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Fuse the Ground?

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:42 am
by BlueSmurf
Do you fuse your ground connection?

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:54 am
by rescue161
I did once, but got a lot of interference (with negative lead going all the way to the battery).

I now run my ground to the chassis with as short of wire as possible with no fuse.

I only put a fuse on the positive line and run it straight to the battery.

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:14 pm
by k2hz
If the radio negative lead is connected to the battery negative terminal it should be fused. If the vehicle battery ground cable goes bad, high starter or alternator current could flow through the radio if there is no fuse protection.

If the radio is connected to chassis ground, this is not a risk.

The question of whether to connect to battery or chassis ground depends on a lot of variables in any particular installation and has no simple answer. If you experience noise problems, you may have to experiment with different ground points.

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:23 pm
by n5tbu
I have seen a few "fried"radios due to electrical problems in the vehicle.They had no ground fuses and the starter seeked it's ground from the radios ground foils...POOF! = fried beyond repair radio.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:08 am
by jim202
This topic comes up every once in a while. Having been in the radio shop area for over 35 years now, I will give you my 2 cents worth. I have never seen a radio damaged by not having a fuse in the ground wire. Most of the radios are installed in police cars, fire trucks, cement mixers, large tractor trailer rigs, front end loaders and the list goes on.

Many of the installs are in trucks or heavy duty vehicals with rather large alternators installed. Some of them are a 24 volt electrical system. The point to remember here is to look at the original install. Look at the battery cables and conditions of them. If you find problems, make sure the battery cables get repaired before the radios get connected.

If you listen to those that force a fuse in the ground cables, they all speak about the battery cable going bad. This should never happen in a maintained vehical. I would think that this problem would have raised it's head to me and others in the two way service field long before this.

Sure you will find a problem with battery cables in the course of time, but a good radio tech will notice it long before it causes any damage. If the tech doesn't look at the battery cables in the normal routine of his work, he needs to be fired. There is no way I can condone over looking a problem of this kind or ignoring it just to make money in servicing a damaged radio as a result. If I was the customer, I would find a new radio shop the same day.

Do as you want and feel is the correct way. These are just the facts of many years working on mobile radio installs and servicing the same.

Jim



[quote="n5tbu"]I have seen a few "fried"radios due to electrical problems in the vehicle.They had no ground fuses and the starter seeked it's ground from the radios ground foils...POOF! = fried beyond repair radio.
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