Saturday October 12, 2024
Installed New Starter Solenoid, New Ignition Wire Clips (Firewall Forward)
2.5 Hours

I've been very busy at work lately, so not much time in the garage during the week, unfortunately.

I got the new starter solenoid this week, so I got to work reinstalling it. This diode helps protect the starter switch by serving as an "outlet" for a huge voltage spike that occurs when you turn the contactor off. This can be rough on the switch if you don't have this diode. In any case, Van's supplies you with this little diode soldered to two ring terminals and you are supposed to route it from the "S" (switch) terminal to the bolt that attaches the contactor to the firewall. It was a tight fit and the diode was really close to everything that was attached to the hot side of the solenoid, so I decided to re-do it. I took the heat shrink off and removed the bigger terminal. Then I soldered a length of 16 AWG wire to that end and covered it all with heat shrink. I will just attach it to ground in a more direct way.

Here's the new solenoid installed with all of the circuitry reinstalled, including my new diode wire. I was very careful to use a backup wrench when tightening the nuts on the lugs. I tested it a bunch and I'm not getting any bleed through to the starter.

Last weekend I ordered these clips for holding the ignition wires. I wasn't thrilled with the zip-tie and rubber tubing method. I found these recommended on VAF and saw them on a friend's RV-14A. They clip in solidly and hold the wires apart nicely. Even better is that you can attach them to an Adel clamp if you want. I went through and removed all of the zip-ties and replaced them with these.

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