OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield MkII Evolution Ride-on - Wiring

G'day again Bondy and Mark,

Sorry Bondy, the BLACK wire from the solenoid to the S terminal of the switch. My defence is that it was 3am

I agree Mark. I hadn't planned on discussing charging until it was starting either but Bondy asked about the charge wire. If you agree that the charge wire should go direct to the solenoid battery post and doesn't need to be fused then it's just as easy to do it now?

Bondy, can I suggest you send a bunch more photos of you finished wiring before you power up.

Mark, I'm so sorry, I just read back through the thread and have only just realised I replied over you again last night. That's the second time I've done that! Sorry. Who'd have thought we'd both be insomniacs!

It takes me some time to type anything...and while I'm mucking about you've got the problem sorted. Sorry for causing confusion guys.

Sincerest apologies again Mark.

Its all good, forums can be a funny thing.

I did another wiring diagram, let me know if its alright.



Thanks for everyone's input, I'm sure this thread will help others in the furure.

G'day mark electric and prd,

Thanks for the feedback on the wiring sequence re "key switch". prd, thanks for the suggestions regarding resealing the rubber cap to the can. I may have to use silicon.


I appreciate the new Honda solenoid image, from what I see on that solenoid I notice a black wire with an eye terminal connector, same one on mine is connected to earth.

The other one with a bullet terminal connector is Black with white stripe.

Cheers, Bondy

Hello mark electric and prd,

My apologies I did not notice there was a third page until I posted, I should have checked before hand, oh well, I blame lack of sleep on my part.

Mark, thanks for the revised wiring up image, I can follow this one, its clearer and simple to follow.

Prd, I'll take another photo once its been wired up prior to applying power. Probably some time this coming week.

Cheers, Bondy

prd

I've wired up the switch to the Honda solenoid.

Here are the pics in no particular order.

With reference to those bundle of wires, there was only two, one is red with half a fuse connector at the end. I found the other half of the plastic connector chewed up.

The other wire is coloured sort of white (covered by a shield cloth(, that's the one going to the Magneto so I've attached that one to the Magneto terminal on the key switch.

L is not used and not connected.

The other terminal on the Key Switch away from the others is another Earth / Ground terminal.

I have not colour corrected the cables as yet. I have temporarily used the existing wires as they are.

At this point in time I have not placed any fuse on the power supply until I work out what amp would be suitable.

Cheers, Bondy

Here are the pics.

G'day Bondy,

Important! I just went out and checked on my machine. The White wire with the 'shield' is NOT a magneto wire!! Looks like it is another alternator output ( AC for headlight from what I just measured). Remove this from the ignition switch and secure it so it can't short to ground. Do the same with the other alternator output as well if you aren't wiring it in for the moment. Don't let them short as it may damage the alternator.

I can't see a loose magneto connection on my machine for use by the end user. I wouldn't worry about it for now (or ever?) as you can shut it off with the magneto ground provided on the throttle lever once it's rigged correctly. If you want to put it through the ignition switch we can deal with that later.

I'd be securing the solenoid to the can before power-up too.

Sorry again for the bum steer.

If you used red for power and black for ground then switch is wired correctly based on the terminal lettering you gave us. That is to say correct except for my bum steer..

Apologies. The lesson here I guess is never assume.......

prd,

Thanks for letting me know about that shielded white wire, I'll disconnect it from the key switch tomorrow.

Surely there must be a wire that the Magneto on the Key Switch connects to. Finding that wire is a problem.

I've used Red wire for power and black for ground based on the terminal lettering.

The black wire on the Honda Solenoid is married up with a white wire going to the Key Switch (Ignition). The black wire with white stripe from the Honda solenoid is earthed under the can.

I'll silicon the top part of the solenoid sometime tomorrow/. I'll have to use the right type of silicon.

How does one start the mower electrically if there is no magneto wire to use?

Manually starting .i.e. pulling the rope is not always ideal. I run out of puff after 5 pulls of the rope.

Cheers. Bondy

Sorry again for the snafu Bondy

To start you'll just put the throttle in the choke/start position as normal and then by the power of electrickery turn the key instead of pulling a rope To stop the engine, push the throttle to the stop position as normal (once this is fixed)

The magneto wire grounds the magneto to stop the engine. With the throttle in anything but the full stop position the ground is removed and your good to go.

Any silicone sealant will do I think. Ordinary roof and gutter or something. Just not that muck that they claim you can use underwater.


Cheers,

Re: fuse size. Honda give nothing. A quick look at the inter web and 15 amp is often used. This should be heaps for that little solenoid and you've used good sized wire it seems so...15 amp.

Mark?

Yep; what I was getting at was that the number of charge wires, and their colours, can tell us which of the 3 this engine has. The 1A charge system is the simplest of them.

For sure. It will be a lot easier to do this if you take the solenoid off the engine first, I reckon.

