Disconnecting Battery Ground Cable

Wolverine_1999

Hi peeps,

I want to replace the LEDs inside the car, except the first thing it asks me is to disconnect the ground cable on the battery.. Now where do I find this??

Obivously I've looked at the battery itself and cannot find any positive or negative connections, nevermind ground.

Any pics/ links would be a great help, thanks.

mondeoman

the ground cable is normally black in colour + live is red.
the ground should also have a minus (-) sign on it(battery);)

CrowdedHouse

......and make sure you have the code for your radio before you do it :eek:

Wolverine_1999

eh I'm getting a new one anyway, so it doesn't really matter...

colm_mcm

what LEDs could you be replacing?

murphaph

Some batteries also have a blue plastic ring around the negative (ground in virtually all cars) and a red plastic ring around positive. I'm a little concerned for your car though wolverine that you are "replacing leds" but can't identify any terminals on your battery. Maybe you should ask a mate who's familiar with electrics/cars/electronics to give you a hand, just in case. If you're deffo gonna do it youself-the negative (ground) will have a short thick braided bare metal strap or black cable running straight from the battery and connected directly to the metal bodywork of the car usually right near the battery.

JohnCleary

Negative (-) = Ground
Positive (+) = Live

They're probably covered with a plastic casing to avoid shorting. If you cant find the terminals on the battery, tbh I think you shouldnt even be filling your own petrol at the pumps

Wolverine_1999

It's been advised to just remove the ground if you are taking off the steering wheel to changed the leds in the dash. I'm just replacing the ones in the heating controls and stuff...

colm_mcm

are they not bulbs and not LEDS?

if you're thinking of blue LEDs instead of bulbs, remember that the focus uses clear lights with green filters, and blue or other coloured LEDs won't really look that great

JohnCleary

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

It's been advised to just remove the ground if you are taking off the steering wheel to changed the leds in the dash. I'm just replacing the ones in the heating controls and stuff...

Why are you taking the steering wheel off? Or do you have to remove it to get at the speedo dials?

JohnCleary

colm_mcm wrote:

are they not bulbs and not LEDS?

if you're thinking of blue LEDs instead of bulbs, remember that the focus uses clear lights with green filters, and blue or other coloured LEDs won't really look that great

Yeah take note of that. When I wanted to change my interior lighting to blue, I had to remove the dials, then dismantle them and sand the back of them down as there was an orange filter on it... A b4stard of a job...

AMurphy

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

It's been advised to just remove the ground if you are taking off the steering wheel to changed the leds in the dash. I'm just replacing the ones in the heating controls and stuff...

Only reason you'd need to remove the power in the case of the steering wheel is to insure the airbag does not accidentally fire off. (that true for removing any airbag).
However to replace a LED, ?. However, keep in mind LED's are normaly soldered in, as they never fail, so to change teh LE, you'll do a lot more than simply pull and replace.
So I suspect you really have bulbs, little pin-head bulbs that look like a diode in size and if that's what you have, I see no need to disconnect the battery, any more than you'd be expected to disconnect it to change a sidelight or main beam.

and some bulbs are soldered in also.

Wolverine_1999

Well, the LEDS i have just simply screw in so there is no problem with soldering. I've replaced the Information display in the centre of the car and it looks great. Just trying to remove the centre Dash now to replace the heater controls and stuff and its a balls...

It's a Tigra if anyone has any ideas..