Before I make a mistake, I thought I should ask those with actual knowledge the following question. If I expand power to the rear of my vehicle, should I pull a ground or common wire to the rear as well? Here is the situation:
I am preparing my 2008 Subaru Outback for some long distance travel. That means a few things, such as adding a refrigerator in the rear, and a towing small teardrop style trailer (The Sawtooth XL, as a matter of fact) to provide sleeping, etc. There is an OEM power outlet in the cargo area, but I will also be adding some lighting in the cargo space, and charging capabilities for phones and tablets and such. To provide for that, and for a power supply to the trailer "house" battery, I am going to pull a 6 gauge power wire to the rear, and distribute the power through a Blue Seas block. I will have a tail to the trailer through an Anderson Power Pole type connector. I will fuse the 6 gauge right at the battery post.
The Outback has three grounding systems designed into its electrical and electronic systems: the engine block, the "chassis," and one that I am not even going to bother mentioning because it has to do with electronics for vehicle systems, and I'm not going to touch it.
It is very easy to pull the ground wire with the power wire, as everything has to be exposed for pulling the power wire. If it is appropriate to do so, then I have, it seems, three options: attach the ground to the battery, or attach it where the battery ground attaches to the engine block or ground it to the chassis. An intermediate step would be to put a post in the engine bay to which I could attach that 6 gauge wire, and then run a 4-6 gauge wire to one of the three points mentioned above. In that way, I would have a point to which I can attach the grounding jumper cable if I ever (shudder) need to do that.
Thank you in advance for your collective advice and comments.
I am preparing my 2008 Subaru Outback for some long distance travel. That means a few things, such as adding a refrigerator in the rear, and a towing small teardrop style trailer (The Sawtooth XL, as a matter of fact) to provide sleeping, etc. There is an OEM power outlet in the cargo area, but I will also be adding some lighting in the cargo space, and charging capabilities for phones and tablets and such. To provide for that, and for a power supply to the trailer "house" battery, I am going to pull a 6 gauge power wire to the rear, and distribute the power through a Blue Seas block. I will have a tail to the trailer through an Anderson Power Pole type connector. I will fuse the 6 gauge right at the battery post.
The Outback has three grounding systems designed into its electrical and electronic systems: the engine block, the "chassis," and one that I am not even going to bother mentioning because it has to do with electronics for vehicle systems, and I'm not going to touch it.
It is very easy to pull the ground wire with the power wire, as everything has to be exposed for pulling the power wire. If it is appropriate to do so, then I have, it seems, three options: attach the ground to the battery, or attach it where the battery ground attaches to the engine block or ground it to the chassis. An intermediate step would be to put a post in the engine bay to which I could attach that 6 gauge wire, and then run a 4-6 gauge wire to one of the three points mentioned above. In that way, I would have a point to which I can attach the grounding jumper cable if I ever (shudder) need to do that.
Thank you in advance for your collective advice and comments.
