Covering Positive Terminals Properly

[RockLobster]

This is a rant, but I hope it has a positive impact.

 

Ok Ladies and Gentlmen, as a Chief Scrutineer I have more than reached my limit of duct and electrical tape being used to cover positive battery, alternator, starter, and kill switch terminals. When I am doing annual inspections It immediately catches my attention and it is an indicator to me that the constructor either lacks expertise or does not care. It makes me look at the car with even more scrutiny than normal. There are a hand full of red flags that tell me right away whether a constructor has read the CCR or quite frankly has a clue about proper race car construction. The electrical modifications are always at the top of the list.

 

Does it say anywhere in the CCR that you can't use tape to cover hot terminals? No. Is it a good idea? Absolutely not.

 

So, do yourself and your annual inspector a favor and invest in some proper molded boots for ALL positive terminals. When you have marine terminals, use the proper shaped boot as well.

 

In case you need to know where to buy such things. They are sold at every marine store in the country. But if you want to save youself a lot of money order them here:

 

waytekwire.com

 

Waytek sells the highest quality electrical supplies at very reasonable prices. They have every type of molded terminal boot you could want. They sell in bulk but the typical build will use up to 10 of these things no-problem.

 

PS: Spec miata guys, do yourselves a favor and put a marine 100-120A 12v circuit breaker near your battery. I've already seen one car start on fire because mazda in their infinite wisdom decided to put the circuit protection for the battery (which is located in the trunk) in the fuse box at the other end of the car.

[Lucid Moments]

All I can say is I am glad I don't race in your region.

 

Tape insulates, and if done with any care can do just as good a job as any molded boot. If NASA thought otherwise they would have said so in the CCR, and if you choose to be more particular on a car for that reason, well, like I said, I am glad I don't race in your region.

[RockLobster]

Noted. I'm glad you dont build (or work on) my cars.

 

Any chance you use coke bottles as catch cans? It wouldn't surprise me...

[Lucid Moments]

Nope, no coke cans or bottles in my cars. Car has passed tech in two different regions, and going to pass tech in a third soon. Apparently most NASA tech guys follow the rules, not some made up bullshit of their own.

[kbrew8991]

this reads like "buy from this company or fail tech" to me.

 

Better approach would be to get the CCRs tightened up if you feel it is too lax in that particular area...

[ILIKETODRIVE]

I see and understand both sides of this issue. To me: I get where Ken is coming from and I get where Lucid is coming from and I get where RL is coming from. My opinion falls between Ken and RL.

 

I agree that how you posted it *feels* like Buy from here or you fail! but I also agree with the fact that taping up positive terminals looks janky and shows a lack of detail for such a SIMPLE SAFETY ISSUE. Key being safety.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-PAIR-4-2-1-GAUGE-BATTERY-CABLE-END-RUBBER-COVER-BOOTS-NEGATIVE-POSITIVE-/261179505284?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3ccf82fa84&vxp=mtr

and

http://www.wirecare.com/ (to heat shrink it and seal the back end of the boot)

 

Honda guys: Source some old wire harnesses and steal the boots from the alternator and use them everywhere.

 

Edited August 27, 2013 by Guest

[RockLobster]

Let me try to clarify my intent. I think lots of guys just don't know where to get this stuff and not pay ridiculous race shop/site prices for it. So, number one, i wanted to offer a resource to folks that i personally like for electrical supplies that really help with car construction. End of story. Buy from wherever you want, and i have not yet failed anyone due to running tape on electrical terminals. I follow the CCR durring inspections, and can only expect that competitors do the same. No more, no less...

 

All that said, yep, partially it was to blow off some frustration with the fact that i see a lot of cobbled together stuff that while not necessarily a blatent CCR violation these things tend to make me shake my head as i put the annual sticker on the windshield and walk away.

 

The CCR is the minimum, I think most people intuitively understand that doing EXACTLY the minimum in various areas of life is not necessarily the best way to go.

 

As an aside I have found an interesting statistical correlation between cars that have taped up terminals and ones who's kill switches don't actually shut off the car.... Not 100% but higher than you might think...

[RockLobster]

Car has passed tech in two different regions, and going to pass tech in a third soon.

 

Questions: Are these annual inspections? If so is the car being teched in multiple regions in the same year? If so, why? Are these authorized tech "shops" or inspections by NASA staff at the track? Just my own curiosity here...as to why one might need to tech a car 3 times...I guess I would assume these are different seasons and you are moving around the country or something?

[Renntag]

Additional clarification is important here since perhaps poor interpretation of the CCRs is at hand.

[99cobra2881]

Did you submit an RCR to clarify how this should be done?

[edrock96GT]

I understand your point but I think you are misinterpreting people's motives. Tape over a terminal doesn't have to mean a lack of care or crafting skill. One thing I've learned is that racing is expensive. There are plenty of things that cost a lot of money and plenty of things that need to be replaced often, costing more money.

 

You could spend a lot of money on nice, trick little doo dads everywhere or you just use something simple that gets the job done and not nickel and dime yourself to death.