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Electrical Ground in cabin for Hella 500 install

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Old 02-21-2019, 09:03 PM
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Ground in cabin for Hella 500 install

I'm adding some hella 500's to my car for night driving and I'm almost done, but I can't find an easily accessible ground in the cabin for the switch. Does anybody know of a convenient ground near the center console, or the fuse panel? My backup is to run the ground through the firewall near the hinge for the hood, but it's a pain to get the wires through the grommet, and I don't want to stretch out the rubber too much in case I decide to pull this whole thing off.
 
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Old 02-22-2019, 04:43 AM
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Just find a place that's metal. The whole chassis is grounded.
 
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Old 02-22-2019, 05:33 AM
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I think I had found a screw over near the dead-pedal area when I had to ground a switch. On a more recent install I actually ran an extra ground wire with my relay trigger wire back out to the engine bay just so i wouldnt have to ground a switch inside at all. Was actually worth it.
 
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Old 02-26-2019, 05:52 PM
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Iwashmycar: Where did you route your wires through the firewall?
 
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Old 02-26-2019, 06:00 PM
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Here's one way to find one...hook up a wire to 12V source and bring it in to the cabin...expose a little bit of the bare wire taking care to not let it touch metal and use a VOM meter set on DC Volts....connect the postiive lead to the wire and then use the common lead to touch likely grounding points...you'll know you have a good one when the VOM reads 12+ volts...
 
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Old 02-26-2019, 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by JAB 67
Iwashmycar: Where did you route your wires through the firewall?
I'm not sure where he put his through, but I used the grommet behind the brake booster when you're looking in the engine bay. It's a bit of a pain, but it's better than drilling holes in stuff. https://cdn4.pelicanparts.com/techar...mall/Pic21.JPG
 
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Old 02-26-2019, 07:38 PM
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Originally Posted by TwoWings
Here's one way to find one...hook up a wire to 12V source and bring it in to the cabin...expose a little bit of the bare wire taking care to not let it touch metal and use a VOM meter set on DC Volts....connect the postiive lead to the wire and then use the common lead to touch likely grounding points...you'll know you have a good one when the VOM reads 12+ volts...
Thanks for the tip! I might try this, though I think I've just resigned myself to running another wire through the firewall. It might end up being the simplest option.
 
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Old 02-27-2019, 05:57 AM
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Originally Posted by JAB 67
Iwashmycar: Where did you route your wires through the firewall?
Originally Posted by Racingguy04
I'm not sure where he put his through, but I used the grommet behind the brake booster when you're looking in the engine bay. It's a bit of a pain, but it's better than drilling holes in stuff. https://cdn4.pelicanparts.com/techar...mall/Pic21.JPG

This. There is a roughly 1" diameter grommet easily seen from inside the up under the dash a little. Worked out well.
 
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Old 03-01-2019, 02:58 PM
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Thanks guys!
 
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