After Market Lights - Grounding

[SuperRver]

06 Precedent 48volt (4 -12v Batteries)

Hello Everyone just a quick question because i am getting confused on a issue with installing lights. My question is the ground. I have read that you cannot ground the lights to anywhere but the battery. My question is that if you mount the lights on metal would they not be grounded???? Is this what needs to be avoided?? All wires must be run back to the battery what i have read both hot and ground.. I guess i am just confused on the ground.

[shadowman]

if the lights have a ground wire thats to ground if its a light that grounds by the light itself thats another story........ground wire from lights to batteries.............................

[SuperRver]

yes the lights are self grounding???

[shadowman]

you might be able to find a spot on the light to attach and run a ground wire back to batteries i don,t see why that wouldn,r work.....all your doing is redirecting the ground...........................

[scottyb]

Everything on a golf cart is a 2 wire system, positive & negative. Think in terms of negative not ground...You can mount the grounding lights to a non conductive surface and run their grounding connection back to the 12v battery negative. Or you can defeat the self grounding and wire it the 12v negative. Or get lights with 2 wires.

[Grinch]

Carts are not grounded in the same sense as a car or truck. On a car or truck with a standard negative ground the battery's negative terminal is connected to a piece of conductive metal (frame, engine block, etc). Much of the metal in the vehicle is also connected together creating on big negative wire (bus if you will). This allows one wire applications from the positive lead of the battery. The light will have a wire from the battery to the light itself and then connect to the vehicle frame or other live metal and the circuit is completed back to the battery. Carts are non grounded, there is nothing live you can connect to (in fact you want to make sure it is this way). You need to have two wires going to the electrical source (battery). Many people set up electrical busses to handle this, a positive one with a fuse bank on it and a negative where it is just a place to combine all the grounds. Your lights, if they are single wire probably count on the mounting to connect metal from the light to a metal ground. You'll need to attach a wire someplace on the light assembly (try the mounting scews) and run that back to a negative lead on the power source.

[shadowman]

Originally Posted by Grinch

Carts are not grounded in the same sense as a car or truck. On a car or truck with a standard negative ground the battery's negative terminal is connected to a piece of conductive metal (frame, engine block, etc). Much of the metal in the vehicle is also connected together creating on big negative wire (bus if you will). This allows one wire applications from the positive lead of the battery. The light will have a wire from the battery to the light itself and then connect to the vehicle frame or other live metal and the circuit is completed back to the battery. Carts are non grounded, there is nothing live you can connect to (in fact you want to make sure it is this way). You need to have two wires going to the electrical source (battery). Many people set up electrical busses to handle this, a positive one with a fuse bank on it and a negative where it is just a place to combine all the grounds. Your lights, if they are single wire probably count on the mounting to connect metal from the light to a metal ground. You'll need to attach a wire someplace on the light assembly (try the mounting scews) and run that back to a negative lead on the power source.

.............exactly..................... ............