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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

12 volt positive ground.

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frank in wi.

02-25-2004 04:32:07




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i was woundering why in the old days did the tractors come wired positive ground,both 6 volt and some early 12 volt?could anyone enlighten me?




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RAB

02-25-2004 08:40:54




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 Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to frank in wi., 02-25-2004 04:32:07  
Remember, from a long time ago, that corrosion is supposed to be marginally less if chassis is at real 'earth' potential. Makes sense if the ground is nominally 0 volts and your flimsy, thin, car bodywork is at +12 volts. You wouldn't get much current flowing but any voltage is enough to cause electrolytic corrosion.
Regards, RAB



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Bill(Wis)

02-25-2004 07:42:42




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 Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to frank in wi., 02-25-2004 04:32:07  
Blame Benjamin Franklin. He erred in identifying the direction of current flow. Objects he identified as negative actually have a surplus of electrons. Henry Ford took matters in hand, having worked at Edison Illuminating, and corrected the matter by using the so called positive terminal as a ground and the negative terminal as the hot end. He had the electrons flowing the right way even if it looked wrong. GM came into being and decided it really didn't make much difference which way electrons flowed so why not use the negative for ground and positive for hot? They overtook Ford in sales and sometime in the 50s (after Henry's death) Ford changed over to neg ground. Negative ground became the standard.

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Paul Janke

02-25-2004 06:18:36




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 Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to frank in wi., 02-25-2004 04:32:07  
As I understand it, Ben Franklin got it backward when he named positive and negative. I think it matters for a few things. The most common with which we are familiar are spark plugs and welding. I think coils are set up so the plug is positive ground when it fires. They used to believe it would make a big difference on how well things worked. It must matter most where the electricity has to jump a gap to do its job.

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Slowpoke

02-26-2004 23:07:20




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 Re: Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to Paul Janke, 02-25-2004 06:18:36  
I learned positive ground was easier on the points.



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raytasch

02-25-2004 05:34:16




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 Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to frank in wi., 02-25-2004 04:32:07  
Can't answer for all brands but when Ford went to 12V they used neg ground. First 12Vs were on the diesel Fords
ray



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rustyfarmall

02-25-2004 04:38:01




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 Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to frank in wi., 02-25-2004 04:32:07  
It was not just tractors, positive ground was the standard procedure for just about everything, including cars and trucks.



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bob

02-25-2004 20:50:02




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 Re: Re: 12 volt positive ground. in reply to rustyfarmall, 02-25-2004 04:38:01  
we had a 2 ton flatbed 1955 GMC that was positive ground. Students used it & whenever they had cables off, invariably hooked'em up negative ground. So you jumped in, went off to work in the woods somewhere and....had a dead battery.



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