Thread: Best ways/locat to ground

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Don, I have never heard of "soaking up too much electrons". Larger gauge wire offers less resistance to current flow and thus is not prone to over heating. A good strong battery will not see that much impedance in your circuit and you should not have starting problems on hot summer days.

Don, I remember a shop teacher who told us to hold both ends up of any wire we were handling to prevent the electrons from falling out. I suspect he may have been related to the clown who told you that.

Tech1 and NFTDAY, Yes, after I heard that idea from the TPI Tech guy I scratched my head. When you think about it the copper in the "00" cable already has electrons at rest so the only flow is the demand of the starter and thus the resistance/impedance should be low with a thick cable. However I do recall in my experience with solid state electronic devices that if you use a power supply which is too small the "fan out" distribution to all the paths in the circuit will be starved for electrons, but with several hundred amps available from the battery, at least for a few seconds, there should be no problem. You note that I have not changed my set up, I am only asking for clarification! However I am at the mercy of the TPI Tech guy who knows his specialty of the TPI wiring harness backwards and forwards, but maybe has never solved a problem with Kirchoff's law of summing the amperage at every node in a circuit! I am close to finished with only a connection of the brake light circuit on the hydraulic pressure switch and the power connection to the radio yet to do. I have recently spent a fair amount of time and thought on connecting the four speakers from the radio in proper phase and bit the economic bullet to purchase a better "marine" grade radio since I am stuck with my mistake of carving out a large hole in the dash for a radio just below a probable leaky windshield gasket. Most of the circuits I have installed are already the third version as I gradually improve the "mess" with the intention of adding a LOT of ties to clean up the circuits when I finally get ready for the first startup of the engine. I plan to install the 1.5 ratio rockers initially and then go back to the 1.6 ratio rockers after some break-in time. I may still revert to Tech1's idea of the brass bar ground. Thanks for the feedback!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I have two of these--one under the dash and one behind the seat for ground wires. They worked pretty slick for me.

www.madelectrical.com/catalog/cn-1.shtml

Regarding a bus bar...copper is better than brass. If you go to the Depot or Lowes, you can buy a copper bus bar that is intended for elelctrical enclosures....it already has the holes and set screws for your wires. You can get them for various sizes of wire too.

Ground continuity is obviously a necessity. Crimp on terminals are prone to vibration loosening causing intermittent connections.

Originally Posted by robot

Crimp on terminals are prone to vibration loosening causing intermittent connections.

That would depend upon what is being used as a crimping tool. There are many DC-8's, 9's,10's amongst others flying that have a multitude of crimp connections.

Absolutely true...most folks do not invest in a decent set of crimpers.... we probably have $10,000 in crimp tools here and still dont cover all terminal styles. You sure dont get away with crimping an aircraft connector pin with a pair of AMP pliers!!!. Also, an aircraft wire or cable is properly supported and the back shells have their own strain relief. Most car builds have zero support near the crimped terminal and people typically bend the wire at the terminal....