sleepwalker wrote:ok sorry I've just checked my van and can see why my choice of wording was confusing. As you say there is a seperate live and earth connection.
So if I can just try and explain myself better.... when my install was completed my mate found a number of connections in the area underneath the steering column. One of these was clearly the live and he confirmed that with a volt meter and we connected up to that with a spade connector. He also managed to find an earth connection down there too to connect the red and black wire to. So I suppose my question is what can we do this weekend to confirm that a connection we suspect to be an earth is in fact earthed?
I hope this makes a bit more sense or am I being a bit of a div?
To check that your earth is good use a multimeter on the continuity setting (often the 2k range on the resistance scale). Connect one probe to the battery -ve connector lead (with it still disconnected to be on the ultra safe side) and the other probe to the point that you will use for your earth. The multimeter should beep indicating a short circuit between your earth point and the battery lead. This is what you want.
If your multimeter doesn't have a continuity setting, use the lowest resistance range. You should get a tiny resistance if you have a good earth (a small fraction of an ohm).
Most of us are aware that the chassis should provide an earth, but we're also aware of poor or corroded earth contacts (fuel gauge faults etc) so this is a valid query. I had several electrical problems with my bongo that were solved simply by renewing the earth on the leisure battery.
but I just want to make sure I don't cut any corners when I help fit this one next week.
