Car Rust Neg vs. Pos Chassis
in [Design]
|
From: MooseFET on 5 Apr 2010 09:55 On Apr 5, 1:51 am, robertdor...(a)campfour.com (Robert Dorset) wrote: > Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive > chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from > rust. > > Is this true? Can anyone there confirm? > > Robert Dorset If you make the exposed wires positive and add a little salt water the wire is eaten away. If you make the chassis positive, the chassis is eaten way right near the exposed wire. It only applies to a little bit of the iron not the whole car. Here in the US the wires are insulated with plastic and the connectors are usually placed where the rain etc doesn't get to them. This means that the problem doesn't appear. It is the differences between the metals used in making the chassis that really matters. This is how Ford made it so that on whole production runs of cars, the same spots rusted out. On cars made in England, the oil leaking out of the engine coats all the chassis to protect it. The LooCuss electrics failed so often that people took every idea they could to try to prevent troubles. (Short of changing to someone else's parts that is) This may be the reason that the pos chassis wiring is used.
From: Michael A. Terrell on 5 Apr 2010 15:08 John Ferrell wrote: > > On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:04:41 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > > > > >Robert Dorset wrote: > >> > >> Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive > >> chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from > >> rust. > >> > >> Is this true? Can anyone there confirm? > >> > >> Robert Dorset > > > > > > You're four days late. > As I recall, it did not seem to help my 1955 Ford much... > John Ferrell W8CCW You're right. The junk yards were full of rusted out 6 V Positive ground junkers when I was a kid. For a while there was a good market for 6 V to 12 V converters to put newer radios into old junk 6V cars. -- Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'
From: Howard Eisenhauer on 5 Apr 2010 17:32 On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 06:18:01 -0700 (PDT), osr(a)uakron.edu wrote: >The phone company does + earths for that reason. > >How it got carried into cars, I dont't know. > >Steve Actually it was to reduce corrosion at the subs's back in the day when they used ground returns for the voice lines, easier to replace a ground rod at the office than at all the subs. Also corrosion is different from oxidation which is what rust is, cathodic systems (going back to the OP's urban legend re. + ground) can suppress corrosion in something emersed in an electrolyte (i.e. salt water) but they won't stop rust. H.
From: John G on 5 Apr 2010 20:30 On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:04:41 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > >Robert Dorset wrote: >> >> Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive >> chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from >> rust. >> >> Is this true? Can anyone there confirm? >> >> Robert Dorset > > > You're four days late. Don't you mean about 4 or 5 decades too late My 74 Ford cortina was negative ground. John G.
From: Michael A. Terrell on 5 Apr 2010 21:30
John G wrote: > > On Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:04:41 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > > > > >Robert Dorset wrote: > >> > >> Someone told me that cars manufactured in the UK that have a positive > >> chassis electrical system, as opposed to negative, do not suffer from > >> rust. > >> > >> Is this true? Can anyone there confirm? > >> > >> Robert Dorset > > > > > > You're four days late. > > Don't you mean about 4 or 5 decades too late April Fool's day was the first. My reply was on the 5th. > My 74 Ford cortina was negative ground. > > John G. -- Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!' |