Ready Weld affects the computer?

P.S. No such thing as a stupid question.

THIS IS THE ONLY (ALMOST) CORRECT ANSWER !!

You ALSO disconnect the battery minus from the chassis on ALL batteries.

And then you remove all the rust and paint from your clamp connection point
as close as suitable from the weld point to ensure THE BEST connection you can achieve. Because:

unlike popular opinion even when battery is disconnected you can have stray currents as mentioned around a longer route back to the weld point and that is potentially harmful because these are HIGH currents and even with DC welding you may get inductive spikes in board electronics because the flow across a chassis is NOT constant and can create EMFs where you don't want it.

When you ran HF/VHF/UHF radios you make sure your antennas have perfect ground. For most applications the power is low (5-20W) and RF interference
is much less like than with higher power.

When you run the legal 400W for ham radio in the car you want to earth your equipment as solid as possible as well as earth strips to the bonnet and all other parts with less than perfect earth to short the stray RF as good as you
can to avoid inductive damage or interference with others.

good luck
gmd

Hey Oldtrack, you or me? Or would it be best to just ignore it?

What's the difference between migs and sticks? Much the same current flows in the same places.

And just what does removing the battery terminal do? All the sensitive electronics are still connected to the wiring and body/chassis.

Come to think of it i think it was more to do with the alternator burning out diodes or something, which the stick would do.
I'm not sure what the diff is with sticks and migs on electronics.

Allan, removing the battery terminals ensures there is no completed circuit on the vehicle.

Electrical current needs a circuit to flow. Disconnecting the battery is like throwing a big "off" switch, essentially creating an open circuit.

Electricity will not flow into all the sensitive and not so sensitive electronics if there is no path for it to follow, in other words....a circuit.

Yes Fab, I do understand about electrical currents needing a circuit to flow....... I am an electrical engineer.

But disconnecting the battery only creates an open-circuit in one part of the complex of circuits within the vehicle electrical system. There are still a number of "complete" circuits in which current could flow if introduced from an external source. This could be caused by inadvertent connection from an external source such ass a welder or even by induced RF energy. You would need to disconnect or open-circuit each and every such circuit to gain any immunity and maybe completely remove from the vehicle any electronic devices or components liable to be sensitive.

Disconnecting the battery certainly is "throwing a big off switch" for the battery but only for the battery which is unlikely to be affected by induced external energy. But, if it improves your feelings of security, by all means do it.

As I said before, the most important precaution to avoid problems is to ensure that the welding earth connection is attached directly to the piece of metal being welded and not to some convenient remote section of body or chassis.

Hi

Alan said n'As I said before, the most important precaution to avoid problems is to ensure that the welding earth connection is attached directly to the piece of metal being welded and not to some convenient remote section of body or chassis.""

Yes & make sure that is the ONLY point & it is firmly clamped to bright cleaned metal.
AS a qualified electrician & a welding supervisor, I totally agree with with ALAN

Oldtrack, it's really good to see that you and I have found common ground.

Cheers mate, Allan

Hi Allan
Yes, but even on that thread that was locked You & I where in general agreement.
It was my use of the word "you"instead of 'one' ,in a follow up that you thought was aimed @ you [Alan ] that I think caused a problem.
Peter

Exactly!