I don't understand how Chassis Ground works...
Discussion
Could someone who understands the actual physics behind it:
1) How exactly is the Chassis a ground? I don't understand this concept. It's not connected to the earth- how does it act as a ground?
2) I tried connecting one end of the multimeter to the chassis and the other end to a point 1cm away on the chassis too- yet it still shows OL infinite resistance
sorry for being thick- if electrons take the path of least resistance wouldn't electrons from the negative lead of multimeter not find it easier to flow across that 1cm piece of metal back to the multimeter via the positive terminal?
yet they prefer to flow through the neg lead through the rest of chassis and away?
1) How exactly is the Chassis a ground? I don't understand this concept. It's not connected to the earth- how does it act as a ground?
2) I tried connecting one end of the multimeter to the chassis and the other end to a point 1cm away on the chassis too- yet it still shows OL infinite resistance
sorry for being thick- if electrons take the path of least resistance wouldn't electrons from the negative lead of multimeter not find it easier to flow across that 1cm piece of metal back to the multimeter via the positive terminal?yet they prefer to flow through the neg lead through the rest of chassis and away?
Before I posted here I intitially believed what everbody here is saying:
What confused me was this:
this was on a website called Bikechatforums where I asked the same question:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=321...
With such little experience myself and plenty online who have plenty of experience it's hard to completely filter out what is sensible to believe and what isn't
I am the gentleman in the first post of that topic on that website. Please note we are talking motorcycles (not that it'd probably make much difference)
The experience gentleman (and nobody in the that thread contested it) in the second post said:
" In most cases, there is only a single cable/strap going between the battery negative and ground, all the other companants earth through the frame. So for a continuity test, the battery need not be connected.
The answer is in the question really. You are checking "continuity to ground" and the whole frame on a bike is "ground". So you are checking for continuity between the measuring point and any piece of bare metal on the engine or frame rather than the battery negative. (the metal facing of the ignition lock is a good one. I usually stick the negative terminal of my meter in the key "gate")"
Is the second post wrong then?
In that thread did I receive the wrong advice then?
And in answer to the question there :
"when I am checking CONTINUITY TO GROUND , if I want to connect the other lead to chassis instead of negative battery terminal then surely the battery must be connected?" The answer is actually yes? Can't be done without battery connected and just putting black lead of multimeter to the chassis?
What confused me was this:
this was on a website called Bikechatforums where I asked the same question:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=321...
With such little experience myself and plenty online who have plenty of experience it's hard to completely filter out what is sensible to believe and what isn't
I am the gentleman in the first post of that topic on that website. Please note we are talking motorcycles (not that it'd probably make much difference)
The experience gentleman (and nobody in the that thread contested it) in the second post said:
" In most cases, there is only a single cable/strap going between the battery negative and ground, all the other companants earth through the frame. So for a continuity test, the battery need not be connected.
The answer is in the question really. You are checking "continuity to ground" and the whole frame on a bike is "ground". So you are checking for continuity between the measuring point and any piece of bare metal on the engine or frame rather than the battery negative. (the metal facing of the ignition lock is a good one. I usually stick the negative terminal of my meter in the key "gate")"
Is the second post wrong then?
In that thread did I receive the wrong advice then?
And in answer to the question there :
"when I am checking CONTINUITY TO GROUND , if I want to connect the other lead to chassis instead of negative battery terminal then surely the battery must be connected?" The answer is actually yes? Can't be done without battery connected and just putting black lead of multimeter to the chassis?
Edited by Ilovecbrs599999 on Sunday 10th September 10:42
So in conclusion:
When we check connection to ground
All we want to test is connection to chassis is good.
By that visual check When we reconnect the negative terminal of battery to chassis (when we the battery in) - the chassis will be grounded like everyone has explained.
By transitivity the connection to ground of everything will be good.
If this is all correct- thank you so much everyone!- it finally makes sense
When we check connection to ground
All we want to test is connection to chassis is good.
By that visual check When we reconnect the negative terminal of battery to chassis (when we the battery in) - the chassis will be grounded like everyone has explained.
By transitivity the connection to ground of everything will be good.
If this is all correct- thank you so much everyone!- it finally makes sense
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