On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 22:10:12 +0100 "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
satellite_jim wrote:
I actually have some experience with backwards batteries. I grew up in
my fathers auto repair shop in the sixties. Back then if you hooked up
the jumper cables to a generator equipped car you could start the car
and the generator would reverse polarity and you could go on your merry
way with a positive ground American car.

I don't see how, as the cutout wouldn't pull in. That only happened when
the generator started producing more than battery volts which it couldn't
when reverse connected.

I guess I'll have to think about the WHY of this, but I've seen it
happen. I agree that it's odd. The time I saw it, the owner had
installed the battery backwards, then realized his mistake and put it
in correctly. When I got to it the battery was correct, but I
eventually determined that the generator was polarized backwards.

Now I have to admit that it never occurred to me to wonder why putting
the battery in backwards would reverse polarize the generator while
putting the generator in forwards wouldn't correct it.

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Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
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