positive or negative ground switching?

[starfixer]

can anyone help with this dilema, I am trying to find out what the 06 ridge is. I do vol FD and am thinking about installing a headlight and/or taillight flasher module and need to know wether or not the vehicle is positive ground switching or negative. Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[ChrisM]

Pretty much every vehicle made since 1965 is negative ground. This includes the Ridgeline. The last manufacturers that I can remember using positive ground were MG and Austin Healey. They were both British car companies and used Lucas electrical components.

Those were fun cars to work on. (The first 65 times that is.) Everything about them was quirky. Most of them had 4 cylinder engines with twin SU carburators. They also used the old style lever shocks and had knockoff wheels. All of these techonologies have since been retired.

[csimo]

As stated the Ridgeline uses a negative ground for the electrical system.

The door locks and many other systems in the Ridgeline use a positive pulse system for activation.

OT: The negative / positive ground issue is one that reminds me of the VHS / Betamax war. The wrong one won (Betamax was clearly superior). In the case of grounding we run everything backwards. Electrons from from negative to positive. When most people trace a DC circuit the current is actually running backwards of what you think.

We should be running positive ground systems... but this is an error made long ago... even before automotive applications.

[Andy-Montreal]

Originally Posted by ChrisM

The last manufacturers that I can remember using positive ground were MG and Austin Healey. They were both British car companies and used Lucas electrical components.

Those were fun cars to work on. (The first 65 times that is.)........

Not when you were driving your TR-6 back from a wedding (in the rain) with a friend and it suddenly decided to get it's electrical innards wet on a deserted and unlit country road in an unknown village.....

British cars......yuk!

[brandont]

Originally Posted by csimo

As stated the Ridgeline uses a negative ground for the electrical system.

The door locks and many other systems in the Ridgeline use a positive pulse system for activation.

We should be running positive ground systems... but this is an error made long ago... even before automotive applications.

I'm no EE - but if we ran positive ground systems then wouldn't the body emit sparks if it came in contact with guardrails, large bodies of water, and the like? My understanding is that the earth is negative, so that is why the exposed circuit is negative.

[shovelhd]

If your truck's ground was connected to earth ground, that would be true, and would make for quite a show during a wreck! But your truck's ground is not connected to earth ground because it rolls on insulators, your tires.

Ground in a vehicle is just the completion of a circuit.

[qlake]

You need a regular Ground Side Switched System/Direct Wire, I have one on my RL. The headlights require 12 Volts to activate them, not a switched ground like many GM vehicles.

[starfixer]

thanks all, glake do you have a particular model no or brand on yours? I have several sho-me 03.3126and 03.3125, and one other but am again aprehensive of using them if there is one designed for the ridge.

[ChrisM]

Originally Posted by brandont

I'm no EE - but if we ran positive ground systems then wouldn't the body emit sparks if it came in contact with guardrails, large bodies of water, and the like? My understanding is that the earth is negative, so that is why the exposed circuit is negative.

I'm not exactly sure about that. Every conventional phone circuit in the US is wired positive ground at 48 volts.

[csimo]

Originally Posted by brandont

I'm no EE - but if we ran positive ground systems then wouldn't the body emit sparks if it came in contact with guardrails, large bodies of water, and the like? My understanding is that the earth is negative, so that is why the exposed circuit is negative.

No it wouldn't.

You can try it yourself... take a pair of jumper cables and hook up the red one to the positive terminal. Hook the other end of the red cable to the nearest guard rail, or throw it in a body of water, etc. Nothing will happen.

You need a complete DC circuit -- both positve and negative for sparks to fly.