are you grounded???

[Roadster Guy]

I went to start the Vette and oh no, dead battery or so I thought. Strange, there was no reason for it to be dead. Put the charger on the terminals and it shows "full" charge. How can that be?

So I poked around and noticed the aftermarket negative terminal shut off switch on the battery I installed for storage shutoff had a poor contact and was not consistently touching properly. So, I removed it and re-attached the negative terminal as per stock. Started her up and all was fine.

However, the engine whine in the radio that had been bugging me and I had investigated by checking the antenna and engine grounds was now gone.
I figure that this was caused by the poor negative connection at the battery.

Also, the wipers had a stange shudder when I got caught in the rain a couple of weeks ago and I thought something was up with the wiper motor or the linkage adjustment. Now when I test them they sweep smoothly.

And lastly, the dash lights on the digital speed read out and the radio seemed to flicker somewhat at night, but now they glow steadily.

These were the only three problems I had with the Vette. Everything else was like new. Now they are gone. So I put them down to a bad connection...a bad ground. However, before finding the poor connection, I never suspected the three problems were related.
I'm no mechanic, but the lesson seems to be, make sure you are properly connected and grounded or strange things can happen.
RG

 

[So Bay Vetter]

However, the engine whine in the radio that had been bugging me and I had investigated by checking the antenna and engine grounds was now gone.

What engine ground?

 

[Roadster Guy]

I had looked at the antenna ground, but I was still looking around actually for the engine grounds I read about in the following thread I located by Searching "radio interference" subject:

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57777&highlight=radio+interference

So, I should have made that clearer, as according to this thread there are two engine grounds one on each side of the block. As it was stated by c4c5specialist I figure they are there.
RG

 

[Toms007]

Interesting, seemingly unrelated problems quite apparently very related.

 

[geekinavette]

The "indicator needle" on a battery charger is nothing more than a current meter...as the battery charges up it takes less and less current from the charger. A charged battery will draw very little current from the charger. When the connection was broken, NO current could flow from the charger to the battery, so the indicator mistakenly shows a "full" charge. This in in fact a good "check" for a broken connection...even a fully charged battery will take SOME current...if the needle doesn't move at all that is a pretty good indication of an open circuit somewhere.

Electrons get quite unhappy when they can't find their way home!

 

[Roadster Guy]

The "indicator needle" on a battery charger is nothing more than a current meter...as the battery charges up it takes less and less current from the charger. A charged battery will draw very little current from the charger. When the connection was broken, NO current could flow from the charger to the battery, so the indicator mistakenly shows a "full" charge. This in in fact a good "check" for a broken connection...even a fully charged battery will take SOME current...if the needle doesn't move at all that is a pretty good indication of an open circuit somewhere.

Electrons get quite unhappy when they can't find their way home!

Good one , and would that be a take on Stevie Windsood's Can't find my way home" song from the early 70's? Anyway, this is why on my notebook and my wife's PC I never make more than one program or system change at once just in case a conflict or problem occurs as usually most problems are related to the latest event (change).
RG

Interesting, seemingly unrelated problems quite apparently very related.

In this case, because the battery shutoff was attached to the post last fall before storage, it didn't click in my head this summer when these annoying little things started happening that the shutoff was related to the problem.:ugh Had I attached it this spring then I would have figured something was up with it as soon as I put the radio on. As that was really the first time I had used the wipers in 5 years, I just thought linkage or motor, again forgetting about the new shutoff on the battery. And with the dash lights, well, I wondered if the battery or charging system were going bad.
RG

 

[geekinavette]

Good one , and would that be a take on Stevie Windsood's Can't find my way home" song from the early 70's?

Naw...I'm more of a hopeless 80's headbanger! :bash

 

[LT4man]

Our vehicle bodies are NOT made of steel. We can always have connection/grounding issues.

junk is the Preacher of Grounds!

WHILE YOU ARE AT IT, WHY NOT SAVE THE ?

 

[Roadster Guy]

volt read out steady now, not jumping around...

I noticed one more thing driving today regarding my previous poor negative battery connection. Now, my digital volt readout is steady at either 14.1 or 14.2 or 14.4, whereas before I removed the malfunctioning battery shutoff switch I noticed the volt read out use to contstantly jump around from 13.2 then up to 14 something and then back to the 12's...

So it probably is a good idea to make sure not only your grounds are good but your battery connections are always clean and secure.
I only post this as I am suprised at how many little things this impacted and perhaps it might help someone one day.

Beautiful sunny fall day here cruising on the country roads through our colourful hills. Always feels better when everything is working perfectly on the Vette like it is now.
RG