RE: Inflammable vs. flammable

["Tariel, Lauren R" <lt34 -at- saclink -dot- csus -dot- edu>]

I thought the car with juice had the cables attached to both terminals and the car with the dead battery had positive to positive and negative to ground.  It's what I did on Saturday when the vehicle I use about three times a year wouldn't start after I had it smogged.  The battery went dead because it couldn't get fuel through the gummed up fuel lines.  Go figure, crappy fuel, but it passed smog like it was ionic air cleaner.  Maybe not that good, but good.
 
I don't think that a savvy tech writer would automatically know how to attach battery cables.  I know that with my little truck, it is sometimes so jacked up from lack of use, that I wind up having to put the ground on the post anyway, but knowing that I should begin with the negative cable on the ground of the dead vehicle has nothing to do with my experience as a technical writer.  I don't think that there is anything about technical writing that tells me how to use battery cables, but technical writing does share with common sense the concept that one must read instructions before handling things that can explode.
 
Lauren

________________________________

From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com on behalf of John Posada
Sent: Mon 10/1/2007 12:32 PM
To: Evans, Diane L (Rosetta); Techwr-l
Subject: Re: Inflammable vs. flammable



> To help a user identify
> which cable went where, they painted the NEGATIVE terminal red.  No real
> writing here, but a savvy tech writer could have been used.  "Gee, guys,
> doesn't red normally mean positive?" 

Actually, a savy tech writer would have known you never attach both cables to the battery terminals.


John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever.
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