The internal wiring of a 3 point starter is as shown in the figure. When the connected dc motor is to be started, the lever is turned gradually to the right. When the lever touches point 1, the field winding gets directly connected across the supply, and the armature winding gets connected with resistances R1 to R5 in series. During starting, full resistance is added in series with the armature winding. Then, as the lever is moved further, the resistance is gradually is cut out from the armature circuit. Now, as the lever reaches to position 6, all the resistance is cut out from the armature circuit and armature gets directly connected across the supply. The electromagnet 'E' (no voltage coil) holds the lever at this position. This electromagnet releases the lever when there is no (or low) supply voltage. It can be seen that, when the arm is moved from the position 1 to the last position, the starter resistance gets added in series with the field winding.
But, as the value of starter resistance is very small as compared to the shunt resistance, the decrease in shunt field current may be negligible. However, to overcome this drawback a brass or copper arc may be employed within a 3 point starter which makes a connection between the moving arm and the field winding, as shown in the figure of 4 point starter below. When the motor is overloaded beyond a predefined value, 'overcurrent release electromagnet' D gets activated, which short-circuits electromagnet E and, hence, releases the lever and the motor is turned off.