Pete,
Your stereo is grounded to the chasis, therefore you are still making the
complete cicuit to ground through your stereo. Just using a lot smaller
guage wire to do it.
Larry Zink
1964 Spitfire4 Mk1
Houston, Texas
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Zaborski <peterz@merak.com>
To: 'TR6 List' <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Date: Saturday, April 04, 1998 1:03 AM
Subject: wiring oddity
>
>This one has me stumped at present...
>
>I recently installed one of the battery cutoff switches (as seen in the
>Moss catalog for around $12). Basically you mount the switch on the neg
>post and attach the ground cable to the other end of the switch. In the
>middle is a threaded knob which when loosened, breaks the connection
>between the two halves of the switch. Very handy since I always seem to
>be disconnecting the battery for something. This way I don't have to
>remove the clamp from the post. Works just great and as a bonus,
>removing the threaded knob outright acts as a "crude" theft prevention
>device.
>
>Ok that's the background - now here's the stumper...
>
>I also have a stereo which has an electronic clock and presets for the
>radio stations stored in its memory. Of course each time the battery is
>disconnected these settings are lost. Clever me, I thought I would
>outsmart Mr. Battery switch by hooking up a ground wire from the neg
>terminal of the battery to the ground of the stereo directly.
>
>(I should mention that the stereo is wired so that it has two power
>connections - one for when the ignition is on for normal operation, and
>another connected full time to the brown terminal on the fuse box. This
>also works correctly.)
>
>Now when I disconnect the battery using the switch, it doesn't really
>disconnect. I can turn on the lights which is something I could not do
>before installing the "custom" ground wire. The lights go noticeably
>dimmer than when the switch is connected, but they do stay on
>nonetheless. Something is allowing the battery to get grounded through
>the stereo.
>
>Anyone have any ideas on what is causing this? And more importantly, how
>can I resolve this as I would definitely like to have the stereo
>isolated form the action of the switch if possible.
>
>Thanks for any insights into this little puzzler,
>
>Peter Zaborski
>76 TR6 (CF58310 UO)
>Calgary AB Canada
>
|