Should i disconnect battery?

I was just wondering when i install my alarm/remote start,should i disconnect the neagtive terminal on my battery just to be safe?Or,as long as i stay far away from the airbag wires i should be good?

-------------
"ole blake"

you don't need to disconnect..

-------------
Why oh Why didn't i take the blue pill
Darren Power

One the other hand, if you disconnected your battery you will not be able to test your wire. That is not safe either if you think about. From experience, what I would suggest is getting as much information about the vehicle you are about to work on first. Than spend some extra time reading and studying over it. There is nothing worse than jumping right into a vehicle you have not work on and expect the information that you got is correct. The next thing to happen is that you have more light being lite up on the dash board than the Chirstmas tree in your home during the holiday.

Get yourself some good testing equipment. Nothing worse when you don't have the right equipment to test out wires. Often the case, when you compromise your work with poor testing equipment tools you also compromise your safety as well as someone elses. Finally, ASK IF YOU ARE UNSURE. Bad things usually happen in this buiness when you   ASS-U-ME.

      

-------------
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

The correct method would be to disable the air bag system first. Second, test and confirm each wire that you need to tie into in the vehicle. Third, disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Hook up your system. Reattach the negative battery terminal and program/test your system. Enable the air bag system after all other work/testing is complete. Depending on the vehicle, to diconnect and reconnect the procedure will vary. Most vehicles, you should disconnect the negative battery cable, pull the air bag fuse/fuses and then disconnect the air bag connector for the zone you are working on. For most vehicles the connector is yellow and under the driver's side dash. DO NOT use a test light to check your wires. Use a digital volt/ohm meter.

-------------
sparky

I'll only be working on the ignition harness..

-------------
"ole blake"

First alarm I take it? I've never taken a battery terminal to do anything.

-------------
~The Rookie~
Rookie of the year that is...
Don't let the smoke out of your equiptment..it doesn't go back in.

Right, as others have said, you can't test the wires if the battery is disconnected.

Professional or amateur, you shouldn't be connecting to wires without testing them first.
(I'll admit I sometimes don't test my ignition wires on GM cars, if I've already done the same car hundreds of times. But it's generally not good practice.)

Also, you shouldn't/needn't have multitudes of wires stripped and exposed while you're working.

This is the general order of how things should go:

1. Take car apart.

2. Locate your target wires. You don't have to test each individual ignition wire at this point----just find the back of the ignition and have it in your head where the wires are.

Find and test your other wires---parking lights, locks, and so forth..........ideally, you should find a wiring plug in the car, poke your tester into the back of the plug, and test.

If you can't backprobe a plug, test by just poking through the insulation of the wire with your tester---don't strip the wire open, just poke a little bit.

Get a rough idea of where you're going to put the brain. Make note of things that move around, like the pedals and steering linkage.

3. Bench-prep your unit, keeping in mind where you're going to mount the brain, and where each of the wires are going-----run the two lock/unlock wires together by taping them, or twisting them together with your drill.

4. Get back in the car, lay the brain in its approximate place, and run the wires to where they're supposed to go.

TEST the factory wire, strip it.....cut your aftermarket wire to length, strip it.....connect, tape securely........then move on to the next wire and repeat.

You will see that if you do things this way, you'll never have more than one wire exposed, and you'll be right there working with it, so it's unlikely to short out to anything else.

5. Test the entire system and make sure all of the functions work as they're supposed to. Correct any mistakes you've made.

6. Zip-tie or screw everything in place----brain, harnesses, etcetera.

7. Put the car back together, and test all the functions again to make sure.