General Uno Turbo Earth

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General Uno Turbo Earth

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May 29, 2007
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Hi all,

After cleaning my earth/ground blocks (not sure which is more appropriate here) I decided that I could do with improving the whole earth system.

My questions:
1. Should I earth my components (alternator, engine head, gearbox, air flow meter, starter etc) all to one block or point in the car.
OR
Daisy chain them - run a wire from each component to the other and then the final wire to the negative battery terminal?
2. Any forseeable cons?
3. Any tips from those of you who know about electrics?

The idea is to minimise electrical resistance in my car.

All help appreciated

Thank you (y)
 
I would'nt daisy chain them, the best way is to just repair all the ends of the rotten wires (the wire goes black, cut right back until no black wire present) and solder new terminals and wire in job done! Ant!
 
Thanks, that would be easier I guess.

Can I use a slightly bigger gauge wire or should I keep it exactly the same size?

Also, is copper wire the best for this job? in terms on conducting electricity?
 
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I agree with Ant - don't daisy chain or earth everything to one point in the car. If you did this you'll be causing a large amount of current to flow through one place and that can cause electrical resistance and/ or heat issues. Plus if that single earthing point fails then EVERYTHING electric will fail as well!

The earth blocks are sometime known as 'hedgehogs' because they kind of look like little hedgehogs with the two rows of prongs sticking up :p

Best to make sure each earth terminal is clean and also the earth blocks/ hedgehogs as well. Take them off and rub any metal to metal contact points with fine wet and dry until you see shiny metal. I also put a smear of vaseline on the connections to stop them from oxidising as that can also cause poor earthing.

Copper stranded wire will conduct electricity better than steel stranded wire, but you must be careful to use the right gauge else you'll cause electrical resistance. That's about as far as my knowledge of electronics go! We need Alex to make an appearance as he know all about this subject!
 
Thanks for the info.

I'm hoping Alex will help with the gauge of wire question. The ones on the car already are very thin so wanted to go up a size...
 
i always replace the grounds on my older cars. currently replaceing them on my GT4. i use 4AWG copper strand cable AKA battery cable, bit over kill, but it does the trick.
 
Hi mate i have just upgraded all my earth cables to 0awg!
But i am drawing around 2-300amps :eek: lol
I just took the old stuff of the car and then measured it up and made copy's then just put it back on :)
 
Thanks for the info.

I'm hoping Alex will help with the gauge of wire question. The ones on the car already are very thin so wanted to go up a size...

If you haven't made any changes to your electrical system (amps etc) you can just replace you cables with new ones the same size :)
 
Its been 2 years now and not one electrical fault! on the misses UT (had to be mint, imagine the earache i'd get) but honestly the uno now is an old car min 12 13 years, and the italians never excelled on electrics, as i said, if you check your fan wires (crucial) and basicaly all the ends of your wiring,(engine bay) you will see that the wire has turned black! this isn't good! all you need is a roll of the same gauge wire, soldering wire and iron, black tape, cutters, stanley blade, fine screwdriver, wd40, wire wool, and get busy before winter and damp! or you'l pay!! Ant!
 
I went to a local store and they had wire but it was rated in watts? I.e. 17 watts - and then the insulated terminals were 15 watts. I didn't buy them as I wasn't sure it was enough?
 
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earth.JPG


wet and dry works wonders, I then used contact cleaner and smeared dielectric grease over all the connectors
 
I went to a local store and they had wire but it was rated in watts? I.e. 17 watts - and then the insulated terminals were 15 watts. I didn't buy them as I wasn't sure it was enough?

ok, so I looked into this a bit more and found that the wires were actually in amps. the amp ratings were 17 & 27 amps. This seemed low to me at the time.

After a bit of google it seems that: amps = watts / volts

So in theory this means 17 amps wire = 200 watts / 12 volts (approx)

My question: is this enough for my engine compartment wiring?

Thanks for reading
 
ok, so I looked into this a bit more and found that the wires were actually in amps. the amp ratings were 17 & 27 amps. This seemed low to me at the time.

After a bit of google it seems that: amps = watts / volts

So in theory this means 17 amps wire = 200 watts / 12 volts (approx)

My question: is this enough for my engine compartment wiring?

Thanks for reading

In a word, yes.
The highest power consumption is the headlights (60W each).

Everyone here is too kind about me :eek: Sorry that it's taken me days to catch this thread. The title I thought was quite funny - like "Google Earth" but "Uno Turbo Earth", made me wonder if it was some giant map of where all the Uno Turbos are.

12-gauge wire is plenty large enough, I think 14-18gauge will be OK. 0-gauge is, as antsuno2 said, overkill.

Chas is right about the other points - copper wire is fine. Personally I would solder the connections. Don't daisy-chain the earths, as each connection adds a certain amount of resistance; there should be as few connections as possible between each component and the chassis.

Volts dropped (across a connection of a certain resistance) is proportional to the current flow. So, you need the best connection for the highest-current items, which is pretty common-sense really ;)

-Alex
 
Thanks, I will be doing lots to it. Need to move the number plate back up & want to get the standard grill & wheels back on the car as well for now.

Next year it will be taken off the road for a full resto!
 
Yes - great looking Uno there!
Shiny-black must be the highest-maintenance colour of all... even on the bumpers and sills, I see!

Anyway, Saturday has been and gone - hopefully your electrics are still working then :) You know how you cleaned up those earth connections until they shone? I was just wondering - would it be worth asking an electroplating company (i.e. a re-chrome place) if they could plate them with a suitable metal (nickel?) so as to stave off future corrosion. I imagine it would only cost a modest amount as they can use whatever plating process they have running at the time. Even copper/chrome would be an option.

Cheers,
-Alex
 
Apparently the gent I bought the car off had it all colour coded which is not to my taste on any other colour but does suit the black ones.

Oh yes, the electrics are good and I do want to plate the blocks (read my mind). I haven't gotten round to re-wiring need to buy a solder iron.

After cleaning the earth contact points and using some dielectric grease I feel like my head lights are brighter and the dash lights have perked up. Could just be in my head but i'll keep on thinking I made a difference ;-)
 
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