"except in an emergency" Toaster; runs from the pos and neutral wire. if a pos AC wire's coating chafes through where it goes through a toasters metal housing, the green ground wire will take the current to earth ground instead of trying to go through the person who touches it. So normally, the ground does not carry any current to operate a device, only in an emergency it carries pos current to ground to prevent electrocution. It is a safety wire. No ground wires in DC!!!!!!! To stop calling it a ground is to change one's understanding of DC wiring and to improve ones ability to diagnose simple problems such as your starter. All connections are equally important, and so many DC problems are with the overlooked neg wire....lol. If I were to offer a tip.... don't use automotive battery wire or those premade auto cables. their end fittings are not flat and do not make good contact. Wire everything with 1/0 AWG( not SAE) marine wire and ANCOR brand end connectors of the exact size for the cable and the stud it's going on. Heat shrink. Buy the stuff at a boat store. You'll never buy cables again. When I take a cable off, I sand the area bare and shiny then apply "Corrosion Block" spray (boat store good stuff) before reassembly. I run a #14 ga. wire straight to the battery neg. from my solenoid and from my voltage regulator. I never rely on the chasis for neg supply. starter motor neg from batt. neg to one of the starter motor mounting bolts! (sanded and sprayed first!) Oh well that's how I do it anyway...I'm a salt water boat mechanic and salt water laughs at automotive wiring techniques. So my cars get bulletproof wiring like my boats.... best wishes.
Wow, thanks. I will more than likely do everything you listed. Down here in the gulf rust and salt tend to destroy everything. I get really finicky about my wiring jobs so that everything is perfect due to an electrical fire when I was a kid (someone was drunk and wired a trailer house for 220 instead of 110 and believe or not, appliances do not like that. I still cant figure out how he did it to begin with). I can tell you that I never have liked the wires that are used in automobiles. They always seemed cheap. I did put the negative wire to the starter like you mentioned but I didn't use any corrosion block spray. I will try that tomorrow. Just hopefully everyone here is patient with me as I learn all of this. I am by no means a mechanic, just a truck driver that has worked on computers for almost 20yrs. Thank you for that insight, though now I might bug you when I get confused on some of the wiring.
