Hatz Biplane Association

That's pretty wild, Mark. I should undo my solenoid fuse after my last flight of the day. Its another thing to add to my extensive engine shut down check list, in between 'turn off mags' and 'find a cold beer'.

At Blakesburg a couple of years ago, a guy with a TravelAir woke up during a rain storm to the sound of his engine cranking over. His starter solenoid had gotten wet and shorted out.
Might not hurt to have a battery disconnect switch somewhere in the circuit.

I feel your pain Mark. I've been propping my O320 for thirty-two years. Would like a starter but with an open cowl I can't figure a way to have a starter ring without ruining the looks of the nose.

Understood and agreed. I talked to some guys about it and they've never heard of a push button starter switch hanging up and staying on. They basically said possible but not probable. I just tightened the last bolt on the starter installation assembly so I'll see how it goes. I cut my eye teeth propping airplanes, but 150 horses and me at 64 years of age...a starter will be nice!

Thanks for the input, Painless.

No expert here, but so long as you can kill the circuit, you should be good. If you plan to conceal your fuse behind the panel, I would suggest going with a good old fashioned circuit breaker. Might be easier to trip than fumbling around trying to grab hold of a fuse in the heat of the moment.

Didn't find any discussions on this matter, so here's a new thread. I'm installing a starter in my Hatz CB1 (0-320). Since I don't have an electrical system, I'm running #2 flexible cable from battery behind pilot's seat to the starter solenoid on the firewall, then to the Skytec starter. Starter solenoids tend to draw around 4 amps so I'm using 18 ga. wire from the battery to the stater switch on the panel (push button type) then to the solenoid. 18 ga. aircraft wire Is rated at 15 amps, so it should be fine. My question is, since I don't have a master and buss bar, is there really any need for such a thing as a buss bar/ master switch if I don't have an alternator? I plan on having a 5 amp fuse in the starter button circuit. I'm thinking that if the starter button stuck in the ON position, a master switch would kill power to the solenoid. But, is this even an issue? If for some reason I needed to kill the power to the solenoid I could just reach under the panel, where the inline fuse is, to disconnect power. I don't want switches and stuff cluttering up my panel, especially after the fact add ons.

What say y'all?

Mark T
Hatz 493