I didn't find anything in a search. Can anyone tell me if our crossfires are positive or negative grounds for the electrical system? I assumed negative but I couldn't find a specific answer... Anyone know?

 

- Negative -

 

negative=brown..........................brown=grou nd on Mercedes(and most Euro cars)

 

They make positive grounds? I mean I've heard of distribution blocks for rear mounted batteries, but never positive ground.

 

Older Euro cars were almost all positive ground systems and a pain in the AZZ to work on.

 

prior to '55 many car makers were positive ground. Studebaker, Nash Rambler and I think even Ford in the 30's. My memory is fooggy about who, but I clearly recall the fun when junping those old cars in cold weather.

my 37 "N" tractor is positive ground. Drives me nuts every time I take out or put in the battery.

A quick way to find out is to pick a terminal and take off the cable. If your wrench doesn't weld itself to the car's frame, then that terminal is the ground side.





roadster with a stick

 

funny, but true....I have wrenches to prove it, and a few screw drivers that are now punches...

 

In all seriousness....that's a extremely dangerous way to check for ground.

Your chances of "wearing" the battery are fairly high using that method.

 

None the less, I have used this very effective method, more than once.

Unintentionaly, of course


roadster with a stick

 

haha that's crazy. I thought ground was assumed to be negative in any electrical system.

 

The Renault Douphine, was a sneaky one, positive ground and a 6 volt system, my brother and I escaped an explosion when we trid to boost his car with a 12 volt charger

 

We used to have allis-chalmers forklift where I used to work that was positive ground and you talk about confusion when they tried to jump start it.

 

The Renault Douphine was French. It deserved to be blown up.

Had one briefly myself, had to physicaly hold it in gear on bumpy roads and railroad tracks or it would shift automaticaly. It was a manual trans.


And then,thank goodness, it was someone elses!



roadster with a stick

 

Talking to a AAA worker that was in the hospital for 3 weeks, shorting a battery can really do you in. THe high fault current can fuse open the intercell links and ignite the hydrogen making a real big M80 and subsequent explosion, did I mention an acid shower, Bad bad bad. Treat it with caution for sure.

Woody Be SAFE

 

OK GUYS!!!! I get it

Disclaimer;
The previous two posts by the idiot, Franc Rauscher, were made in jest, tongue in cheek, not to be taken seriously. Although none of the names or places were changed, so as to protect the innocent, the stories related were none the less TRUE.

While the idiot, Fanc Rauscher, did survive each and every episode, I do not endorse or actually suggest said method of battery testing.

Franc Rauscher is not a lawyer, nor has he ever played one on TV. He has however, entertained and occasionaly infurriated a few. Especially those of his former business partners.

Further, Franc Rauscher is not an electrician although he has repeated many of the experiments of Thomas Edison and Ben Franklin in that field.

Not neccesarily on purpose!



roadster with a stick

 

Nice disclaimer my friend! very nice indeed

 

Fortunately, thanks to the wisdom of the forum, I found out that it was a negative system; my battery tender is on and seems to be working fine AND I didn't get blown up (more importantly, the car is fine)

 

 

Either way, it will still weld your favorite 1/2" box end Craftsman to the firewall of your car.

roadster with a stick

 

Franc,

As you have done before in the political forums, you have proven yourself to be the voice of reason. Theory is an academic exercise of those with too much time to ponder ungrounded (pun intended) thoughts. Whichever connection makes things work, both will cause quite a spark if the situation demands electricity to make itself known.

P.S. As a guy who engineers radars for the Air Force, I was caught up in the jargon of my occupation. (Ranting about electricity can be fun for a geek like me.)