> Okay, I'll bite, Tom. Why is it stupid to run the negative
> lead from my rig directly to the battery?
First I'd never go through the bother. I ground to the
something solidly connected to the chassis. That's the same
place the antenna is grounded, and anything else (like the
cabinet in many instances). Little chance for ground loops
and a shorter connection.
Grounding to the battery also runs a small risk if the
battery - cable to engine connection or battery - to
chassis connections ever fail (very unlikely) the negative
post can elevate negative above vehicle chassis and dump
current back to the radio PC board and eventually to
chassis.
If you ground to the chassis and something opens up or goes
high resistance the radio simply loses voltage. The vehicle
chassis becomes more positive with respect to the negative
battery post, and you won't be connected to that floating
negative post.
Connecting to the negative post is a bad idea, but if you do
connect to the battery negative post you should at least
fuse the negative lead.
73 Tom
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