Negative ground advantage?

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Lucas Electric schematic.

Negative ground advantage?
 
I don’t understand the significance of neg. ground re: gps & cell phones .... sorry , maybe a joke ?
 
Craig said:
I don’t understand the significance of neg. ground re: gps & cell phones .... sorry , maybe a joke ?
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Some guys use GPS and charge cell phones on their motorcycles. Have to have an isolated receptacle with a positive ground. Straight hook up with a negative ground.
 
O.K. Consider this: If your new motorcycle or car offered a choice of negative ground or positive ground, which would you choose?
 
Just rewired mine to get shut of all the unused Interpol stuff and terminated the handlebar switch leads inside the headlamp to keep things tidier under the tank. The bike has been positive earth since 1974 so saw no reason to change. Another reason not to change is that my Bonnie and Rickman are both positive earth so it keeps thing straightforward. I did consider changing but really couldn’t see any benefit for me, just my point of view.,

Dave
 
I still have pos. ground , with charger tail , I routinely run my phone , gps , and electric vest from that tail with no issue ... I cover tail with plug provided when not in use ..... not sure what you mean....the tail from battery just regular one that came with smart charger
 
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Fullauto said:
Just kidding Baz. I have an O2 sensor and AFR gauge fitted. Bought it off the interweb. It fitted and worked with positive earth. I also have LED head and tail lights. No problem with either. It seems that people only have a problem when they buy cheap stuff which isn't compatible.
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Interesting
I had always thought that LED bulbs were either negative or positive earth however much you pay for them?
 
Had to order more.....used it all up on my old Land Rover 109. That thing was always leaking that Lucas smoke!!
Negative ground advantage?

I have a Battery Tender lead wired up to the batt. terminals and use their lil' plug in USB charger on it for phones with no concerns.
 
baz said:
Interesting
I had always thought that LED bulbs were either negative or positive earth however much you pay for them?
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Apparently not. Mine were expensive, though. I got them from a mate who is an ato electrician.
 
Nice WHiteRabbit ,my Dad had a can of genuine N.S.”lobster breath “ back in early 70’s .....
 
Back in the early 1900's, auto wire insulation was mainly cloth, which was hygroscopic.

In damp climates, like Britain, this wire insulation tended to create corrosion at all the terminal connections, but less so with pos. earth. Thus the British auto industry favored pos. earth.

With modern wire insulation, the earth polarity matters not in regard to corrosion. Thus, there is no particular need to convert to neg. earth, except to accommodate the devices that are specifically made for neg. earth.

Most devices, including LED's, can be wired to work on either polarity system. There are LED's that are polarity insensitive. I have recently converted all my lighting to LED's on my pos. earth Atlas without any problem.

The hardest neg earth device I can imagine trying to fit to a pos earth system would be a metal encased relay, having the earth wire internally connected to the case, which is also intended to be mounted to the frame.

Slick
 
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What specific LEDs did you use for the various lights - headlights, blinkers, tailight/stoplight?
 
Well...
Right shift versus left shift.
One up versus one down.
Drive on the left or the right?
Near side versus off side versus right or left hand drive.??

Positive ground makes perfect sense. :D
 
I have an LED headlight which has a device that allows it to be connected to either positive or negative earth. I guess there are some diodes encapsulated in the box. The only problem is that devices like these are over twice the price of an ordinary LED bulb.

Also, when I built my wiring loom, I used a headlight dip switch that has an LED high beam indicator built in. I had to pull it apart and reverse the polarity of the LED.
 
pommie john said:
I have an LED headlight which has a device that allows it to be connected to either positive or negative earth. I guess there are some diodes encapsulated in the box. The only problem is that devices like these are over twice the price of an ordinary LED bulb.

Also, when I built my wiring loom, I used a headlight dip switch that has an LED high beam indicator built in. I had to pull it apart and reverse the polarity of the LED.
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And all that could be avoided by switching to a negative ground.
 
There's an outfit in Merrie Olde that sells all sorts of LEDs for + ground vehicles.
<---That is all LED-lit, headlight, taillight, running light and gauge lights.
 
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