Learned that one the hard way with my first car- a '66 MGB back in the mid
70's. Positive ground is to be feared...
Had just installed a top-of-the-line (read $29.95- I was 16 at the time...)
Radio Shack AM/FM/8track when the neighbor girl of my dreams came by and
asked for a ride. Quickly taping up the last of the leads, off we went with
the radio untested. Something obviously wasn't connected right when we left
or it should have self-immolated when I reconnected the battery (in the
trunk mind you, the battery compartments behind the seats were drink
coolers- right?)- I reached over, pushed in Bachman Turner Overdrive and set
off a massive brushfire under the dashboard. Things went downhill from
there.
"Any drive you don't return from on a tow truck was a good one..."
Jon
'77 (mostly) 1500 "Ol' Yeller"
FM66043 7U
Nass #104
www.bigolbear.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-triumphs@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-triumphs@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Freeman, Noah
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 10:10 AM
To: Triumph (E-mail)
Subject: Warning- reversing polarities on (some?) Motorola radios...
Hey all-
Just talked to Gary Tayman who is replacing hte innards of my Tr-4s radio
witha digital circuit system (the outside remains the same)...he said that
an
electrolytic capacitor had exploded all over the inside, prboably b/c of a
reverse polarity. Apparently when the PO reversed the ground, the radio
exploded.
Also interesting is the fact that most triumphs use bendix radio, but mine
was
a Motorola from '65, in my '63 TR4...implies that the car was either unsold
for two years, or had an aftermarket radio (That still said triumph)
installed
in 65...
So a word of warning- while we all say that the polarity reversal is easy,
if
you have certain radios (at least '65 motorolas...you can see by looking on
the passenger side side fo the radio- the motorola logo is unmistakable),
dont
reverse the polarity on them.
Noah
_
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