satnav power & positive earth

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Mike Sullivan

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Oh dear I am about to demonstrate why I failed O Level Phyics...

I'm looking to use my car satnav in Europe next week, I've looked at a number of options & have ended up looking at a usb cable that could power my satnav or phone via their associated usb cables: http://www.powerlinkproducts.co.uk/usbcharger.html

I am confused regarding the connection of this piece of wiring, my Commando is positive earth so how would I connect this? (don't want to fry satnav or phone)
Is it really just a simple case of swapping the leads over i.e putting the live wire onto the negative terminal and negative to the positive (earth side) (the one with all the red wires), good grief this is so embarassing :oops:

Can any body steer me in the right direction please?

Mike

Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative & watch out for Mr Inbetween.....
 
Mike Sullivan said:
Is it really just a simple case of swapping the leads over i.e putting the live wire onto the negative terminal and negative to the positive (earth side) (the one with all the red wires), good grief this is so embarassing :oops:
Click to expand...

Do not under any circumstances connect the satnav/phone *positive* wire to negative (and negative to positive).

*Although "Live" is often regarded as being the positive wire (because the majority of electrical systems nowadays are negative earth) live is whichever side is opposite to "earth", so in a positive earth system, live is negative.
 
Mike Sullivan said:
Oh dear I am about to demonstrate why I failed O Level Phyics...

I'm looking to use my car satnav in Europe next week, I've looked at a number of options & have ended up looking at a usb cable that could power my satnav or phone via their associated usb cables: http://www.powerlinkproducts.co.uk/usbcharger.html

I am confused regarding the connection of this piece of wiring, my Commando is positive earth so how would I connect this? (don't want to fry satnav or phone)
Is it really just a simple case of swapping the leads over i.e putting the live wire onto the negative terminal and negative to the positive (earth side) (the one with all the red wires), good grief this is so embarassing :oops:

Can any body steer me in the right direction please?

Mike

Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative & watch out for Mr Inbetween.....
Click to expand...


Hi,
I wired my Garmin Zumo directly to the Commando's battery : pos to pos and neg to neg with the appropriate inline fuse. (Wires supplied by Garmin)
 
No need to worry, just connect what is + to the ground on your Norton and what is - to a fuse then to the battery. Most devices these days don't use their frames as a negative terminal because they are made out of insulating material (plastic) or they float the electronics rather than run them to the metalic frame.

Jean
 
My thanks to all who have responded both online & privately, I have my cable - & will fit it + to +, - to - over the weekend. I will add an inline fuse as it was suppled without.

Regards

Mike
 
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