Re: on/off battery switch wiring
All of the wires currently connected to the POSITIVE post on the battery are removed and connected to the COMMON terminal on the switch. The terminal labeled BATTERY connects to the POSITIVE terminal of the battery. Remember, a switch is nothing more than a break in all of those wires that you can connect or disconnect by turning the knob. No -- Common is not ground. Common ground is a valid term but is used in electronics to provide a central system ground to avoid ground loops. You rarely install a switch in a ground circuit on a boat. The term is "earth" or "ground". The term "Return" can be ground but is more commonly used as the return side of a signal circuit even though it may be labeled (-) it is not necessarily chassis ground. Relays for example have a coil connection, and depending on the contact structure of the relay may have NO (normally open), NC (normally closed) and C (common) connections. Common can be used as the input to the relay or it may be the output of the relay depending on what you want the relay to accomplish.
