Brief Description: Series wiring is "not" parallel wiring!
My friend (a Searey amphib airplane builder) has been helping me with my electrical system from Incline Villiage, Lake Tahoe, NV. The electronic help has been by phone, email , and a sharp eye on my postings on mykitlog.com. He emailed me that what I had actually wired on the FW was two batteries in series instead of parallel. I wanted to be able to start the engine with both or either the Main or Aux batteries. Note that the first picture has a wire from the Aux contactor (on the cockpit side of the FW) coming thru the FW pass-thru and then connected to the Master contactor bat terminal. The second picture has the same wire (now with spiral wrap) connected to the Starter contactor terminal. The first wiring would not have let me use the Aux battery if the Main battery were dead because the Master contactor most likely could not be closed.
The other problem that he spotted was that the Main bus to the shunt (wire also coming thru the FW pass-thru) was connected to the Shunt-Hi side instead of the Lo side. This meant that I would not show any loads on the ammeter from the main bus. I moved it to the Lo side. Luckily, I didn't have to make new cables!
Thanks, again, John!
Note long wire connected to the Master contactor terminal.
The same long wire (now spiral wrapped) is connected to the Starter contactor.
The other wire coming thru the FW pass-thru is now connected to the Shunt-Lo side.
