Posted by Goose on February 15, 2016 at 07:10:36 from (70.198.3.78):
Yesterday afternoon I ran my Dodge Grand Caravan into my shop with the intentions of installing a CB radio.
Besides the main power wire, this CB has an extra power wire that does nothing but hold the selected channel on the unit. If it's not connected, whenever you turn the radio on, it comes up on channel 9. I like to just leave it on channel 19.
The Caravan has two power outlets near where I planned on putting the CB, one hot all the time and one on and off with the ignition. At least for starters, I planned to plug the main power line into the outlet that goes on and off with the ignition, and plug the other line into the line that's hot all the time to hold the channel. I plugged the main line in and the CB worked OK but always came up on channel 9. When I plugged the other line in, the CB went dead, the other line got hot, and a few relays chattered under the dash. I immediately pulled the plug.
What happened, was on the lighter plug I'd used for the extra line had one wire with a white stripe that I assumed was the hot wire. It wasn't. The wire with the stripe was the ground. I switched the wires, plugged it back in, and found the entire electrical system was dead. I thought I'd blown a main fuse or breaker. I started checking things out and it dawned on me to check the battery. I put a load tester on the battery and found the battery was dead. I put my big charger on the battery and everything came back to life. I wondered if the battery had taken that exact moment to call it quits. (Two and a half year old Walmart battery with 3 years free replacement).
I left the charger on it for a half hour and the battery tested OK with a load tester. Everything was back to normal on the vehicle. I'd unplugged the CB. I let the vehicle set overnight and it started right up this morning, with apparently no damage done.
My question is, how could that small wire being plugged in with wrong polarity for no more than a few seconds kill the battery like that? It doesn't make sense.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo filesizes should be less than 300K and Videos, less than 2MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - History of the Nuffield Tractor - by Anthony West. The Nuffield tractor story started in early 1945. The British government still reeling from the effects of the war on the economy, approached the Nuffield organization to see if they would design and build an "ALL NEW" British built wheeled tractor, suitable for both British and world farming.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Oliver 550 Diesel runs like a watch three point hitch pto engine gone threw about two hundred hours ago nice clean tractor
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
