Starter motor connector?

Hi,

This is driving me nuts and I can't find any info (mostly because I don't know what to search for).
I am helping a friend finish his Harley. He has a starter motor on it, no idea what make and model.
There is a connector on top and I just can't find any info on what it does/is for.

I am thinking it could be for hooking up the start button as this thing has an inbuilt starter solenoid. But I am probably completely off.
My hope is that I can just hook up the battery to the terminal that is right from it and the starter button to that plug. I am also attaching a reference pic below

Connector in question is circled.

 

I just worked on a Big Dog that was very similar. That single connector that you have circled on the Big Dog is the starter solenoid. The starter button does not hook directly to it in that setup, as the solenoid draws nearly 10 amps of current. On the Big Dog, the starter button activated a relay, which then applied 12V to the solenoid contact.

If the starter button is sized appropriately to handle the current, then yes you could hook it to the solenoid and attach the high current starter wire to the terminal to the right.

 

+1
Think of it as more of a Chevy starter than a motorcycle starter and wire accordingly.

 

You guys are great.
And oh this is beautiful then....
I used the Ultima 18-533 harness and there is a 12 gauge green wire that is supposed to go to starter. So this matches perfectly to what you say.
And I was wondering why it was a 12 gauge. It all makes sense now. Thank you very much

So battery + to that bolt on the right, starter wire to that connector, rectifier to battery +, battery - to frame. Awesome

 

And since we all like to look at bikes, here a pic...

 

So, need to ask again, sorry.
I hooked up the 12 gauge wire from my Ultima wiring harness to the spade connector. Anything I need to connect to the terminal on the right? The one with the nut?

Here better pic of my setup


And here a pic of the wiring diagram:

 

+12 volt cable from the battery. Same as on an XJ.

The case is gound for both the starter armature, and the internal solenoid.

 

Ok, that's what I thought, thank you.
Well, it did crank once. That's great.
BUT, it only did it that one time. Now it's just clicking and only when I press the start button. Holding it down doesn't do anything.
I know these require a battery with high cca, so I hope it's that and not me breaking anything. That would suck big time.
The battery I used is 190cca.
Charging the battery hoping I can replicate the cranking, even if just once.

Interesting enough, it also makes that click sound when only the green wire is attached.

 

Btw, I haven't connected the coil yet to the bike because I am still missing the spark plug cables.
But that shouldn't matter

 

The green wire is the solenoid trigger. It should click even if the battery cable is not hooked to the starter.

190cca seems a bit low to me for that starter. IIRC it should be closer to 300cca.

Is the transmission in neutral?

 

Ah yes, sorry. the 190 battery is mine that I hooked up for testing the wiring. I read that these starters should have at least 300cca and I'll try to source one today. Was hoping that i could at least test crank to confirm wiring.
Transmission is in neutral, yes.

 

So, good news..
After charging battery over night, it cranked again this morning.
Just need to beef up battery now.
And there is a fault in my wiring, I can crank even with kill switch in off. Probably missed something somewhere, should be an easy fix though

Thanks guys

 

I think that's the normal mode of operation for a shovel. The kill switch just cuts power to the coil. But I could be wrong; it's been a while.

 

Great.
I will just double check to be sure, but you might be right.

Getting the coil wires and plugs today, let's see what happens.

 

Update:
Got a juicy battery, spend an hour on timing and spark plug specs and that baby fired right up.
First time in 7 years.
The owner was as happy as a child on Christmas.