hi all been reading on a few forums and i have come across people upgrading teh earth points on the cars..like adding more earth straps etc.. now what i wanna know is is it worth doing to a stock VS v6? if so where do i put them? When i have air con on and lights, hazards etc.. (pretty much all electrics) at idle the volts are about 12.5V but when car is just idleing without air con lights etc on.. its at 13.8-9 volts...is this right? i always thought it should be 14.2-14.4. gonna check/replace regulator as i know the wipers get faster the faster teh car goes and lights seem to get a little dimmer the slower i go (if u know what i mean)
also get the battery load tested, the alternator is only as good as the batterys its charging (the alternator could be charging a battery that carnt hold its full charge)
your right, it should be maintianing 14 volts at idle even with a load on. start by making sure the exsisting earths point are clean and making good contact. for the VS it's very common to have a problem with the main connection on the alternator. check/ fit a lock/spring washer and make sure it's tight. have seen burnt looms from this fualt. in my opinion the cable size is also to small for the full continues load the alternator can support. also if oyu have a decent sound systmem upgrade the main batery to chassis link. 4g is a good size. what your refering too is a hot earth setup. there is a great write-up with pictures on that other commodore site. there will be some na-sayers on this site saying it's a total waste of time. what i have done is using some 4G cable, run from the battery -ve 2 head 2 block 2 alternator 2 DFI and i'm gonna upgrade from DFI to chassis when i move my DFI to it's new location. i ahve used the factory earth point below the DFI as a common earth point for my upgraded wiring also. there may be some pics in my ride thread, not sure.
I am thinking of doing this myself As I have a couple of metres of welding cable spare (rated to 400amps DC) - but Im wondering if its really worth it. Now I got the cable for free (dont ask how or where) so all it will cost me is a few dollars for some crimp-lugs - but on a bone stock VR V6 is it worth the effort. Sorry to go off topic, toio.
moff_man: cheers will get the battery checked...after all its free haha immortality: thanks heaps...lots of good info there. I have checked all earth points and also the alternator wire and they seem fine. Over all car is still in A1 condition (has 85 000 genuine k's on clock) i dont currently have a large sound system...only just your basic stuff (head unit and speakers...no sub/amp) If the volts are to low shouldnt the battery light come on indicationg that there is a fault in the charging sytstem somewhere? Andrew426: lol yeh well me dad has some good wire lying around so im gonna use that ...can hurt lol as its only gonna cost me a few bucks for the connections...i say why not haha
jas98, there would be limits on the battery voltage that triggered the battery light. Your numbers are a little low, I would definitely follow it up, but they may not be low enough to trigger the battery light. Personally upgrading the earths doesnt interest me. I look after what is already there and dont have any electrical problems at all. Remember too that the earth is only half of the circuit. You will need to upgrade the supply wiring too. Imagine running water pipes. No point having smaller pipes halfway and then going with a bigger pipe, the water will be limited through the smaller pipe. We have run through this before and I have pulled some numbers from my car if you are interested http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/electrical-wiring-questions/74091-hot-earth-3.html#post802833
that was actually a fairly interesting read, people get pretty upset about things on this forum. I cant see any problem with doing a basic earth upgrade across the ignition system, just to ensure its always got a good earth so it will be a little more reliable, mainly that could be done via just upgrading the connectors I guess. Allot of work done by you in that thread to Kopper, thanks for the read.
I've added new earth points to my VR. All I've noticed is the stereo plays a little clearer, no headlight dimming and my car starts straight away.
well i changed the battery to chassis wire with a bigger one as the original one looked like it wouldn't power a bloody toy car . also added an extra one to engine. Dont really know if it mad much difference as i havent really driven it yet...maybe better/smoother idle but yeh...will let yous know also cost me nothing so im not complaining haha cheers
thanks for putting the link in (i was gonna but couldn't rmember what it was called and didn't find it) that was a good thread, we logically worked through a fair bit of stuff that week. one thing i have noted but don't think i've ever added is that the main earth cable (battery > block) is smaller then the main cable for the starter motor. so as you say, there in no point having one large and one small cable, upgrading the earth to the same size as the starter cable would certainly explain better starting. when i fitted my new cable i noted a .2 volt increase @ the battery. not huge but it's something. system now sits at 14.3/4 volts consistently and maintains that voltage even under high load conditions i thinkt the battery light will only start to glow (dimly) if the charging circuit drops below 12volts and gets brighter as the voltage drops.
