Ron Lawson Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 I have a mate who is restoring a 1917 touring car and I have just finished making up armoured cables for him He rang me and told me that I had mixed up the terminals According to Jack it should be negative earth Can anyone confirm if early DBs were negative earth as I am led to believe that they were pos earth Thanks in advance Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Early Dodge Brothers ( believe up until 1926 or so) used a 12 volt positive ground, or "earth".....that, the non-standard shift pattern, the silent chain driven starter/generator, and rock solid engineering, made them interesting and dependable automobiles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Early Dodge Brothers ( believe up until 1926 or so) used a 12 volt positive ground, or "earth"....... This is NOT true. DB's were negative ground as long as the horn button was mounted on the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 (edited) OK, I stand corrected....according to Mr. Google the horn button moved off the door in 1922, so a 1917 would be negative ground according to the above post. I never ran the 1920 touring I had, but do remember my 23 sedan, 24 touring, and 25 coupe all had positive grounds.... Edited September 6, 2014 by trimacar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Cozza Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Hi All,Just to add another finger to the pie, my 23 Aussie built has it's horn on the steering whl. and is still neg. ground.Maybe the Aussie's were a little slower back then. Sorry Ron couldn't pass that up. :)Joe C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cahartley Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 You can have whichever ground you want.The starter/generator cars are self polarizing.All one need do is interchange the ammeter wires....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Lawson Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Thanks for all of the replies guys. I have contacted Jack and he is going to bring them back so I can change the terminals over Too Easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
platt-deutsch Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 As I build a exact duplicate 12 volt Dodge Bros Coil for one of the major parts distributors I would advise if the spark seems weak with wrong polarity the coil wires should be reversed as it will cause about 20% increase in coil output if polarity is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Lawson Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 Thank you for that advice platt-deutsch Down here in the Great South Land or Terra Australis all imported DBs of that era were fitted with a magneto Cheers Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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