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12 Volt negative return

Submitted: Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:31

ThreadID: 86331 Views:2204 Replies:4 FollowUps:3

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Vic Heals

Evening all,

When wiring up the camper trailer there seems to be two schools of thought. One is to earth the accessories onto the chassis, the other is to run all negative leads back to the negative terminal on the battery. Which one is correct.
I'm no auto elec as you can tell but there is enough info on this site for me to want to do it myself. I just don't want to blow anything up.

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Reply By: snoopyone - Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:40

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:40

Back to the battery is best by far.

Run them all together on trailer and one decent wire back to battery

AnswerID: 454492

Reply By: Member - Toyocrusa (NSW) - Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:42

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:42

Hi, the concensus is run the earth back to the battery in the same size wire as the positive. The positive wire should be heavy enough to carry the required current. Cheers,Bob

AnswerID: 454494

Reply By: Member - nick b - Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:51

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 20:51

I would of thought like a car both , battery earthed to chassis ?

Cheers Nick b

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AnswerID: 454496

Follow Up By: snapper49 - Monday, May 16, 2011 at 21:54

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 21:54

with a caravan same as a boat if you have dis-similar metals especially alluminium and you run an electric current through it you run a severe risk of causing electrolysis ie corrosion of the alloy

definately do not earth to any part of van

FollowupID: 727354

Follow Up By: Gronk - Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 00:07

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 00:07

Won't hurt to have the van earthed via the chassis ( as well as a neg return to the front plug )

At 12V, you won't have any stray current trying to go thru the aluminium cladding if its earthed as above !!

FollowupID: 727368