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texman View Drop Down
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Posts: 446 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: 12v DC newbie
    Posted: 31 Jul 2014 at 8:02pm
planning to add a 12V DC outlet to 182g direct from power box in pic.  While i am familiar with AC wiring and using the hot to breaker, neutral to bar and safety ground to ground bar, i dont get the ground connection for DC. I have two open slots on DC side and i want to use 1 of those for the new outlet.  Dumb question is: Where do i connect the ground(negative side) in the box ?
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Posts: 67 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jul 2014 at 8:15pm
Well,the short answer is the whole trailer frame is the DC ground just like in a Car or Truck.

The easiest place to run a ground without having to remove the converter to get to the ground bar behind it,is to just run it to the NEG terminal(the 2 white wires at the top).

Just loosen the screw and ease it into position next to the larger wire making sure everything stays nice and firmly connected.On a DC system,a ground is a ground pretty much anywhere it is connected.
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Outbound View Drop Down
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Posts: 767 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jul 2014 at 8:35pm
There will be a grounding terminal/bar (you'll see lots of white 12v wires screwed into it) somewhere behind your converter.  In my r-pod, there were two bars screwed to the floor of the cabinet the converter is mounted in.  Just add your wires in there.
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jul 2014 at 9:16pm
Originally posted by Outbound

There will be a grounding terminal/bar (you'll see lots of white 12v wires screwed into it) somewhere behind your converter.  In my r-pod, there were two bars screwed to the floor of the cabinet the converter is mounted in. Just add your wires in there.


CAUTION HERE: There will be a bus bar with lots of white wires (and no bare wires) which IS NOT the ground. It is the AC neutral which is not ground. DO NOT connect to this bus. The 12V DC negative can be connected to the true ground bus which has lots of bare wires connected to it. The bare wires are the AC grounds, but the bus is also true chassis ground. 
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Budward View Drop Down
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Posts: 438 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Aug 2014 at 6:28am
Note- the bars CharlieM are referring to are IN the front left of the convertor box-   the 12V ground (negative) connection bar Outbound mentions is in the void behind the convertor-
yes it is a little trouble to get to but that is where you should connect 12V ground side wires although the correct front one is electrically the same.
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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Aug 2014 at 7:01am
Originally posted by Budward

Note- the bars CharlieM are referring to are IN the front left of the convertor box-   the 12V ground (negative) connection bar Outbound mentions is in the void behind the convertor-
yes it is a little trouble to get to but that is where you should connect 12V ground side wires although the correct front one is electrically the same.


Budward,

Thanks for jumping in. I gather the 120V neutral bus is INSIDE the panel whereas the chassis ground bus is OUTSIDE  and behind the panel? It's a little hard by remote control since I no longer have a Pod or a WFCO. I just wanted to be sure the chassis and neutral isolation were not compromised. We've had a lot of trouble recently on another forum with this. Thanks.

[EDIT]: Looks like there is a safety ground bar for the AC connections INside the panel also. So the bus mounted OUTside and behind the panel is the chassis ground and the place to connect 12V DC returns. Hope that's clear if previously understood Smile
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Budward View Drop Down
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Posts: 438 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Aug 2014 at 7:39am
Originally posted by CharlieM



Thanks for jumping in. I gather the 120V neutral bus is INSIDE the panel whereas the chassis ground bus is OUTSIDE  and behind the panel? It's a little hard by remote control since I no longer have a Pod or a WFCO. I just wanted to be sure the chassis and neutral isolation were not compromised. We've had a lot of trouble recently on another forum with this. Thanks.



That is correct- the 12V neg/ground bus bar is inside the compartment behind the WFCO enclosure.  One has to remove the 8 screws holding the WFCO in to get to itWink
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texman View Drop Down
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Posts: 446 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Aug 2014 at 9:21am
Thanks for all the help!  be nice to have a 12v negative bus more accessible, but no big deal.

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CharlieM View Drop Down
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Posts: 1797 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Aug 2014 at 11:37am
Originally posted by texman

Thanks for all the help!  be nice to have a 12v negative bus more accessible, but no big deal.

Texman


As they say in Elkhart: You can have all the things some of the time; and some of the things all the time; but you can't have all the things all of the time. Wink
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