Cabin 12V system ground

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Cabin 12V system ground

Postby kevindford » Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:11 pm

Are both the cabin 12V electrical system and the trailer running lights grounded to the metal trailer body?

Thank you-
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Re: Cabin 12V system ground

Postby MtnDon » Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:44 pm

Yes both are most likely grounded to the frame. Negative, or ground, is the same side of the electrical system as long as all the devices are designed to be used in a negative ground system. BUT, IMO, a properly wired trailer, cabin, vehicle, etc. will use a dedicated negative wire from each light or device, that has the other end grouped at a common negative/ground point. That point may also be connected to the frame as a ground. It is poor practice to depend on the frame as a ground conductor though.
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Re: Cabin 12V system ground

Postby low277 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:53 pm

MtnDon wrote:Yes both are most likely grounded to the frame. Negative, or ground, is the same side of the electrical system as long as all the devices are designed to be used in a negative ground system. BUT, IMO, a properly wired trailer, cabin, vehicle, etc. will use a dedicated negative wire from each light or device, that has the other end grouped at a common negative/ground point. That point may also be connected to the frame as a ground. It is poor practice to depend on the frame as a ground conductor though.


:thumbsup: Sound advise!!
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Re: Cabin 12V system ground

Postby jondbar628 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:39 pm

Kevin....What MtnDon said - But if your not clear on anything, don't hesitate to ask. Everyone is here to help where they can. Some electrical stuff can be hard to get a grip on for those with little or no experience in that area...Much better to make sure you have a good handle on where you're going electrically, than try to correct it later...........An ounce of prevention, etc..................jd
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Re: Cabin 12V system ground

Postby Sparksalot » Sat Jan 27, 2018 10:15 pm

I ran dedicated ground conductors for everything. I also kept the trailer running lights completely independent of the cabin electrical system.
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Re: Cabin 12V system ground

Postby les45 » Sun Jan 28, 2018 5:02 am

Sparksalot wrote:I ran dedicated ground conductors for everything. I also kept the trailer running lights completely independent of the cabin electrical system.


Me too.
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Re: Cabin 12V system ground

Postby swoody126 » Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:32 am

Sparksalot wrote:I ran dedicated ground conductors for everything. I also kept the trailer running lights completely independent of the cabin electrical system.


with all the bolted together frames there are stray electrons that perform their evil magic with dissimilar metals in those bolted joints to foster gremlins that can/WILL become hair pulling issues over time :?

this issue is exacerbated when said bolted together trailer is exposed to salt whether it be on the beach or from salty road grime

keeping systems separate is wise particularly when you are trying to locate/identify electrical wonky behaviors

having your house system malfunction is a nuisance butt if that system is connected IN ANY WAY to the trailer light system that nuisance can become the reason you can't travel/return home safely

chasing 12v gremlins can become one huge pain in the posterior when trying to identify/resolve them

BTW, grounding issues are more often than not the cause of 12v malfunctions

NOW whilst i'm at it everyone who has trailers a/o deals with 12v DC systems needs to have and know how to use one of these

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... _vc=-10005

sw
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