Electrical Question

Mike in Mn. · Oct 17, 2011

One of the boys has his triple 4 Massey in the shop for a little tlc before winter snow plowing, and wants to add a radio, he is using a 80's Ford pickup radio which is neg. ground and the old Massey is 12 volt pos ground. Does anyone know if the radio will work on pos. ground?? Which side would the power wire be hooked to?? Thanks for any info.

Bob · Oct 17, 2011

"Does anyone know if the radio will work on pos. ground??"

Well, do you want it to WORK or simply "let all it's smoke out"?

In other words, NO!

oldtanker · Oct 18, 2011

Mike as long as the polarity is right you can make it work. If it's positive ground then the power wire would go to the "ground" and the negative would be wired to the the power (batt). The body of the radio may/may not be grounded but I would mount it so it is isolated and not in contact with anything metal. Same with the antenna the mount has to be isolated. You can also wire it directly to the battery.

Rick

Kentb of SWMO · Oct 18, 2011

Change the tractors ground to negative and then use the radio.

Kent

greygoat · Oct 18, 2011

Transister and Diodes only like the power to
come from ONE direction... if you try to send
it the other way you'll probably fry it !

John T · Oct 18, 2011

Does anyone know if the radio will work on pos. ground??

I know it WILL NOT WORK on Positive Ground, that help???

Which side would the power wire be hooked to??

Negative would be hooked to the radios chassis ground and Positive would be hooked to the radios often fuzed 12 VDC input

I guess you could build a wooden box and mount the radio therein (but no metal screws that can touch the actual radio and also the tractor metal) so the radios chassis frame does NOT contact any of the tractors metal. Then - to radio chassis frame and + to the input.

OR ELSE change the tractor over to Neg ground which requires you to re polarize (before starting) the genny, reverse ammeter and coil leads. That way the radios chassis frame can contact the tractors metal for Neg ground

John T

Mike in Mn. · Oct 18, 2011

Thanks every one for the info. Here's the plan, build a wooden box on the fender, SMV sign on the back, red blinker on the top and radio, come right off the battery posts and hook power to plus and ground to neg. Leave the rest of the tractor Pos. ground. We have a 49 GMC that was converted to a 6 volt neg. ground and never thought about the radio and it worked good, but that is a tube radio, didn't make any difference.

old · Oct 18, 2011

They are little hard to find but they do make radios that are + ground. Lot of the older brit cars where + ground and yep that is why I know they are out there BTDT and found them back in the 70s

mmidlam · Oct 18, 2011

watch it, the antenna mount may also provide a negative ground to the radio.

Tony in SD · Oct 18, 2011

Done just that exact thing when I was a teenager so I could listen to rock & roll and dad could listen to country.

Tony in SD · Oct 18, 2011

Done just that exact thing when I was a teenager so I could listen to rock & roll and dad could listen to country.

Tony in SD · Oct 18, 2011

Done just that exact thing when I was a teenager so I could listen to rock & roll and dad could listen to country.

Electrical Question

Mike in Mn.

Member

Bob

Well-known Member

oldtanker

Well-known Member

Kentb of SWMO

Well-known Member

greygoat

Well-known Member

John T

Well-known Member

Mike in Mn.

Member

old

Well-known Member

mmidlam

Member

Tony in SD

Well-known Member

Tony in SD

Well-known Member

Tony in SD

Well-known Member

Similar threads