From what I remember, hook the thing up regularly with the two wires on the post. Get a screw driver and touch one side of the metal part of the screw driver to one post and the other end to another post. I can't really explain it in words but if I were there I would be able to show you... Sorry if this doesn't help much. Just try touching the screw drive between posts with a battery and wires or the cables to the points and then the screw driver thing. That is what we used to do in auto tech class in high school when testing starters after we had to rebuild them and make sure they were rebuilt right.