sometimes when i hear people talking about cars or electrical they mention a "short"?

Question

exactly what is a short? is it hard to fix?

Answer 1

electrical circuits are made in a loop. From the battery or other source of electricity to a light for example, then back to the battery. Making a complete circle or loop. A short is when there is another connection to a grounded source, say the frame of the car. This can happen if a wire rubs off the plastic sheet that surrounds it. Instead of a complete loop, the electricity say goes from the battery to the light and on the return hits the bare wire that touches the frame, and doesn't complete the loop. To find the short, you look at the wire and check for any broken wires or wires without the sheet. Simple electrical tape (black plastic tape) will solve the problem.

Answer 2

Think of a light switch. When the light is off, the switch (in the off position) makes an "open" or a break in the circuit. A short is when the electricity finds another way to complete the circuit. It can be anything that conducts electricity. Imagine that the light is off. Another wire in the wall falls on the "open" and bridges the gap. Now you have a short. Even though the switch is off, the circuit is complete and the light is on because even when you have the switch off, there is still electricity going to the circuit but it cannot make it past the open in a normal situation.

This is how a light switch would look on a schematic under normal circumstances.

Light switch on _ _ _

Light switch off _/ _


Get it? There is a break in the circuit when you turn it off. Now just imagine the other wire of whatever it is causing the short completing the gap and you should understand.

It can also work as mentioned above when a wire gets grounded to the car frame or whatever the case may be.

Answer 3

Could be easy or it could be very difficult. It depends on what connection or wire is shorted. Your car is full of wires, some are burried deep inside and some are very easy to get to. The question is where is the short and that can also be difficult or easy to find depending on what's shorted.

Short is often misused to describe any type of faulty electrical connection. The technical definition is: "A short circuit is an accidental low-resistance connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit that are meant to be at different voltages. This results in an excessive electric current limited only by the Thevenin equivalent resistance of the rest of the network and potentially causes circuit damage, overheating, fire or explosion." I stole that from wikipedia...

Seems to me like the most common thing that actually happens is something gets grounded when it shouldn't and people erroneously call that a short also. For example the power wire for your car radio is touching the frame somewhere - this will cause a malfunction.

Answer 4

If you ran a wire from one battery post to the other then you would have a 'short'. It would spark and melt the wire. An electrical circuit must have a load on it such as a light, motor, radio, etc. If a circuit is completed without a load then you have a 'short'.

Answer 5

i believe they are talking about there being a short in ohms or amps somewhere in the wiring, its not really hard to fix but you do need to know how to read electrical wiring diagrams.

Answer 6

It refers to a "short curcuit". It simply means that the bare section of a wire is touching some metal part of the vehicle, creating a "short".
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Fixing it is the easy part....FINDING it is the hard part.