Electric gremlins revisited

[list@cemetery.homeunix.org (Andrew Basterfield)]

On Thu, 13 Feb 2003 18:25:39 -0500
"Lyman M. Terni" <ternil@union.edu> wrote:

> When I tried to wire the acc. wire in my stereo, the stereo flat out 
> wouldn't work. Try twisting the acc and batt wires together and
> running them that way. Your stereo will run all the time, you always
> have to turn it off manually, But I haven't had a problem with the
> batt. drain ever...

I really can't condone that as an electrical engineer.

You are basically bypassing your ignition switch. Any other components
fed from the acc feed will continue being live after you switch off the
ignition. Remember electricity can flow both ways along a piece of wire.

The wiring will probably not be up to taking much current, and you rely
on good fusing to protect your car from fire.

PS my rocco has a factory wiring gremlin - if you flash the headlights
with the engine off and the heater fan switched on the fan spins up. I
have seen this mentioned in other places on the 'net. This is due to a
similar gremlin VW missed. Don't do this for a long time as the
headlight wiring is not designed to supply the fan also.

--Andrew