"Negative Ground" on a boat.

[duluthboats]

Looking at the EPEVER charge control. It says it is a Negative Ground. Is that doable on a boat? Is it something different then other charge controls?

 

[svsagres]

Looking at the EPEVER charge control. It says it is a Negative Ground. Is that doable on a boat? Is it something different then other charge controls?

Negative Ground is your standard marine DC electrical installation. Fuses all on the positive side, negative Bus connecting to the negatives on everything, plus the engine.

 

[Don B. Cilly]

They're usually "grounded" to salt water. Any through-hull brass water inlet will do just fine.
Now, if you really want to "ground" it (your negative) you could use one of these brass plates:



Though they're usually only used for high-power transmitting antennas. :·)
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[duluthboats]

Negative Ground is your standard marine DC electrical installation. Fuses all on the positive side, negative Bus connecting to the negatives on everything, plus the engine.

Thank you.

 

[wholybee]

They're usually "grounded" to salt water. Any through-hull brass water inlet will do just fine.
Now, if you really want to "ground" it (your negative) you could use one of these brass plates:

View attachment 96250

Though they're usually only used for high-power transmitting antennas. :·)
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The water does not equal ground on a boat, and grounding to the water is not necessary for DC installation. Grounding to the water usually happens as a consequence of including the engine block in the ground system, and in that case, it is as much of a problem as it is a solution. Some manufactures actually go through a lot of work to isolate the engine block to prevent it from grounding to water (the Volvo in my boat, for example). And then no connection to the water is needed. And other systems, lighting protection, radio RF ground, DC bonding system etc., do require a connection to water and might be connected to a plate. But the intricacies of that can get complicated, and an incorrect installation can kill a swimmer near your boat.

My advice, if the boat doesn't have a grounding plate, don't arbitrarily add one. Leave it as is, or talk to an ABYC electrician. Adding it might cause problems and not really solve anything.

For any DC electrical device being installed, ground = the negative battery buss, either a buss bar, or the engine block. Even with a ground plate, that would be the case.

And yes, boats are negative ground, nothing unusual there.

 

[Don B. Cilly]

Oh, I don't know, I've always seen DC installations "grounded" to the water. I simply thought it was to get rid of eventual "runaway" currents from electronics, alternators and such. The radio ground plate I added in jest, I did put a smiley there :·) - they usually carry plenty of warnings.
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