Yes - a common terminology is very useful. My comments were to attempt to help a non-electrical person make the transition from things where we can see things (water and pipes) and often have to deal with them, to the world where the energy things can't be seen. - - - - Perhaps my wording also is biassed by the Morris Minor 1000 that I owned back in 1960-1965, which had a positive ground. as did most English cars at that time - the Lucas system. I now have a 1978 Petter diesel engine in my 27' Catalina, which has a negative grounded 12V system. Does anyone recall when the positive ground systems "faded" away? In a message dated 2/12/2010 1:07:18 P.M. US Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
*** (Please, this is Meant to be taken with a Touch of Humor.. !! ) While I know This Rant of mine, is Nothing in the grand scheme of Life and The Cosmos.. But, When we are speaking of Electrical things.. And Particularly when speaking Boat DC (Direct Current), Could we all speak the same language? MOST preferably the correct language ?. It would make solving problems Much Much easier. Let's take the case of the Lowly cables, wires, connectors, power sources ..and the energy within.. There are TWO Polarities of DC... One is termed POSITIVE and the other NEGATIVE. Both Very good words. The one called POSITIVE should be called Positive... NOT... the "Hot" or the "Main" or "Source".... Just the Positive The other is called the NEGATIVE and should always be referred to as the NEGATIVE.... NEVER....!! " GROUND " or "COMMON " or, god forbid,.... " RETURN " While "Plus" and/or "Minus" for Positive and Negative might be acceptable to some, They too can be confusing terms to others. Positive and Negative .. Leave no doubt as to what they are I'm sure one can see the simplicity of using only those Two words. As an example: One can say " I checked the Negative wire" and everyone will know what one did. Don't get me started on terms like... Grommet vs. Cringle --- Stern Rail vs. Pushpit (ugh) --- Ground, Ground Plane or Counterpoise. In good Humor.. I... Thank you, Ralph Ahseln "Oblio" Lying, Hayden Bay Marina, Portland OR [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
