METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING A SHORT CIRCUIT TO THE POSITIVE TERMINAL OF A BATTERY AND CIRCUIT DEVICE FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD

A method for identifying a short circuit to the positive terminal of a battery in a circuit of a motor vehicle. An electronic circuit breaker HS (123) is actuated by a control device (120) and has at least one electrical switch which switches on and off loads (110, 111, 112), the switching state of said switches being reported to the control device (120) and determines that operation is fault-free when the connected loads (110, 111, 112) are supplied with voltage when the electronic circuit breaker HS (123) is switched on and a "short circuit" or "load drop" message is produced at the circuit breaker when the electronic circuit breaker HS (123) is switched off, switching off the supply voltage by the electronic circuit breaker HS (123) is detected at the end of a driving cycle of the motor vehicle. A fault is determined when a "short circuit" or "load drop" message is not produced at the electrical switch.