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how is this possible

R

RichM

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I accidently hooked up the cables backward (positive to ground, ground to postive) on my antique '61 Evinrude Starflite V4 75hp (Unicharger ignition, similar to iginition used on cars of that era), outboard, when I ran the motor at the AOMCI meet last Saturday. The engine started normally, and I ran it for over an hour, starting it and stopping several times. I discovered my mistake, when flushing the motor on the hose. I then hooked up the cables in the right way, the engine again started, apparently no harm done. How is this possible??

rich
 
Some of those 1961 V4 models have a charging system, some do not. I don't recall if the old 20 ampere alternator charging system came out that year or in 1962.

Any how..... if your engine does incorporate a alternator charging system, you would have blown the charging diodes but perhaps not all four.

If on the other hand, you do not have the alternator setup.... you're extremely lucky. No harm done.
 
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Yes, my Evinrude has a charging system. How can I tell if the charging diodes are blown. The battery seems to be fully charged.
 
RichM said:
Yes, my Evinrude has a charging system. How can I tell if the charging diodes are blown. The battery seems to be fully charged.
Click to expand...

Alternator or a belt driven generator?

Also, if your ammeter was working and showing a charge, I would assume you haven't damaged anything.
 
If you do have the Unicharger system, and it is rigged properly, you should have an ammeter. When running, it should show some sort of a charge, depending on battery condition. But if it shows a discharge when running, you blew something. Hopefully, it was the 60 Amp fuse. It doesn't look like a "normal" fuse, but it is a ceramic affair where the brown wires connect to the positive heat sink in the junction box. Yes, it could also have blown a diode, but check that fuse.
 
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