Pull starting a 200 0ptimax

[Waterman]

I have Just Serviced my engine so decided to run it up on the muffs, i knew the starting battery was weak (float switch caught me out again!) so decided i would try to jump start it (2003 200hp optimax) with a fully charged battery but couldnt, even with a decent set of leads and a good connection the volt meter still only read 11.3 v??? Donor battery was reading 13v . Anyone know why this would be the case??
(ended up swapping the battery to start)

I then got thinking what the chances would be of being able to pull start it if I rigged a cord up to the fly wheel in an emergency situation?

Anyone ever tried it??

I presume you would require a battery with at least enough juice for ignition and fuel pump for it to work?

[Erin]

I somehow doubt you'd manage it. I know my Suzuki is designed to take three full revolutions before firing so that all of its sensors can take a reading before ignition comes on. There's no way I could do that with a cord round the flywheel. I think also that if you're battery is so low that it won't turn over then it's unlikely to have enough juice to keep the pump and ecu running even if you did get it to catch.

[ashbypower]

NO chance with an Opti, you have to get the compessor running around 80psi and that aint gonna happen on a pull start

[Jizm]

Originally Posted by Waterman

I have Just Serviced my engine so decided to run it up on the muffs, i knew the starting battery was weak (float switch caught me out again!) so decided i would try to jump start it (2003 200hp optimax) with a fully charged battery but couldnt, even with a decent set of leads and a good connection the volt meter still only read 11.3 v??? Donor battery was reading 13v . Anyone know why this would be the case??
(ended up swapping the battery to start)

I then got thinking what the chances would be of being able to pull start it if I rigged a cord up to the fly wheel in an emergency situation?

Anyone ever tried it??

I presume you would require a battery with at least enough juice for ignition and fuel pump for it to work?

If there's one thing I've learn't it's that the battery must be tip top to get an opti to start.
I've had mine rigged with all the pressure test guages and watched what needs to happen, Ashby is dead right, no hope of pull start.

[Festinghouse]

hmmm, not worrying at all!

[Turbodiesel]

You wont do it, the ECU needs power first to switch everything on. And as said you need to charge the compressor which you can do with about 3 pulls. But the ECU has to on and without a battery it will not fire.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Turbodiesel

You wont do it, the ECU needs power first to switch everything on. And as said you need to charge the compressor which you can do with about 3 pulls. But the ECU has to on and without a battery it will not fire.

Does that mean that in theory if your starter solenoid goes down(for example), you can start it by hand after a lot of pulls to charge the compressor?

[Jizm]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Does that mean that in theory if your starter solenoid goes down(for example), you can start it by hand after a lot of pulls to charge the compressor?

Only with a really long pull cord and a big run up!

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by Waterman

even with a decent set of leads and a good connection the volt meter still only read 11.3 v??? Donor battery was reading 13v . Anyone know why this would be the case??
?

They are as said very voltage sensitive. The usual voltage drop is due to corrision on the master switches and main starting wires , either that or your battery is on its way out ....

I went form 12.5v at the battery to 5v at the engine ......new wire solved all the problems !

[Waterman]

Originally Posted by Turbodiesel

You wont do it, the ECU needs power first to switch everything on. And as said you need to charge the compressor which you can do with about 3 pulls. But the ECU has to on and without a battery it will not fire.

Ok so with no battery connected it would not be possible and would probably damage the alternator/charging circuit, but in theory if you had a run down battery with enough power for ecu, fuel pump but not enough to turn the engine over it could possibly be done??

Wonder what the min voltage the ecu needs?? Could it run on eg. 10v?

There may only be one way to settle this!!!

(Will post pics of my hernia)

[uncle al]

pull start an opti forget it it will not happen, i dont care how big and strong you are, also the battery has to be a minnimum of about105amp hr of which about 8 volts are required to power up the pcm and the ign side to start so if you have to have a good battery to start

[ALANT]

Back to the original post. WHY WHY have you only 1 battery? 200hp engine fit a second battery and a change over switch. For safety if nothing else even if you have a jockey engine you won't regret it.

