Wiring to negative ground

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pierodn

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Hi All,
what are the advantages, if any, to change the electrical system from positive to negative ground?.
Thanks.
 
I did it with mine to take advantage of led bulbs
But it's no longer necessary as most of the bulbs are no longer polarity sensitive
Hope this helps
 
baz said:
I did it with mine to take advantage of led bulbs
But it's no longer necessary as most of the bulbs are no longer polarity sensitive
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Only thing I had to do to run LEDs was wiring the LED turn indicator flasher in reverse.
 
You can fit any modern bits, for example a Motogadget Mo.Unit, that only work with Neg earth.
 
Peter R said:
Apart from the possibility of fitting modern electronic gadgets, there is no advantage at all in negative ground electrics.
Click to expand...
True story. I charge my iPhone on the handlebar as I ride. Joe Lucas would smile.
 
I asked a similar question in my first electronics class in college in 1968. The professor said, in this class, current flows from negative to positive. And then said, when you get to you get to my physics class, ask me again. So I did. He said, in this class, current flows from positive to negative. We figured he was loony but a couple of weeks later, I was bold enough to ask him to explain himself. He simply said: perspective!

My classmates and I discussed this a lot and I got elected to try one more time. So, I asked can you explain how perspective has anything to do with current flow. Without saying it out loud, he said: Dummies! Physics looks at it from the perspective of the power source (the battery) and electronics looks at it from the perspective of the circuit. For current to flow out the negative terminal of a battery and into the positive, inside the battery, current must be flowing from the positive terminal to the negative.

There is no intrinsic reason why negative ground won out. Some vehicles were positive ground, some were negative. Over time there were more negative and it slowly became the standard. For a very long time, other than maybe a radio, nothing in the car or bike cared. Changing to negative ground is simple if you want to run things requiring it
 
I run a separate SAE plug that goes directly to the battery that is negative ground that runs to the handlebars that I can plug in GPS,phone,vest,etc.This is with a positive ground system.Works for me.
Mike
 
marshg246 said:
I asked a similar question in my first electronics class in college in 1968. The professor said, in this class, current flows from negative to positive. And then said, when you get to you get to my physics class, ask me again. So I did. He said, in this class, current flows from positive to negative. We figured he was loony but a couple of weeks later, I was bold enough to ask him to explain himself. He simply said: perspective!

My classmates and I discussed this a lot and I got elected to try one more time. So, I asked can you explain how perspective has anything to do with current flow. Without saying it out loud, he said: Dummies! Physics looks at it from the perspective of the power source (the battery) and electronics looks at it from the perspective of the circuit. For current to flow out the negative terminal of a battery and into the positive, inside the battery, current must be flowing from the positive terminal to the negative.

There is no intrinsic reason why negative ground won out. Some vehicles were positive ground, some were negative. Over time there were more negative and it slowly became the standard. For a very long time, other than maybe a radio, nothing in the car or bike cared. Changing to negative ground is simple if you want to run things requiring it
Click to expand...
I was told it was to reduce corrosion?
 
Hi,
I suspect your physic teacher was engaging in some kind of magician’s slight of hand.
As a dummy I would say that if the actual electrons, that have arbitrarily been given a value of ‘negative’ some centuries ago and this has become the convention, and it scientifically provable that electrons move along a wire (for example) at I believe around several meters per second in the direction we ascribe as positive, then, by definition, we can say the current flows from negative to positive.
I suppose to delve a little deeper into the philosophy of it, if entropy tells us that all things move to equilibrium and we call an electron negative, it must by definition flow towards the positive
 
Read somewhere that the difference is the direction of electrons in the spark plugs. Said to affects spark intencity.Those of us that has magneto ignition don't care. With waisted spark dual coil ignitions one spark plug has PE and the other NE. Never heard anybody complain of that. Earlier Nortons had negative earth up to ( I believe) early fifties.
 
marshg246 said:
There is no intrinsic reason why negative ground won out. Some vehicles were positive ground, some were negative.
Click to expand...
Any discussion of ground polarity will include the subject of galvanic corrosion. Most studies of that conclude that positive earth is better in that regard. The Brits and the Germans chose positive ground for that reason. The idiot Americans (GM) chose negative earth. And when alternators replaced generators (in the 60's?) GM was the driving force behind the change and negative earth became the de facto standard. Such is written on the internet, and we all know the web never lies ;)

I switched to negative earth more than 10 years ago so I could use standard automotive LEDs. That was before the were polarity independent.
 
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