All boats will have a primary battery for ignitiion and critical electronics and a second battery for everything else that needs power. If it lights youve got a ground good enough to carry several amps and also a proper connection between the boats dc negative and ac ground.
Waves Ground Boat Ashore At Cape George Port Townsend Leader
How to ground a boat. In addition to the ac ground we need a dc ground or return line a lightning ground and a rf ground plane for the radio systems. Make sure that the ground wire is connected properly or even run in. However even with both terminals disconnected i ended up with the charging system providing an electrical path. On a boat things are considerably more complicated. This is a static ground not a current carrying ground. The ii ac ground or neutral is a current carrying conductor and could be the source of many troubles because its not actually the grounding.
The ground wire goes to the battery luckily the solution is simple. When a direct. My boat came with a solenoid to disconnect the ground which i now can do via a normal battery mains switch. You run a heavy power cable both from the positive of the battery red. Any boat requires a completely isolated power system at no time can any part of the boat be used as a ground or earth. Heres how to smoke them out and enjoy better service from the batteries.
The ground connection is usually made by clamping to a metal water pipe or by driving a long copper stake into the ground. If there is any path it seems better to fully ground the engine to the hull and when not running the engine close the plastic in our case seacock. Where is the ground on a boat. Youll need a multimeter for both techniques. Perhaps more important these snafus can cause stray current corrosion which can sink your boat by eroding away through hull fittings fasteners rudders shafts and drives. Well to the secondary battery that is.
Both can slowly but surely drain the batteries even with every switch turned off. You run both wires directly to the battery. Everything on your boat should be referenced to your engines running battery neg terminal unless you have a yacht and have an apu if you have a metal boat run a dedicated wire from the hull somewhere to the batt term. Connect a wire from the lights other terminal to the boats 12 volt dc positive bus shown clipped to the output of an unused 10 amp circuit breaker. The boat the ac ground and grounding systems are free floating meaning that they do not ground on the vessel but only to shore. Pervasive problems aboard boats are ground faults and short circuits.
It has been known to omit this wire to save a few cents no doubt to the socket and rely on a ground connection being made by the contact of the towball with the trailer coupling when hitched up.
Gallery of How To Ground A Boat
