Finally got round to doing some serious wiring loom research last night. My part built car came with a wiring loom pre built but I want to make sure
I understand all the aspects rather than just connecting them up and hoping for the best.
There are three earth points on the loom. Front middle and centre. The Front one for example has at least 5-6 wires taped together and mark up front
earth point. What is the easiest way to mount 6 wires into the chassis so the connections are safe, secure and nicely weatherproof?
Cheers
Kev
I drill and tap an M6 hole in the chasis then bolt them down.
I have used wired earth connections on all the returns. The chassis is only then earthed in one place, this is only used as a return for a few
unimportant items (horn I think). The earth was a brass nut and bolt in the foot well area next to the battery; out of the area where it will get wet,
covered in Vaseline to stop corrosion used crimped/soldered ring type connectors to connect to the bolt.
I might be tempted to do something similar I would consider extending the earth wires back to the battery area. Earth currents though chassis are a
problem waiting to happen and the kind of faults that are very confusing to fix..
[Edited on 24/5/11 by Bluemoon]
riv nut is the best solution
I just welded an M6 bolt to the chassis in certain areas, then crimped rings on to the earth wires and popped them onto the bolt.
As above
Technically it's a bad idea to have multiple ring crimps on a single bolt. In many/most industries this would not be permitted as the large
thickness of copper pretty much guarantees the creep will cause loss of clamping pressure over time with associated corrosion and poor contact issues.
In a real car loom you would typically see either multiple wires being terminated into a single crimp, or multiple wires being terminated to a single
larger wire within the loom itself (with a type of butt connector) and the larger wire being terminated with a ring.
Crimp all the wires together in a suitably sized ring terminal (probably the Yellow ones) and then weld a bolt to the chasis to secure the crimp to.
Smear of pertoleum jelly to protect from moisture should be sufficient.
Don't forget to earth the engine/box to the chasis as well with a suitably sized braided strap. The rubber engine mounts insulate it quite well
otherwise! (hope I'm not stating the obvious to you).
riv nuts are bad bad bad for earths in my opinion. Multi earths to one point are also not ideal. I have a 50x3mm bar that is the steering column bracket. I have a dozen or more bolts welded through this. Where I can I use seperate earths.
quote:
Originally posted by big_wasa
riv nuts are bad bad bad for earths in my opinion. Multi earths to one point are also not ideal. I have a 50x3mm bar that is the steering column bracket. I have a dozen or more bolts welded through this. Where I can I use seperate earths.
Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I am going to have to go with the Rivnut idea. I agree that a welded bolt would be a better option but I don't have any welding facilities at all. Would a Steel rivnut or a ally one be better? I am leaning towards ally as it conducts electricity better than steel.
Steel over Ally as the ally will react (galvanic corrosion)with the surrounding steel tube and end up producing a poor/failed earth connection. Make sure the hole for the rivnut is clean inside and out before you set the rivnut.
NO !! As said above, rivnut is no good. Especially aluminium to steel. And multiple ring terminations on one stud are bad too.
I would use something like this:-
[
[Edited on 24/5/11 by Macbeast]
quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
NO !! As said above, rivnut is no good. Especially aluminium to steel. And multiple ring terminations on one stud are bad too.
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
NO !! As said above, rivnut is no good. Especially aluminium to steel. And multiple ring terminations on one stud are bad too.
How do I attach it without welding???
bolts ^ or drill and hold down with self tapping screws. probably need a seperate earth for everything that way (or groups of 3 or 4? don't know really)
So where do you buy one of those from?
(and whats a good price)
VWP sell the multiple spade earth blocks, only a couple of quid. Or free from your local scrappy, they're on plenty of cars.
Surely if I bolt these on I might as well have used a Rivnut?????
quote:
Originally posted by Irony
Surely if I bolt these on I might as well have used a Rivnut?????