[Waterman]

Originally Posted by ALANT

Back to the original post. WHY WHY have you only 1 battery? 200hp engine fit a second battery and a change over switch. For safety if nothing else even if you have a jockey engine you won't regret it.

I actually have three batteries on board!
And a change over switch! Two in the console and one under one of the jockeys.
The boat is at my house and the other two were removed for charging, just left one for the trim when servicing the engine.

I was just throwing the possibility of being able to do this in an emergency out for discussion.

If uncle al has said NO then I think that's the answer!

[Erin]

Originally Posted by ALANT

Back to the original post. WHY WHY have you only 1 battery? 200hp engine fit a second battery and a change over switch. For safety if nothing else even if you have a jockey engine you won't regret it.

I'm not quite sure what having a second battery has to do with safety. I can understand having a 2nd for convenience in case you are in a distant port and you have accidentally flattened your main battery (or its died from natural causes), but I wouldn't consider that a safety issue. Equally if you decide to cut your engine whilst afloat, then just because your engine won't start doesn't necessarily mean you are at risk (and you'd be asking for trouble if you'd cut the engine in rough seas). My car only has one battery. The only time it's battery has failed is whilst on the drive.

It would be interesting to know how many people have had battery failure whilst underway. I suspect most power failures would be wiring and corrosion related.

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by Erin

My car only has one battery. The only time it's battery has failed is whilst on the drive.

It would be interesting to know how many people have had battery failure whilst underway. I suspect most power failures would be wiring and corrosion related.

But you can get left in the situation of recharging a battery that isnt too old, thinking thats all it needs, only to find out too late and well off shore, that it has a fault and fairly quickly discharges, plus with 200Hp on board, I'd be certain to have a bit of space for a spare guy! .. AND notwithstanding the fact that IIRC an optimax is best rigged with two always anyway, a special just for the engine and a service one, alongside

[martini]

Originally Posted by Erin

It would be interesting to know how many people have had battery failure whilst underway.

Me

Left the AIS on overnight in Alderney, house battery was slightly down in the morning, everything worked-just a low bat warning on the compass. No drama, engine batteries still ok, once underway the engines will charge the house battery. But it seems the battery didn't like running down and wouldn't take a charge so one by one my electronics went down on the way home.

Combining the batteries sorted the issue out, just a shame I didn't think of it till I was back on my berth

[Turbodiesel]

ECU needs about 6v to power up, We did modify some DFI engines for rope start, but we had to keep a small battery under the cowl for the ecu to work, It takes one hell of a good few pulls to get them going. So to answer the question, if your solenoid goes and you have battery power i would suggest get a screw driver hold it over the two posts on your start solenoid and fire it up that way!!! But yes in theory you can rope start if you have some battery power!.

[ALANT]

Originally Posted by Erin

I'm not quite sure what having a second battery has to do with safety. I can understand having a 2nd for convenience in case you are in a distant port and you have accidentally flattened your main battery (or its died from natural causes), but I wouldn't consider that a safety issue. Equally if you decide to cut your engine whilst afloat, then just because your engine won't start doesn't necessarily mean you are at risk (and you'd be asking for trouble if you'd cut the engine in rough seas). My car only has one battery. The only time it's battery has failed is whilst on the drive.

It would be interesting to know how many people have had battery failure whilst underway. I suspect most power failures would be wiring and corrosion related.

Your car has only one battery yes but you can stand beside it and look like a muppet.
Maybe in the Channel Isles it would be ok but not much chance of the AA coming along up here. OK replace safety with self sufficiency.

[gotchiguy]

Can I just point out that at the turn of this year, one of the dealers on the E-tec forum decided to test out this on a variety of etecs. The smaller ones have always been sold on the fact that they do not need a battery to start or run, and guess what - neither do the 3.3/4 litre models! The crank needs half a revolution and it's gone!

Another great reason to buy an Evinrude!

Will a 200 hp pull start? - Owners Message Board

If you flick through the posts you should find the video links.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by martini

Me

Left the AIS on overnight in Alderney,

Ahh, I was discounting stupidity as that is somewhat user controllable