Where to earth my 240v hook up

[Iant666]

Hi all,

just putting a 240v hook up in the van and the kit instructions said earth to the van but avoid a point with a 12V earth on already. Doing a search on here suggested using the factory earth points either in the rear quarter or under the seat, but looking at both of these they both have wires on them already. The one in the rear is the nearest and currently has a brown wire on it, is this a safe one to use or am i better installing a new separate earth point?

 

[Cwill83247]

Hi all,

just putting a 240v hook up in the van and the kit instructions said earth to the van but avoid a point with a 12V earth on already. Doing a search on here suggested using the factory earth points either in the rear quarter or under the seat, but looking at both of these they both have wires on them already. The one in the rear is the nearest and currently has a brown wire on it, is this a safe one to use or am i better installing a new separate earth point?

Did you ever get a response in same boat

 

[Iant666]

@Cwill83247 I found another post here that was about the same thing so asked on that. Mine is currently connected to the existing earth point with the brown wire on, i don't know enough about electrics to understand why the instructions say not to do it...

 

[sippe]

Your 240V hook up is connected to a wall outlet of some sort, right? (your house, a camp site, etc...)

Out of the wall socket come 3 wires: phase (generally brown), neutre (generally blue), and ground (yellow/green). Electricity moves between the first two, the third one is your earth.

The moment you plug in your car the 230V system is connected to earth via your wall socket or other electricity point ;-)

(correct me if I'm wrong)


Jan

 

[Salty Spuds]

Your 240V hook up is connected to a wall outlet of some sort, right? (your house, a camp site, etc...)

Out of the wall socket come 3 wires: phase (generally brown), neutre (generally blue), and ground (yellow/green). Electricity moves between the first two, the third one is your earth.

The moment you plug in your car the 230V system is connected to earth via your wall socket or other electricity point ;-)

(correct me if I'm wrong)


Jan

The vehicle body needs connecting to the mains incoming earth, which is what the OP is asking about. Otherwise a live/earth fault within the vehicle could cause the vehicle body to become live & not trip any protective device. If someone touched the vehicle body, they would effectively earth the vehicle via their body & receive an electric shock. The vehicle isn’t automatically earthed when connected to EHU, unless there is a connection between the vehicle body & the incoming earth. You could use an earth spike connected to the van, but this is clunky.

 

[rod_vw]

Hi all,

just putting a 240v hook up in the van and the kit instructions said earth to the van but avoid a point with a 12V earth on already. Doing a search on here suggested using the factory earth points either in the rear quarter or under the seat, but looking at both of these they both have wires on them already. The one in the rear is the nearest and currently has a brown wire on it, is this a safe one to use or am i better installing a new separate earth point?

I don't see what the problem is. An earth stud is an earth stud full stop! Provided all connections to the stud are correctly and firmly connected and screwed down it really doesn't matter how many connections are on the stud. The only problem that can occur is when those connections come loose and not connecting to the vehicle metal work correctly.

 

[Iant666]

I don't see what the problem is. An earth stud is an earth stud full stop! Provided all connections to the stud are correctly and firmly connected and screwed down it really doesn't matter how many connections are on the stud. The only problem that can occur is when those connections come loose and not connecting to the vehicle metal work correctly.

That makes perfect sense, so the reason the instructions say don't use a stud that is already being used by a 12v earth wire is that the risk is if not connected properly it could be dangerous - which i am guessing would be the same if it was the only wire on the stud and not connected properly anyway...