| Author |
Message |
Jim Stewart (H3jim)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 11:05 pm: | |
Is it better to run a positive and a negative to each circuit for 12 and 24 volts? Or is it ok to run the positive wire and just bolt the ground to the frame?
My inclination is to run two home run wires for each, but that might be overkill, and sure would be lot easier an cheaper to just run one.
Maybe the answer is in the bus, Prevost uses the frame for the ground and does not use two wires for each.
How has everyone done this?
HOw has it worked for you? |
Jerry Liebler (Jerry_liebler)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 11:45 pm: | |
Jim,
It's better to run 2 wires but cheaper and usually works to run 1 and bond to nearby metal.
I'm running two wires to everything. I have my house system bonded to the bus's metalic structure near the house battery and near my 12 volt distribution pannel. The bond near the battery is mostly to allow me to charge the house from the coach as GM depended on frame connections a lot but they did run a 0000 negative wire from the battery to the starter. My experience is that most automotive electrical Problems are due to poor connections in using the metalic structure to carry the return curent.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120 |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2005 - 11:01 am: | |
Jim: If u can get a good clean grounding surface on the framework, that is more than sufficient. In my case, the framework had an epoxy type sprayed coating and I decided that it was more work to clean the grounding points than to just run a ground wire. I ran a #8 "buss" wire and used feed grounds to it from each load point, soldered to the #8. Most of my wiring is overhead, on each side of bus. The #8's run the length of the bus and then tie off down below at a "central" grounding point that is readily accessible. The trick is to make sure you are getting a good solid ground at the load point if u are going to use the framework. |
Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 17, 2005 - 9:06 pm: | |
Two wires would get my vote, or a heavy ground wire with bonding of all ground connections to it. Strange things happen with poor grounds, like motors running backwards in Webasto and Espar heaters. I wonder what would have happened if it had been polarity sensitive piece of electronics instead of a motor and simple control board. |