Mark's pic of the new solenoid clearly shows how the 'retainer clips' on the can are punched inwards, to secure it to the top.
If the top wiggles fully back into place OK, punching these in again should work to secure it.

prd, thanks for that info re amps.

Gadge, I'll try to take the solenoid off and secure the top properly , the difficult part is getting to the bolt that holds it in situ.

I have not measured the bolt, I assume it's 5mm.

I'll find out later today / tomorrow.

Cheers, Bondy

I still have to work out where that Magneto wire is. I guess I would have to remove the head where the puller rope is and the top casing to find this magneto.

Wire could be anywhere.

Cheers, Bondy

reference fuse size.

I measured a solenoid coil I have here, similar to bondy's original one & got 4.1 Ohms .
Ohms law tells us I = V/R therefore I = 12.6V/4.1 Ohms gives 3 Amps.

Auto cable:
3mm 10 Amps Light Loads, Headlights, Stereo/UHF
4mm 15 Amps Driving lights, Compressor type fridges
5mm 25 Amps Power feed for other circuits

This formula ensures the fuse will blow before the cable melts.
IB < IN < 0.9 x IZ
Load Amps < Fuse size < 0.9 x 10 (3mm auto wire)
3 < 5 < 9

The figures above satisfy the formula (so, a 5A fuse should not blow while starting the engine)
A 10 A fuse would not be suitable, as the cables capacity will be exceeded to make a 10A fuse blow.
These are my best figures for using 3mm. 3mm automotive contains 16 x 0.3mm conductors or approximately 1.13mm�.

Some other diagrams that may help.
Your magnto kill wire should be going to the stop switch in the diagrams below.

mark electric,

Thanks for your help on the amperages

Mark, I can see in the diagram an Engine Stop Switch. Do I need to have a wire going from the terminal marked Magneto on the Key switch to the Magneto positive wire (where ever it is), still cant locate it on the Honda Engine I have.

Cheers, Peter

Bondy, Mark and Gadge,

Here I sit apologising for my second snafu in 24 hours! What you need at the moment Bondy is clear correct information. This sort of stuff from me isn't helping!

Mark, I'm embarrassed and ashamed. I know the maths and the theory. What's worse is that I have the exact same solenoid here that I could have measured and done the maths correctly. Instead I chose to hold a wet finger in the air and declare 'she'll be right'. And embarrassed that my 'estimation' was so far off! Not good.

For reference, I have just measured the solenoid. 3.2 ohms.

Bondy, my suggestion is that you leave the magneto wiring until it's cranking. That said, you seem keen to hook it up. I just did a bit of looking. I took the fuel tank off (it's only two bolts) the magneto wiring is there. There is no end user connection that I can see. If you choose, there is a wire into the throttle switch secured with a spade terminal. Cut the terminal off and connect a length of wire with a splice. Run this to your ignition switch. The wire is secured into a clip above the switch. You'll need to get the wire out of this clip to give you enough wire length to work with.

If your interested, I'll take a couple of photos.

.......but I suggest you get it cranking first and we can do this later.

Hi prd,

Oh dear, just goes to show we are all human hey! No worries I'll leave the magneto alone.

So, how do I get the starter to crank over using the key switch?

As far as I know of, its always been started by using the pull chord.

With the high temps and humidity of late, reverting back to starting by pulling the chord is not ideal.


I've removed the wire that's going to the terminal marked M for Magneto on the key switch.

If you can post a photo or two of that magneto wiring and the throttle switch, can always wire this up later onto the ignition switch.

Cheers, Bondy

G'day Bondy,

The magneto wiring is not required for you to be able to use the electric start. The magneto wiring is simply used to stop the engine- and we can do that with the switch that Honda has provided that is operated by the throttle lever.

Of course you'll need to find out why it's not working at the moment. I have the strong suspicion that this problem is related to the fact that is seems the choke isn't working either with the problem being that your not getting full travel of the throttle arm.

Once your electric start is up and working and the throttle travel thing is sorted you'll start the machine by placing the throttle to the choke position and then turning the key.

To stop the machine at the end of a hard days mowing you'll simply place the throttle lever to the stop position. Turning the key will have no effect here.

To confirm the throttle arm fault is caused by lack of cable travel, remove the cable completely from the engine and see that the throttle lever on the engine closes the choke in the start position and makes the magneto switch in the closed position.

prd,

Hmmmm, I'll have to take a photo and of the lever control and post it here. From memory I don't think this one has a Stop icon . I think the control position icons have disappeared, I have never seen a stop sign anywhere on this mower.

Always had to close the fuel line on the carby to stop the mower after being set at lower idle for about 30 seconds.

Wow, what a Greenfield mower I have, everything is dodgy on her.

I'll double check that throttle tomorrow after I come back from the dentist.

Cheers, Bondy