Power wire unplugged, but active?

[tractng 10+ year member]

Guys,

Tonight I was replacing my fuse holder near the battery. I unplugged it from the positive (+) terminal and lay it on top of a piece cloth.

Later I accidently moved it and contacted with a piece of metal and a "spark" occurred.

Shouldn't it be a dead wire (not active)?

Tony

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[repo24 10+ year member]

static? Same thing has happened to me before...I was screwing down the pos. terminal on the amp, and when I went to screw down the gnd, I got a spark from the screwdriver.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

Do you have a cap hooked up to the system? Could be discharge.. also could be the tiny capacitors inside the amp discharging through the wire.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

the piece of wire connected to the battery still has power going through it u gotta be careful ive heard of people actually getting wire welded to their car like that. the other piece of wire wont have any sparks/power.

repoman...love ur avatar...napoleon is the man.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

also could be the tiny capacitors inside the amp discharging through the wire.

That would be my guess.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

The caps on the input to most amps are big enough to make some sparks.

 

[theCybe 5,000+ posts]

It would seem to me that there doesn't neccesarily need to be current in the lead you disconnected to produce the arc / spark. As long as it was grounded, or connected to something that was grounded, completing that circuit could cause a spark.

Wire-welding hurts. : )

* re-read post. Depending on what metal it touched (Alternator? Frame?) Perhaps you've got a short somehow. If you expected the metal it touched to be neutral/ground, i'd voltmeter it to make sure your frame isn't charged. If it's any other electronic component / alternator? then I suppose that would explain it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Where's the foot in mouth smiley? I'm posting this anyway =P

 

[sumone 10+ year member]

I've noticed after removing the fuse from the power wire, that a voltage reading only slowly decreases....e.g., once you remove the fuse, there's still some electromotiveness up in that wire.