Ground?

[nybor]

Hi. I probably can find the answer somewhere, but since I am sitting at my desk in front of my computer, much easier to simply post the question.
Where is the "Boat or Common Ground" on the boat? Is it on the engine? Is there somewhere else where all the negative cables attach to?

thanks in advance.

dave

ps. I guess I will have to wait until NEXT year for an answer. It seems Ken K is not happy about his measly $56k (before taxes) salary to monitor this site. So, I have taken up a collection
to help him out.... Total to date....... $0.47. (found it in the sofa)

[TBOT422]

Dave,

I believe you should find the ground cable from the negative post of what was originally Battery #1 of the 2 factory installed 4D's connecting to the engine block. That would be the "Boat or Common Ground". The battery #2 negative post was connected to battery #1 post and then on to a ground buss bar behind the DC panel. Unless you are installing a battery monitor shunt which is very sensitive to where it is located in the ground path, any of the above locations should provide a good ground location.

Actually, I just wanted to post something to see if the new web site was working.

Happy New Year.

[nybor]

got it. Thanks for the info. You read my mind. I am installing a Trimetrix 2030 and 500mV/500A shunt. But, I also bought a zinc (sinker?) on a cable to toss overboard and wondered if I should attach the end to the engine block ground.

Typically, when I try things like this it makes the situation worse!

thanks again

dave

[nybor]

Hmm. now you have me thinking on where would the best place to install the shunt be? I don't have the manual here, but I believe it is supposed to be as close to the battery as possible???

d

[TBOT422]

Dave,

I recently installed a Victron Battery Monitor. In that case, I installed the shunt in the battery compartment near Battery #1. The issue as I understand it is that you can not have multiple ground paths from any of the house battery bank(s) that can go around the shunt. I had to remove some excess ground cables the previous owner had put in that created multiple ground paths. If you have a dedicated starting battery, you should connect it's negative post to the downhill side of the shunt (the engine block side), so that the shunt does not measure the power consumed by the starting battery. The battery monitor I installed will measure the voltage of a second battery, but not the power consumption. Some battery monitors have the capability and some do not.

Good Luck

[R.B.]

I also installed the Victron 602 a couple of years ago. And I did install the shunt close to the battery.