71 Johnson battery wiring question.

[nonamesleft47]

I've had this boat for a couple of years and haven't tried to get the engine running until now. It originally had the battery running to a dryer plug and that was hooked to a fuse box that controlled the lights, etc. unfortunately it had been left out uncovered and I had to strip everything and started over, built new seats and floor and paint.

I cut the plug end off of the battery cable and don't know what's what. There are 4 wires, yellow, green, red and black.

Which is positive and which is negative? I'm just going to run it straight to the battery since I'm just using it for a duck/river boat, no need for anything fancy. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[alldodge]

Hope a Johnson guy will come along and advise, but others use a terminal block and they are attached color for color. The cable your holding is what goes to the throttle start/control circuit. Here is an old Chrysler

 

[racerone]

It appears someone was on a budget and is using hefty dryer cable instead of the proper battery cables on this 18 hp ? model motor.----Green and yellow are the negative and red and black are the positive !!

 

[StarTed]

It looks to me like the green and white are grounded on the engine. That leaves the red to maybe the starter solenoid and the black to (maybe the accessories) in the boat. Are the white and green tied together at the battery - and the red and black to the battery +?

Check the mating connector to see where the wires each continue. I believe this calls for a multimeter.

At least you are working with color coded wiring.

Those wires could be kind of small for the starter so keep them short there. The stiffness of the wires might make them not last as long. Then there's the fuel and oils that are foreign to house electrical wiring.

Just some thoughts.

 

[F_R]

No Title

It doesn't require an electrical engineering degree to hook up a starter, even if you are color blind. Here's where the wires go if using simple push buttons.

 

[racerone]

I beleve that those cables doubled up are adequate to carry starter current on this motor.