Is one of your tie down tabs grounded?

[stevenal]

Or is this a Bigfoot thing?

In my attempts to stop rust progression, I've landed here. New marine style properly sized terminals with stainless screws should help, but I'm not sure I see the purpose. Since the ground wires only connect to the left front tab, it would seem like the purpose is to bond the camper to the truck. This, of course, relies on tie down hardware that was never really meant for electrical bonding to complete the circuit. SS Fastguns, Qwik-loads, spring loads, and Torklift pinned extensions all seem questionable to me. And then there are people like be who purposely insulate the extensions with heat shrink.

Does your camper have these grounds? Is there an RVIA requirement? The negative connection on 7-pin effectively bonds the camper to the truck already. Thanks.  

[bigfootford · Accepted solution]

Yep it is a Bigfoot thing.  Not sure but I believe that the -  Negative  and the elect shore ground  are bonded there as elsewhere in the campers.  The fridge -  Negative and the elect 120 ground is bonded in the fridge.   

Jim.

[jetalkington]

They are more of a bonding between the truck camper and the chassis.  The 12v system will leave the house battery and return to the battery. The 120V is ground through the cable to the campground pedestal. I have a Northern Lite and it is the same way.  Everything works normal, in mine, even when it is on the ground, off the truck.

[stevenal]

So it's a Canadian thing then? CSA? 

[jetalkington]

That could be. I used to rehab fiberglass campers. I belonged to a forum that I finally figured was run by a guy out of Canada.  He kept telling us that there can be no LPG connections inside the RV and all connections had to be outside the living space.  We got to talking and realized that was a Canadian thing and the USA goes by the NFPA and it does not have that requirement.  

[stevenal]

I'm so jealous. Three crappy terminals where I just have the two. Thanks.

[Grit_dog]

Although @stevenal your complimentary grounding path through the tiedowns may be slightly or temporarily inhibited by the protective shrink tubing on your tiedowns. 
Regardless, what is the actual question?  Do you have grounding issues with those wires not hooked up, or ??

Never seen a TC with a dedicated ground to vehicle except thru the plug in. 

[stevenal]

Gd,

Thanks. The camper was purchased new, and I don't believe BF ever used metal framing. The two leads are continuous with each other, the negative lead, and with the ground blade of the 30 amp AC plug. No issue here except unsightly corrosion, now looking  a little better. My actual question was stated in the title and first line of my first post above, then restated near the end of the post where I added a second question.

[Grit_dog]

That don’t look factory. And doubt it actually does a thing unless it’s a metal frame camper. Have you tested to see if it’s continuous to the neg wire on the battery or pigtail?

BTW, it’s likely grounding through that path anyway, through the tie downs. 

[StirCrazy]

they are factory, bigfootord has the same things on his.  due to no metal frame they grounded them various ways, through the jacks, through the tie downs and to the propane tanks for just a few..  

[StirCrazy]

the 7 pin is a small wire and realy probably not enough of a ground.. although it probably works fine,  it might just be an atempt to make a stronger ground, or at having multiple grounds like a car or truck does.  

[MORSNOW]

Those grounds would be a first for me, I've never seen those on a camper before.  The only ground between your truck and camper should be thru the umbilical cord.