New wiring diagram

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New wiring diagram

Postby Shrug53 » Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:53 pm

OK, here is how I am planning on rewiring my Apache Mesa.

Have I missed anything?

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Postby TRAIL-OF-TEARS » Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:49 pm

I would keep the trailer ground and the vehicle ground separate.
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Postby Shrug53 » Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:55 pm

Wouldn't anything I have grounded to the trailer be automatically grounded to the vehicle as well while the two are hitched together?
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Postby TRAIL-OF-TEARS » Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:14 pm

yup, don't ground the trailers 12v to the trailer frame ground it to the neg. battery terminal via a ground strip.
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Postby Shrug53 » Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:33 pm

So nothing would be grounded to the trailer frame? Doesn't that mean I would have double the wiring? Or am I just not understanding you right?
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Postby bdosborn » Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:27 pm

Ground the 12V power, AC equipment ground and the trailer lights to the frame. There's a long disussion on this topic somewhere.
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Postby SteveH » Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:29 pm

Shrug,

I think Steve is trying to say you don't need to tie any of the trailer power system to the same ground as the tow vehicle, or the chasis.

You will, however, need to tie the trailer tail, and stop lights to the frame ground as that is the same ground as the tow vehicle.
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Postby Shrug53 » Thu Sep 01, 2005 11:02 pm

I am now very confused. I do not understand why all the grounds can not be tied together. I mean, they are grounds! When I rewire a car, everything is grounded everywhere.
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Postby Nitetimes » Thu Sep 01, 2005 11:27 pm

There is no reason that it can't be grounded anywhere on the frame, the only thing I don't like about doing that is that if you don't get a very good connection or if the connection corrodes you will likely have problems and they could be hard to correct depending on where the ground is hidden. Could be under the floor where it's difficult or impossible to get to. I think it is just simpler to run 2-wire and use a ground block near the battery.
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Postby SteveH » Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:28 am

Shrug53 wrote:I am now very confused. I do not understand why all the grounds can not be tied together. I mean, they are grounds! When I rewire a car, everything is grounded everywhere.


Like Nitetimes said, there's no reason you can't ground the 12 volt system in the trailer, but there's also no need. Additionally, with the elecitrical system in a car, it is easier to tie everything to ground because the entire car is steel, (well most of them are steel) and makes a good ground system.

With a mostly wood trailer, it's easier and more efficent to run a two wire system than run ground wires to the chassis. Think about how your house is wired. It uses grounds for safety, but they are all tied back to one common ground rod, not individual ground wires to seperate earth grounds.
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Postby Shrug53 » Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:56 am

Ah well there you go, that makes sense. Luckily the bottom half of my Mesa is steel as well. However I will keep that in mind for when I build my teardrop. Thank you all.
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