Stop Switch

[PatrickShannon]

First off I apologize for my lack of knowledge since this may not even be a problem, but I don't know. I have an older outboard powered boat. The start circuit consists of a wire to a keyed two position off-on switch which then runs to a push button which in turn runs to the controls and then back to the engine. This makes sense to me. My confusion concerns the stop switch. It is another push button switch with a wire running to the back of the boat and another short wire running to the negative bus bar which in turn runs to the battery under the dash. I don't have a motor so I can't test this out. However, I thought the usual way to stop the engine was to ground to the engine block not to the battery. I understand that the battery is eventually grounded to the engine but it is grounded with a heavier cable. The cable running from the stop switch to bus and to the battery is lighter guage. Is there going to be a problem with this stop method. Thanks for your comments.

[Ike]

on a simple 12V circuit the battery negative is the same as ground. The normal procedure is to use the engine block as ground but that is done by running a wire from the negative terminal to the engine block. So, the answer is, no you should not have a problem.