Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Quote:


I didn't say you could arbitrarily reverse the battery polarity. Of corse you are right about the generator and the regulator as well as any solid state devices you have in the radio. I meant to say that there is no advantage of positive common ( I hesitate to say ground here ) over negative common.

BTW, In the beginning I had a hard time accepting hole flow in PNP transistors and I still say "60 cycles" and not 60 HZ. Cycles to me always meant cycles per second. Guess that dates me a bit.

Electron flow is from negative to positive. The electrons don't care which terminal of the battery is connected to the chassis.
- to +.
I'll add my .02 cents worth-The best explanation I heard was that, because of electron flow as described above, it was "less work" as such for the ignition system to produce a spark going to positive ground. Who Knows???
MikeG

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Mike is right. For most of the regular electronics, it doesn't matter which polarity is used as long as everything's wired accordingly. DC current flows from anode or neg- to cathode or pos+. This info is also useful in electroplating. I made a lot of copper coated nickels in science class long ago. The only advantage of neg- ground in automobiles is due to the very design of spark plugs. On a spark plug, the ground electrode is the on the outer threaded portion. On a neg- system the plugs work by the spark traveling from the outside of plug into the center electrode. On pos+ ground, the spark travels the oposite way. If your plug gaps are open too far, it is posible for the spark to be spread out over a wider area of the plug which would give it a lower intensity. Of course the gaps would have to be way off to make much difference.