Hey, just for a change, people in Volvos appear to be at more risk than those of us who are threatened by them on the road. This article in The Times seems to show a risk.

Anbody else got a boot mounted battery? Seems the risk is from that, which seems somewhat strange.

Duncan

PS. The Times of India, that is.

 

Guess that might include the old mini then? battery in the boot too....

 

Doesn't the new M3 have it's battery in the boot as well

 

My mum's old mini had the battery in the boot too. Until one day she came back to it and found that it wouldn't start. Opened the boot and hey presto, no battery....

 

Its talking about power cables along the length of the car, so what about people with amps in the boot, running power from a battery at the front? Surely the same sort of thing??????

 

Guess amps aren't likely to cause quite so much current to move along the car - even the loud ones can't use more than the alternater kicks out.

[Edited by SWRTWannabe - 2/14/2002 2:19:58 PM]

 

gh

 

12 volts, irrespective of current is not going to produce a magnetic field like 240,000 volts in a power line.

JD

 

Unless I'm mistaken (which is not unusual ) it's current that produces the magnetic field, not voltage. A higher current means there are a lot more electrons travelling down the wire, and it's a moving charge that creates a magnetic field, not the potential to move a charge.

This is why the several million volts from a static electricity discharge do not damage you (as it is a ridiculously small current), whereas a 12v car battery can kill you (these things can push 400 amps for a short while).

Having said all that, you're more at risk from cancer carrying a mobile phone in your jacket than you are from a power lead running down the car.

Just my tuppence

Derek

 

SWRC-Wannabbee... Sorry to disagree ( in the nicest possible way.. ) but a stereo can draw lots more than the alternator.. I'm not agreeing with the cancer statement (Rubbish at these levels IMO) but as an example, my old pug pulled 115 amps at full whack thru the cable running to the rear (using a calibrated MOD ammeter & F15 power cable ).. But of course it has to come from somewhere, and that's why the car won't re-start if it's not left long enug to re-charge the bat.. This is what Capacitors are useful for, cuz the big 100+ amp surges are pulled from the cap, and then charged back into it at a slower rate... hence saving the battery from the 'battering'.. LOL..

Luv
Chrisie...

 

Current is a property of the circuit -- you don't "apply" current in the same way as you do voltage[1]. A 12V car battery may well be capable of producing 400A (into 30 milliohms) but across your 80,000 ohm body will only deliver 150 microamps. This is why power lines can kill you (133 kV, not many amps), as can lightning. In conclusion the current is a result of the applied voltage (a property of the voltage source) and the resistance in the circuit (a physical property of the components).

I will gladly put my fingers across the 12V battery in your car (me=high resistance) but if I do the same with a chrome vanadium spanner I'll probably regret it.

[1]When I was at school, my physics teacher insisted we never use the word 'voltage' as there are three things measured in volts: potential, potential difference and electromotive force. When we say 'a 12V battery' we mean a battery with an e.m.f. of 12V.

[Edited by carl - 2/18/2002 11:51:25 AM]

 

Carl, I agree entirely . I was merely pointing out that the micro- (or nano-) amps provided by static electricity are not dangerous to human tissue, regardless of the fact that the PD is around 20 million volts. It's movement of charge that triggers nerve endings and damages bodies...

Anyway, unless the magnetic field produced by the cables running under the car is the order of several Tesla, you're more at risk from a mobile phone or sitting too close to the monitor than from some wires in a car

Derek