

[ripperoo187]

Ok I have 2 batteries one wired in the front stock location and one wired up in the rear of the truck. I have wires running from both terminals in the rear battery to the front. The Negative from the rear battery is connected directly to the front batteries negative terminal. The positive terminal is interrupted by the solenoid as shown above. Those are the 2 outside 2 gauge wires.

Of the center wires: the right one is connected to the negative terminal of the primary battery. The left center terminal is connected to the on/off switch mounted in the cab. Heres a diagram i made in ms paint:
Really I am 31 I just can't draw

 

[dremu]

Not clear on why there's a ground connection at the switch, unless it's an illuminated switch.

In its simplest form, the switch should go from the ignition to the solenoid. I'm hoping this is the wire you burnt up.

I would remove the #2's at the batteries, then get the solenoid working. Once you make it *click*, then work with the big guns. One step at a time.

-- A

 

[Russell]

What is the intended purpose of the solenoid? Just to act as a manual isolation system to protect the second battery from being used?

How much current draw do you plan to put through the solenoid? Are you starting the engine with it, winching through it, or just running some lights?

As mentioned, you should just have the ignition hot wire from the dash running through your illuminated switch to the positive post on the solenoid. The ground is a given (note that many solenoids are grounded through the bracket, not through the second stud).

 

[Fordum]

OK, first of all, you have already answered part of your question.
When you flip the switch and things start smoking, the answer to your question of " did I do something wrong?", is YES.

Second, depending on which of several solenoids you have, you have too many wires on it.
It looks like a ballast resistor bypass solenoid. If so, then you should have smoked the wire going from the small terminal to the negative post of the battery.

If that is the one that smoked, cut it off and throw it away. Then try it again. It should work fine after that.

I'm having a brain fart right now, so I'm not clear on the terminal letters. I think the two small terminals should say S and I.

If so, do not hook anything to the I. Just make sure the solenoid is mounted to a good ground and put +12 on the S terminal when you want it to pull in.

 

[ripperoo187]

I smoked the wire running from the ignition to the switch and i also smoked the wire running from the ground to the switch.

Intended purpose is manual isolation, I want to be able to flip the switch and have more amps.

So I should connect positive to s terminal if i understand correctly?

 

[Fordum]

To clarify slightly, there are several versions of that solenoid. The most common, and the one I think you have, has the coil connected from the S terminal to the mounting bracket.
So, you just mount it to a good ground, and put battery voltage to the S terminal to turn it on.
The I terminal is hooked to the big lug on the output side. So that when the solenoid fires, its hooked directly to the positive terminal.

For cars with ballast resistors, this bypasses the resistor and supplies full battery voltage to the coil while the engine is cranking.

A much rarer version has the mounting bracket isolated and has both small terminals hooked to the coil.
This is how yours is wired, but I think yours is the more common type since it smoked a wire.
There is another type that has one side of the coil hooked to one of the big lugs. To fire it, you ground the small terminal.
Of course, you have to hook the battery and starter wires to the correct sides or it will never fire.

There may even be a couple of weirder ones too, but those are the most common.

 

[Fordum]

Yep, hook the two battery wires up like you have them, and run a wire from the S terminal to a switch, which is hooked to a hot wire.
Put battery voltage to the S terminal when you want the solenoid to fire.

Just remember the battery that wire is hooked to must have enough voltage to fire the solenoid.
I rigged a system like that to jump myself off with a dual battery system on my old truck, and made sure that the solenoid got its power from the aux battery.

Otherwise, if I used the other battery and it was dead, the solenoid would never fire.

Later I added a couple of diodes so that either battery could fire the solenoid without either one draining the other.

 

[ripperoo187]

Well I just hooked up the S terminal to the positive on the battery and the solenoid is clicking. I also hooked up the aux battery and its working the same. When I switch it on should an multimeter show the additional amps?

 

[Fordum]

Well I just hooked up the S terminal to the positive on the battery and the solenoid is clicking. I also hooked up the aux battery and its working the same. When I switch it on should an multimeter show the additional amps?

Basically, no. At least as I read what you asked.

When you hook up the S terminal to either battery, the solenoid should pull in, as long as they both share a ground terminal.

If each battery is hooked to each big lug, then when you power up the solenoid, the two will be hooked in parallel. Since you need a voltage difference to create a current, then you will see very little current flow.

Its very unlikely that both batteries will be in the exact same state of charge and condition, so there will be a slight voltage difference. This will cause one battery to try to charge the other slightly.

That would cause a small current flow unless one is completely dead, in which case the current might be fairly heavy.

But its not likely to show up on a multimeter unless you have it set on amps and in series with one of the batteries.
You might see a slight difference in the voltage of the system as the two equalize, but thats it.

If you are just trying to see if its working, then about the only way would be to switch on the solenoid using the aux battery, then carefully disconnect the original battery positive cable and see if the truck will crank.
BE CAREFUL with the original battery's positive cable!!! If you have done your work correctly, it will be hot and will short out and cause a fire if it touches a ground!!
DO NOT disconnect the original battery cable with the truck running. If your setup is not working, then you could quickly fry the alternator or the electronics in the engine.
If the truck cranks with that cable disconnected then it means the aux battery is in the system so it should be safe to run it.
BUT DO NOT turn the solenoid off while the engine is running!!

If the engine is running, and you have an amp gauge, then you will probably see an increase in the charging current when the second battery is switched in.

Other than that, about the only difference you might notice is a slightly faster starter if the original battery was a little weak.
Remember, you are going to have to have some way to charge the aux battery.
Do a search on dual batteries here, and you will see lots of different ways to have two batteries in a system.

I personally prefer my old truck's system with the split electrical system and the diode isolator, but I am quite willing to agree that some of the automatic solenoid systems are probably better for most setups.

 

[Blue85]

View attachment 138227

Your switch can short the IGN to GND. It looks like you're showing a SPDT switch, so you have two choices: 1) power the solenoid 2) smoke. Remove the ground to the switch and you're all set. But if the main battery is ever completely dead the solenoid won't work, so just carry jumper cables for that scenario.

Personally, I don't like using a solenoid to tie a charged battery to a dead one. Tons of current and you might just end up with 2 batteries that won't crank. In that situation I would just swap the batteries, either with wires or physically move them. Then after the engine is running, bring in the dead one.

Of course there are 100 opinions on how to run dual batteries.

 

[diesel4me]

Your using a ordinary "inetermittent duty" ford starter solenoid,and that wont last long under constant use,you need a steel cased solenoid rated for continious duty,Cole-Hersey and Standard sell them (I think a SS-584 Standard was the one they showed in their illustrated catalog you can use like your intending too,and it showed the wiring hook up ,to charge an auxillary battery or one on a trailer,I'll have to see if I can find the catalog and confirm the part # and wiring details)...............................................................................................I remember a customer buying a ford solenoid like that off me at the parts store years ago--never said what he was going to do with it,I assumed he was just replacing a ford solenoid...a few days later he came in the store,very pissed off--he used it to power a rotating beacon on his plow truck--after about 20 minutes the solenoid litteraly melted,so did all the battery cables going to it--set the engine ablaze,and burnt the truck to the ground,a total loss!......its best to use the right parts for the job,or things can go sour very quickly..

 

[byggyns]

Exactly right. You need a continuous duty soleniod if you want to have the ability to charge and use both batteries at the same time. As stated previously, there are myriad ways for you to set up dual batteries. It just depends on how you want to use them.