Bad Ground Connections

[re_tired]

Most anyone who has had a camper knows that sooner or later you'll have to deal with bad grounds. Thought I'd share my problems, because they were all so dumb.

New Starcraft about 3 months old. No power to jack, lights flicker inside, etc. Tracked it down to where the ground wire from the battery attached to the frame maybe 3 feet away. Screw had a star washer that didn't bite through the tough frame paint good enough. Fixed by grinding off paint and using electrical grease. Congratulated myself on a quick fix and took off on our trip.

A couple months later no power at all inside the trailer. Did have full power to jack. Should have noticed this last time. All heavy wire positive connections from battery are in an unsealed interior style home 4x4 electrical box mounted to the frame about 2 feet from the battery. Completely exposed to the elements. Found a corroded connection inside a large plastic wire nut. Same fix as before, cleaned and applied electrical grease. Wrapped box with tape until I can replace it with an exterior box. Took off on our trip.

About a month later, no power inside again. My wife is beginning to question my know-how. This time I found another ground connection to the frame kind of hidden on the inside of the frame about 6 feet under the body. This was was a little different. The factory guy had used a screw with a rubber grommet to attach the ground wire to the frame. Same fix as above.

All of this due to poor assembly line methods!

[RoyB]

Additionally I only use ONE WIRE for each connection to frame ground. Never stack two wires...

Making those connection weather tight is a must do thing...

Roy Ken

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I grind off frame paint, tin the bright steel with pure lead, and SOLDER the wire with extra heavy duty terminal right to the frame. An inch back goes a stainless steel ADEL clamp, then everything gets coated with hot tar. I usually use cross-link insulation wire for this. Then I spiral wrap the wire with black nylon. If anything can get through all that they can have it. Lazy technicians make the best technician. Doing-it-once-does-not-mean-doing-it-twice. Three weeks or three decades. Lazy is lazy.