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I am in the process of adding custom ballast with individual controls and am basically going to rewire the system. I want to add a power bus under the dash with pos and neg on it. I want to tap the pos power right off the battery switch bus where the alternator/starter comes in and the front and rear batteries can be switched on. I am just clueless as to where to put the new ground.
I am told the safest place is to tap both pos and neg off of a battery. That would somewhat defeat the dual battery setup I have as I would also like to add an amp in the future and run off of either battery. I am told I may have problems with the ground on the engine block as I may get a ground loop. Is it safe to ground off of one of the batteries if I am using the other for the pos power??
The rear battery ground goes directly to the engine block, the front battery goes to the aluminum frame next to the engine where the mounts are bolted. The frame on the other side is grounded into the ground by the starter.
Below is the diagram as best I can do it from tracing the large battery wires around the boat. The new busbar I want to add is shown, but I am unsure as to what the best ground would be if I want to use either battery for it's power. The electrical stuff is fooling me a bit and any help would be greatly appreciated. Just trying to do this right the first time.
I am told the safest place is to tap both pos and neg off of a battery. That would somewhat defeat the dual battery setup I have as I would also like to add an amp in the future and run off of either battery. I am told I may have problems with the ground on the engine block as I may get a ground loop. Is it safe to ground off of one of the batteries if I am using the other for the pos power??
The rear battery ground goes directly to the engine block, the front battery goes to the aluminum frame next to the engine where the mounts are bolted. The frame on the other side is grounded into the ground by the starter.
Below is the diagram as best I can do it from tracing the large battery wires around the boat. The new busbar I want to add is shown, but I am unsure as to what the best ground would be if I want to use either battery for it's power. The electrical stuff is fooling me a bit and any help would be greatly appreciated. Just trying to do this right the first time.