Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:32:44 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Remote Starter Switch Wire-up for '88GL
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just in general ..
you have sparks ...
sometimes that makes people jerk ..like they're a little scared of it.
and they cut themselves on something .
and in general ..
sure .........'mostly' alternators are robust ..
and on anything with diodes in it ..
as a rule playing with loose electricity is to be avoided.
that's why I said you 'can' ..but it is safer not to.
also have to factor in that it might be someone who barely knows how to
change a spark plug ..
it is not advisable for people that do not have a lot of automotive and
electrical experience to be playing with loose voltage.
it's not even advisable to jump start cars really.
That's been known to harm alternators.
I have read official shop manuals that say ..
"the only right thing to start the car from is a fully charged and installed
good battery."
It's just safer to not play with loose electricity ..
whether for the safety of the person doing it, or the equipment.
I'm not saying it'll blow up your alternator .
I'm saying it's better not to use that as a loose wire voltage source..
and you NEVER know what dumb things people will do, especially if they have
not worked on cars a lot.
you know..
the guy that got his wedding ring welded between high amperage voltage and
ground..
I bet he never worked on anything electrical wearing jewelry after that.
Cost him a finger I believe.
electricity be dangerous stuff, and people can do dumb things sometimes.
You know..
connect the alternator positive terminal straight to ground because they
don't know what they are doing.
it can happen. I'm sure it has happened.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 12:28 PM
Subject: Re: Remote Starter Switch Wire-up for '88GL
> At 02:55 PM 6/22/2011, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>>it's not 'that advisable' to touch the end of the wire to the alternator
>>positive post ..but you can in an emergency. Normally you'd connect your
>>remote starter switch between that hot post and your cheater wire. I just
>
> I have to disagree here. It's a low-current circuit (?~3? amps), nothing
> exciting happens. A mechanic's remote start switch isn't protected
> against causing an explosion so I don't consider the spark much of an
> issue.
>
> Yours,
> David