Re: Smoking dashes...

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek-eng.com>]

Excellent point. Must not neglect alternator load dump. Need
voltage limiting surge device as you suggest.

DeWitt Harrison
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq

On Fri, 16 Apr 1999 10:23:46 -0700, Bernard Littau wrote:

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.
>[ ... ]