Automotive Ground Straps

[topgun3690]

Most ground straps on trucks/cars are the flat, woven copper ones. Am in the process of checking/cleaning the grounds on my older RV and was thinking about replacing them with regular coated wire, maybe 10 gauge with weather proof ring terminals, instead of buying the woven copper ones. Is this a good idea or are the woven copper ones made that way for a reason? I'm not in the rust belt so there is not excessive corrosion.....just trying to make an improvement over the original ones. Have the wire and ring terminals on hand left over from other wiring projects. Thanks.

 

[dingbat]

Most ground straps on trucks/cars are the flat, woven copper ones. Am in the process of checking/cleaning the grounds on my older RV and was thinking about replacing them with regular coated wire, maybe 10 gauge with weather proof ring terminals, instead of buying the woven copper ones. Is this a good idea or are the woven copper ones made that way for a reason? I'm not in the rust belt so there is not excessive corrosion.....just trying to make an improvement over the original ones. Have the wire and ring terminals on hand left over from other wiring projects. Thanks.

The flat copper cables have a very large cross section with very fine wires to keep resistance to a minimum.

Will need a 2-4 ga copper wire to be comparable

 

[topgun3690]

Guess my 10 gauge idea was a little on the light side.....so we are talking about battery cable size wire then. Well that's why I got on here and asked before making any changes. May just clean up the old ones real good and reuse them. Or buy original type replacements. Thanks for your input, sir.

 

[topgun3690]

The flat copper cables have a very large cross section with very fine wires to keep resistance to a minimum.

Will need a 2-4 ga copper wire to be comparable

So just to be clear.....if I used 2-4 ga copper wire it would just be "comparable" and not better than the flat woven copper straps?

 

[Scott Danforth]

you realize that the flat woven ground straps are comparable to 4 gauge, however have 100% more flex. Not to mention are tinned copper for corrosion reasons and about 1/10th the cost of a jacketed cable.

i would simply buy replacements if yours are corroded or damaged

 

[briangcc]

ground strap - JEGS High Performance

1 million+ parts, 800+ brands-all in-stock at guaranteed best prices. Buy by 11pm & your order ships same-day. Trust JEGS to get it right. Shop now!

www.jegs.com

These work, I have them in my 78 Trans Am when I re-wired it. They're also more flexible than 2-4 gauge battery cable as mentioned above.

 

[topgun3690]

you realize that the flat woven ground straps are comparable to 4 gauge, however have 100% more flex. Not to mention are tinned copper for corrosion reasons and about 1/10th the cost of a jacketed cable.

i would simply buy replacements if yours are corroded or damaged

Makes perfect sense....that heavy wire is not very flexible and more expensive. Thanks for the input.

 

[topgun3690]

ground strap - JEGS High Performance

1 million+ parts, 800+ brands-all in-stock at guaranteed best prices. Buy by 11pm & your order ships same-day. Trust JEGS to get it right. Shop now!

www.jegs.com

These work, I have them in my 78 Trans Am when I re-wired it. They're also more flexible than 2-4 gauge battery cable as mentioned above.

Thanks for that link....they have exactly what I would need.

 

[dolluper]

You must understand vehicle manufactors are cheap and want to save pennies anywhere... It always puzzles me why we are relying on a single ground wire instead of two or three even especially with computer controlled vehicles... Example one engine ground to frame is ridiculous it fails you have problems... So if you had two one could fail and you would still be problem free.
As you can tell l add grounds for further protection for flimsey vehicle wiring

 

[dingbat]

It always puzzles me why we are relying on a single ground wire instead of two or three even especially with computer controlled vehicles...

Because Best Engineering practice dictates one ground cable to prevent ground loops, especially when computerized system are involved

Ground Loops and Their Cures | Control Engineering

The National Electrical Code (NEC) defines a ground as 'a conducting connection, whether intentional or accidental, between an electrical circuit or | Control Engineering

www.controleng.com

 

[dolluper]

Come on man we are talking vehicles 12or 24 DC volt systems... Not buildings running AC voltage 120AC 240AC or higher circuits
Apples not Oranges

 

[dingbat]

Come on man we are talking vehicles 12or 24 DC volt systems... Not buildings running AC voltage 120AC 240AC or higher circuits
Apples not Oranges

Same principal applies to all electrical circuits.

Even more critical in DC circuitry…communications, processors, digital logic and control circuits, etc. because of the signal levels in use.

What Is a Ground Loop?

Working through unexpected return current problems from your ground loop can be a reality addressed during your design and simulation phase.

resources.pcb.cadence.com

 

[topgun3690]

Because Best Engineering practice dictates one ground cable to prevent ground loops, especially when computerized system are involved

Ground Loops and Their Cures | Control Engineering

The National Electrical Code (NEC) defines a ground as 'a conducting connection, whether intentional or accidental, between an electrical circuit or | Control Engineering

www.controleng.com

The RV I mentioned above only had one original ground strap going from body to frame. I replaced it, and had thought about adding one or two more. Kinda glad I didn't now.

 

[dingbat]

The RV I mentioned above only had one original ground strap going from body to frame. I replaced it, and had thought about adding one or two more. Kinda glad I didn't now.

Ground loops probably account for 90% of all “noise” related problems reported in autos, boats and RV are a potential cause.

If one component on the loop is noisy and the return current flows through shared ground connectors, this noisy component is then the source for an introduction of noise to other components on the loop. This can be catastrophic with different analog or audio components along the same loop as a particularly noisy component.

 

[dolluper]

Funny a vehicle has numerous grounds which are seperate in series and parallel circuits with each component on the circuit with it's own dedicated ground.

 

[dingbat]

"with it's own dedicated ground."

I rest my case...........