spoma
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Post by spoma on Jun 27, 2016 5:18:22 GMT -8
I am a little confused on grounding my camper (wiring from scratch). There are in essence three separate systems and I am reading mix messaging on which should be grounded where. I am hoping someone can help me out.
12V Interior System - This will be running lights, some outlets, and the circuitry on my hot water heater.
------ I am running a PD4045 (Inteli-Power) distribution panel which has a built in converter from 110v to 12v
------ I am running red and black wire for the 12V system with red being hot and black being negative/ground
------ How do i run the negative/ground wires in the camper for this system? Can I just run them all back together and ground this to the trailer with a large wire #8 or #6? Should this be grounded to the trailer
110V Interior System - This will be running outlets, AC, Microwave, water heater, etc.....
------ This system would only work with shore power and will all run back to the PD4045
------ There will be a 30 amp main breaker and a bunch of sub breakers to run the system
------ I believe in this situation the Neutral (White Wire) should never touch the Ground (Green Wire).
-------------------- I should have two separate buses
------- Should the Ground bus of this system go to the trailer?
12V Trailer Wire (running lights, blinkers, brakes, etc.)
------ Does this get grounded to the trailer, or just through the negative of the battery?
It is all the different grounds that are confusing me. It seems that if i ground the 110V and the 12V to the trailer that I could be causing problems. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Mark
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edbrown
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Post by edbrown on Jun 27, 2016 7:15:48 GMT -8
I'm not a licensed electrician. If it were me: Trailer wiring: make sure each individual light is isolated from chassis. Occasionally somebody tries to eliminate the negative wire by connecting to the chassis. That is an amazing bad idea. Have ONE ground to chassis. I would put it near the connector but it doesn't really matter. 110V interior system: This will only be used when connected to shore power, which has its own ground. First: Do whatever the manual says. I don't see a need to ground to chassis and I can't find anything in the manual that says it should be grounded to trailer chassis. See www.progressivedyn.com/pdfs/110145%20English%20Only.pdf. But I could have missed something. 12 volt interior system- You should have a breakaway switch. If you have a house battery, then the trailer wiring and interior wiring should be connected. When being towed, the tow vehicle alternator can charge the house battery and the house battery can power the breakaway switch. In that case the trailer wiring ground will also be the interior ground. If power only comes from the 110V control center, then it's already grounded and I wouldn't run an additional ground. |
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spoma
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Post by spoma on Jun 27, 2016 9:03:46 GMT -8
Thanks for the response edbrown. I was going off the manual but I was just reading so much conflicting advice online in different trailer forums.
For the 110V interior system, it will only be used when connected to shore power. I believe in this case I can think of the trailer as a sub panel. So, I isolate ground and neutral (which the PD4045 has separate bus bars for). I will avoid grounding the ground bar to the trailer frame.
12V interior system - What do you mean by house battery? I just want to make sure I am understanding what you are saying because I used some bad vocabulary in my post. In 12V there is positive and negative. I usedd the term ground (used to AC), but in the DC world it is negative. When you are saying don't run an additional ground, do you mean don't run the negative wire from the devices?
Trailer wiring: Some of the marker lights are still attached to the skin on my trailer and it looks like the manufacturer did exactly what you suggesting not to do. They have the marker lights screwed into the skin which appears to be their negative 'grounding'.
Am I understanding what you are saying correctly?
Thanks again for the help.
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spoma
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Post by spoma on Jun 28, 2016 12:22:50 GMT -8
I have been reading around and talking with a couple other people and I think I have this done now. Please let me know if this sounds correct.
- Trailer Wiring: 7 way Connector Red Wire to the battery
Battery + to the PD4045 Battery + Lug
Battery - to the Trailer Frame
Ground each device (markers, blnkers, etc) to the skin or the frame
- 12V Interior: I have run two cables to all my 12V devices (black and red).
The red will be positive and will connect back to the PD4045 12V fuses.
The black wires will all come back to a central point and connect to a bus bar which will have a copper cable running to the trailer frame
- 110V Interior: The PD4045 has two bus bars (neutral and ground) which are isolated from each other.
Will connect all the ground wires (green) to the ground bus bar
Will connect all the neutral wires (white) to the white bus bar
Will NOT connect either of these bus bars to the Trailer Frame
Thanks again for the help and any feedback offered.
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Post by vikx on Jun 28, 2016 21:18:44 GMT -8
FEEDBACK:
The 110 system MUST have a dedicated ground to the trailer frame! It runs from the frame to the PD 4045 breaker box ground bar and you're right, always separated from the neutral bar in a trailer. The ground on this system prevents skin electrolysis and sometimes unpleasant shocks. It's easy to run a solid copper up to the ground bar. I use a lug connector at the frame. Please don't skip this step.
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Post by Ross on Jun 29, 2016 3:28:15 GMT -8
FEEDBACK: The 110 system MUST have a dedicated ground to the trailer frame! It runs from the frame to the PD 4045 breaker box ground bar and you're right, always separated from the neutral bar in a trailer. The ground on this system prevents skin electrolysis and sometimes unpleasant shocks. It's easy to run a solid copper up to the ground bar. I use a lug connector at the frame. Please don't skip this step. Well Stated! |
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Dad Rambles
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Post by Dad Rambles on Jun 29, 2016 3:38:12 GMT -8
I third what was said above. If there is an open hot somewhere, you would want those electrons to flow through the frame and not through you. All grounds should be together so that the ground potential is equal and you are not part of that potential.
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spoma
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Post by spoma on Jun 29, 2016 5:27:01 GMT -8
Vikx
Thanks for the response. That was the confusion I was having and I was reading mixed reports on whether to do this or not. I will make sure to ground the 110 to the trailer. This is simple enough to do now as everything is wide open.
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spoma
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Post by spoma on Jul 8, 2016 10:58:34 GMT -8
I have read in a couple of other threads that it is a good idea to ground the skin to the frame as well, since some of the lights use screw into skin as ground. What do people use to ground skin to frame? Is there a clip that goes on the skin or do you wrap a wire around a screw in the skin?
thanks.
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Post by vikx on Jul 8, 2016 22:44:55 GMT -8
I use a ring terminal on a skin screw with wire to the frame. My Hanson has five. If in doubt, GROUND IT AGAIN.
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spoma
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Post by spoma on Jul 9, 2016 3:23:08 GMT -8
Thanks Vikx. I plan to ground each of the sides, so I will end up with 4 of them.
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