Greyhawk Chassis Ground Location

[hussieskunk]

I have a low voltage condition on my chassis battery. Reading around 10.3V with small load (lights, fans) after ensuring a fully charged battery (coming off shore power).

After researching other threads, I'm sorting out whether it's a bad battery or a corroded/poor connection on the ground. I'm having difficulty tracing the battery ground and where it connects to the chassis.

I guess I'm asking, is the battery ground literally bolted/touching the frame of the vehicle or am I looking for a post/bolt that passes through the interior to the exterior? I envision a ground post/bolt that I can see in the electric spaghetti of my electric center under the master bed, that penetrates to the exterior under the rig.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...and soon. Heading out in the morning for a boondock trip before we end up at a CG with power two days later.

[hoppers4]

On my Greyhawk, it's attached to the driver side frame rail in a big bundle of wires crimped into one large lug. On my rig this lug hadn't been crimped properly and so every ground was loose. This caused some intermittent problems that had me baffled for a couple of years.

[hussieskunk]

Thanks Hopper. I followed the driver side rail all the way back and there they were. Three clusters of ground connections. None of them appear loose, although I'm sure they are corroded to some extent. Since they are not loose, I'm gonna pull the battery for a load test and maybe just replace it. It's 3-4 years old.

Thanks again!

[hoppers4]

Good idea on the battery. The OEM batteries aren't of the highest quality. I replaced mine at year four and then added another battery in the compartment aft of the original.

[RetiredOne]

Originally Posted by hussieskunk

I have a low voltage condition on my chassis battery. Reading around 10.3V with small load (lights, fans) after ensuring a fully charged battery (coming off shore power).

After researching other threads, I'm sorting out whether it's a bad battery or a corroded/poor connection on the ground. I'm having difficulty tracing the battery ground and where it connects to the chassis.

Are you looking for the main ground that comes from the coach battery to the frame? You mentioned chassis battery.

Those clusters of ground wires you found are usually for the 12 volt items in the rig, like lights, fans, etc.

At 10.3 volts coming off the charger, that battery is toast. Are you sure your charger is putting out?

[RichCarter]

On my 2019 Jay Flight, the battery is grounded directly to the frame. DC loads run to a space behind the breaker panel, black is +12V, white is ground. The white wires run to a terminal strip. A bare solid copper wire runs from that strip to the chassis. The black wires run to the fuse side of the breaker panel. I assume that Jayco wires them all this way.



I attached a photo of the space behind the breaker panel. I put a current and voltage meter in my control panel. This shows the wiring of the meter shunt resistor. The copper wire in this photo first goes to the shunt and the other side has a green wire to the terminal strip. Yours should have the copper wire connected directly to the terminal strip.

[hussieskunk]

Thanks all. I found them on the driver side, behind the tank drain, on the frame. None were loose, so I replaced the battery. All is good now.

Except I went out to take a look at something else, and noticed the radio was on in the cab.... Haven't checked that battery yet...

[hoppers4]

The original Jensen radio will come on if you turn house power off and on. If you turn off house power, there's a switching circuit that will now provide power from the chassis. Turning house power back on will switch the radio back to house power and turn it on.