jump starting diesel engines

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:

ExEMDLOCOTester wrote: never knew it was in the manual but one night for S&G's we push started a switcher. We cheated by using test jumpers to hold in the appropriate relays & contactors...

I hope it went better than the following:

Owen S. Paulsen wrote: donot place the clip(s) at the this joint where they are tied by nut-bolt because the spring washer (4-point look type) must not heater because the lose tension.
Use the any place elsewhere.

Hopefully, you didnt place the clips where they are tied, and must not heater because the lose tension..........

Its real easy to run over the jump start cables when you push start it.... Besides, the cables try to run away from each other when jump starting....

glennk419 wrote:If the locomotive was with a flux capacitor equipped (called a flux condensor back then), would academic be all this?

Only if the Flakin SCR is connected to the Kahoosen Transistor....

CN engines, I don't know about other railroads have an outlet under the running board where you plug the cables into for the jumpstart. It doesn't really seem realstic to drag the cable up into the cab and open the electrical cabinet.

yeah, they are there, but they never get used.. drag the cables to the cab, clip them to the knife switch, do the same on the power on the next track, start the unit up.. that plug below the running board is a battery recharging recepticle.. the breaker in the cab is 200a for it.. starting a unit with flat batteries will take much more than 200a [the starters will surge close to 1000a]

The older EMDs, up through at least the GP-9s, had a 400 amp starting fuse. Even if the fuse is a time-delay, 1000 A. seems a bit much.

FWIW, I have used several sets of automotive jumpers, (in series, to make up the length needed), to bring up a set of batteries on a unit. I let the good unit charge the low batteries for about a half hour, than took off the cables. I didn't dare crank through the auto jumpers; they would have vaporized!