Battery cut off switch question
All along, I've been under the impression that a cut off switch should be placed close to the battery and on the positive side of the system. Is this right?
Forum Discussion
Old-Biscuit wrote:
Placed on NEG/ground....then if working on something and POS comes in contact with a ground ----ZAP
Placed on POS....you can touch wires, make contact, screw up.....NO ZAP
Fuses on POS
DC Circuit Breakers on POS
AC Circuit Breakers on LOAD (hot side)
For good reason and ALL are placed close to source of power
If the circuit is open, there’s no ZAP. Once the battery negative is no longer connected to ground, ground ceases to matter...it’s just a large chunk of conductor.
The reason fuses and breakers are on the positive is because the grounds are common so you have no other place to install them per circuit.
Some of the confusion about pos or meg mattering comes from the proper notion of disconnecting a car battery ground first. That is because a slip of a wrench against a nearby grounded frame won’t create a welder. Once the negative is removed, then the positive no longer can make a complete circuit if the wrench slips there.
On a cutoff switch, it doesn’t matter though the positive side can make more sense if there are any circuits (like trailer breakaway) that must stay connected and use a frame ground.
