Bryan;
True, but if you have enough of it, iron or steel will do just fine.
Comparing conductors with the same length, steel may have much higher
resistivity than copper but if the steel conductor's cross-sectional area is
far, far larger than the copper conductor, its resistance will be lower.
Grounding on an iron block or using a steel chassis as a ground return isn't
necessarily bad; there's lots of cross-sectional area to carry the current.
The problem usually appears as a result of poor connections to the chassis.
Terminals should be clean and tight to get a good connection. Eventually
rust and corrosion will degrade the connection so it should be re-cleaned
once in a while.
Of course, using a heavy copper ground return wire eliminates any potential
problems with chassis grounds.
I've even seen one case where fiberglass was used as a "ground". Bad idea!
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Bryan Savage
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 3:15 PM
To: Dave Dahlgren
Cc: Glenn Ridlen; saltracer@servusa.com; todd@twinjugs.com;
speedtimer@charter.net; land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Speaking of battery voltage
So true.
Compared to copper, iron and steel are poor conductors.
Bryan
Dave Dahlgren wrote:
>the whole 16 and 18 volt deal is from people that can not or will not wire
a
>car properly. They seem to lose track of the voltage losses due to poor
>connections and using the wrong gauge wire for the load. An MSD will run
>from about 10 to 16 volts just fine.. An inductive system needs to be at
>around 13.7 for best perfomance the same goes for fuel injectors and pumps
>as well.
>Dave
|