Re: Smoking dashes...

["Bernard Littau" <bernardl@acumenassociates.com>]

From: JustaxPHX@aol.com <JustaxPHX@aol.com>

>For years, I've made it a point to leave the ground terminal on the battery
>loose enough so that I can pull it off without any tools.  In the case of
my
>Ur-Q and 200q, this also means leaving off the screws that hold the rear
seat
>bottom in place as the battery's under the seat.
>
>This way, when the smoke appears, I can cut power to the whole car
>immediately, then take my time to figure out what's wrong.  Not a perfect
>solution but effective and cheap...

More than lilkely, you will fry your alternator if you pull the battery
terminal while the engine is running.  There is a little attachment (<$30)
you can put on your alternator to prevent it from being fried if no battery
is connected to the system -- available in marine stores, as boats, with
battery switches,  tend to have this problem more often than cars.

Oh, and the alternator can put out plenty of amps by itself to fry your
wires, so unless you turn off the car, and then pull the battery terminal,
it may not do any good.

Even worse, when batteries get excited by delivering or receiving large
amounts of current they can gas off hydrogen and oxygen, which can go boom
if it gets a spark from removing the terminal...

If you are really worried, at least put in a master switch for the battery.
It will be easier to get to, and will move any sparks away from the battery.

The best long term solution for everyone is if there is a known electircal
path that gets fried by a known failure, a la the 5k fan problem, lets all
put in a fusible link to protect the circuit.  Knowledge is power.

Best,

Bernard Littau
Woodinville, WA
'88 5kcstq