Need advice

[Marksjob]

Lets start with the basics. 2002 sea ray 182. 4.3 No voltage at accessories. Checked slave. No voltage at the slave to ground. 50 amp breaker is good. If I jump hot from batter to slave with key on the engine starts sll all is good. Once i
Power key off. Everything is off and no voltage to engine. Checked ground and battery hot to starter. If I add hot to the starter solenoid on the start which feeds to slave then all accessories work and slave has power. Is this a classic case of a shorted solenoid at the starter? What Im asking is the solenoid hot wire suppose to have constant voltage regardless of ignition on off?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,..... Start at the battery, remove 'n clean to shiny metal, both ends of both battery cables,.....

 

[Scott Danforth]

and keep cleaning every connection until you get to the helm and back to the motor.

by clean and shiny, that is clean enough your mother-in-law would eat off of them.

 

[ESGWheel]

What Im asking is the solenoid hot wire suppose to have constant voltage regardless of ignition on off?

While the answer to your issue is the above posts, to answer your question > it depends on what your definition of a “solenoid hot wire” is. To help that, below are pictures of two types of starter solenoids. One with 4 wires, and more typical, a 3 wire.

• Post No. 1 in both pics is always hot as its connected directly to the battery via a very thick “battery cable”. No fuses. And does not matter key on or off.
• Post No. 2 is only hot when the key is held to the “Start Position”. This activates the starter solenoid which is just a large relay / mechanical plunger combo.
• Post No. 3 is only hot when the starter solenoid is activated. This is what powers the starter.
• Post No. 4 is for older style points ign. systems with a ballast resistor in line with ign. coil. Its is only hot when the solenoid is activated.