Do you all really disconnect the battery before every install?

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

What Hope said is My point exactly. Theres a difference between having confidence that you know what you are doing and how to disconnect/connect/splice wires without causing any problems, and having confidence that you will never make a mistake. With electrical it only takes 1 second of 1 mistake to damage equipment permanently, why risk it. You turn the gain up too much for 1 second, boom fried sub, a wire slips out of your hand and touches metal and boom you have a short and possibly blown fuses/equipment. It is simply not worth the risk for something that you can take 30 seconds to ensure safety.

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

testing wires is not impossible with the battery disconnected simply more difficult...

yes it only takes one second to damage something but spend that second paying attention to what you are doing eliminates the need to disconnect the battery

 

[Jasonc13 10+ year member]

always disconnect battery ground before working on an install. disconnecting battery positive (or pulling a fuse) is not sufficient.
it's an extra 60 seconds that will prevent damage and hassle.

many of the problems people have that they ask for help for in forums would have been prevented if they had disconnected teh battery negative before starting work.

Are you saying you need to disconnect both the negative & positive leads from the battery?

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

Are you saying you need to disconnect both the negative & positive leads from the battery?

no, just the negative

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

no, neither

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

i never do. if changing amp i pull the fuse between the trunk batt and amp...

 

[Bettr n' Revrse 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif is what I say to that as well as "Dont ground to seat bolts"...

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

I have a non fixable blown old school amp that fried because of a loose wire, disconnect your batt

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

You should have paid attention

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

you shouldnt disconnect the battery when doing an install or testing wires would be impossible...

Testing wires with the gear powered means something is wrong, and you don't know what is wrong. If you are a competent installer then installs work the first time and testing gear isn't necessary. True story. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

But we digress. The thread is about leaving the battery connected during an install. When installing, the only testing needed is resistance, which requires the gear NOT be powered.

After the install, we commonly use a DMM to verify voltage or measure amplifier outputs. Obviously, everything is fully connected at this point.

This thread is not regarding testing or troubleshooting. When testing gear that is connected, no reason to disconnect the battery when just measuring voltage. But if you disconnect any power or 12V wires, simply disconnect the battery.

 

[kramer_212 10+ year member]

you shouldnt disconnect the battery when doing an install or testing wires would be impossible...

good luck with this.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

testing wires is not impossible with the battery disconnected simply more difficult...
yes it only takes one second to damage something but spend that second paying attention to what you are doing eliminates the need to disconnect the battery

Handling live power wires is stupid. Careful or not, it is flat out reckless and telling people in forums to do the same is ignorant. You are setting them up for problems.

Hopefully you never work on other people's vehicles with this mentality and you abstain from providing reckless advice in the future.

I have helped on over a thousand threads and fixed dozens of vehicles that a disconnected battery would have prevented. My advice is intended to help people perform safe installations and minimize the chance for error or problems. I take into consideration that most people just read threads and never post. Our responses and advice is viewed by countless people.

Consider your audience moving forward. A mod should delete your posts, IMO.

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

Installer competency does not mean everything will work right the first time so the need to test wires with the battery connected is a real possibility. Metering wires for alarm or remote start installation is easiest completed when the battery is still connect however in most cases not impossible with it disconnected

 

[UnderFire 10+ year member]

yes it only takes one second to damage something but spend that second paying attention to what you are doing eliminates the need to disconnect the battery

The point you are trying to make isn't a great one man, taking the small amount of time to disconnect the battery completely eliminates any damage that could be done, by human error, or not. If you are trying to cut time on installs, you probably shouldn't be doing them in the first place.

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

So this place has gotten to the point where sharing my opinion on a subject is ground upon by the locals? I honestly have yet to meet an installer that disconnects the battery prior to every install. If you all believe that makes some of the installers I've crossed over the years sib par in anyway you are as ignorant as you seem to think I am