question

pjachowski avatar image
pjachowski asked

Flatbed camper: To chassis ground or not to chassis ground....

I've read through a number of posts but am still not clear on what to do in my circumstance. I am building out a composite flatbed camper with the only metal structure being an under floor aluminum subframe and external aluminum trim all the way around the composite panels. I am using all Victron equipment with BattleBorn LiFePO4 batteries. DC-DC charger is the isolated version. Everything else is as you would expect (3K inverter, solar on the roof, shore power, no generator, etc.). My only remaining uncertainty on installation is if I need to tie the camper electrical ground back to the truck chassis ground. My gut tells me no, since the camper electrical system truly is isolated from the truck electrical (I'm using the isolated DC-DC charger). I'm also not certain if I need to find a way to tie the camper ground to the aluminum subframe & trim. If I do ground to the aluminum subframe and trim there is a good likelihood that it will at some point make contact to the truck chassis. Any insight you can offer would be very appreciated!

TIA!

Grounding
2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

1 Answer
kevgermany avatar image
kevgermany answered ·

If you're going to use a battery monitor or shunt to monitor the starter battery, the house and starter batteries must have a common ground, probably through the chassis in your case.

It you're going to have a shore power AC supply this must be grounded.

If there's lightning and it hits the aluminium ungrounded...

2 |3000

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

Related Resources

Ground, earth and electrical safety


Additional resources still need to be added for this topic