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junichi
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2005
Posts: 749
Location: brentwood bay, bc
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 Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:53 pm Post subject: Battery ground strap |
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No luck in my searches of the gallery and forum. In my 1964 bus, where should the main battery ground strap be mounted? Mine is on the inside of the wheel well with a through bolt...seems like it may not be the factory location, based on how it was done.
Thanks.
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf |
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nlorntson
Crazy VW Lady
Joined: March 13, 2004
Posts: 3783
Location: Twin Cities, MN
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| Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:36 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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Where you see the red wire connected above that round opening. It is usually a flat copper strap.
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junichi
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2005
Posts: 749
Location: brentwood bay, bc
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| Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:42 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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Thank you!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf |
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EverettB 
Administrator
Joined: April 11, 2000
Posts: 69809
Location: Phoenix Metro
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easy e
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Joined: May 28, 2008
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Location: 1 hr north of Santa Barbara
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Bruce Amacker
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Joined: December 26, 2007
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Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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Eric&Barb
Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004
Posts: 24733
Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 10:47 am Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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| Bruce Amacker wrote: |
| Make sure you buff the paint off before bolting it down. |
And use dielectric grease. Also run ground wires from each taillight to that body battery grounding point for TS and brake lights that work bright and properly.
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junichi
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2005
Posts: 749
Location: brentwood bay, bc
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 7:45 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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Interesting. The battery ground in my bus only has one wire to it- the passenger side turn signal. And i couldn't figure out why it is brighter than the other side!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf |
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Eric&Barb
Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004
Posts: 24733
Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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| Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:12 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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| junichi wrote: |
| Interesting. The battery ground in my bus only has one wire to it- the passenger side turn signal. And i couldn't figure out why it is brighter than the other side! |
VW finally did the ground wires for the TLs as stock at the factory in 1970 model year. Better late than never....
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Bruce Amacker
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Joined: December 26, 2007
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Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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EDragnDean
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Joined: July 13, 2005
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Eric&Barb
Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004
Posts: 24733
Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 9:19 am Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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| Bruce Amacker wrote: |
| It's overkill to put the taillight grounds on the battery ground strap, as long as the TL grounds are correctly installed the factory location is fine. I actually think the opposite- the more junk you pile up on the ground strap the more likely you'll have a connection problem due to corrosion there. |
Never have had a problem grounding both the TLs and battery there in over 250,000 miles of driving. Works nice when one does clean the battery ground point, one gets to clean the TL, & battery grounds at one go.
If the battery ground cable is right against the body it is going to work fine. If one puts the TL ground wire between the bolt/washer and the battery ground cable the TLs seem to get plenty of proper ground. Have picked up recently Nissan large loop grounding connectors to solder the end of the TL grounds to and tidy this all up better.
Have had noting but problems with the stock pre-1970 tiny point that is supposed to ground the TLs, and have helped a lot of other folks with TL problems by doing this.
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Last edited by Eric&Barb on Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DubStyle
SBS Hit Squad
Joined: July 26, 2003
Posts: 6250
Location: SBS headquarters: Missery
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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I thought that was were people added them when I got my first bus.
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crofty
Judas of the North
Joined: August 09, 2000
Posts: 19672
Location: Land of Whine and Phonies
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 2:30 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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| Bruce Amacker wrote: |
| It's overkill to put the taillight grounds on the battery ground strap, as long as the TL grounds are correctly installed the factory location is fine. I actually think the opposite- the more junk you pile up on the ground strap the more likely you'll have a connection problem due to corrosion there. |
I ground my taillights to the body in every bus i've had. The little tooth that's on the buckets is well known for not making a good ground.
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Erik G
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Joined: October 16, 2002
Posts: 13270
Location: Tejas!
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 3:25 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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| crofty wrote: |
| Bruce Amacker wrote: |
| It's overkill to put the taillight grounds on the battery ground strap, as long as the TL grounds are correctly installed the factory location is fine. I actually think the opposite- the more junk you pile up on the ground strap the more likely you'll have a connection problem due to corrosion there. |
I ground my taillights to the body in every bus i've had. The little tooth that's on the buckets is well known for not making a good ground. |
same. I ground the headlights too
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Bruce Amacker
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2007
Posts: 1786
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 5:06 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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Maybe you're not understanding what I'm saying- I agree that a taillight ground is needed, as VW did from the factory. You can see it here in this ground strap picture (I did not install that, it's the wrong type of screw). What I'm saying is I prefer to have it separate from the battery ground strap. The more stuff you stack up, the more likely you'll have a connection problem. I've seen and repaired it many times on trucks where they stack numerous eyelets on top of each other. Maybe it's an electrolytic reaction or something but it's common to have a bad connection when there's multiple things stacked up. I like to run the taillight ground separate like in the picture. I usually put them on the 45* angled piece about 1" behind where this one is screwed, but I don't have a good picture of one.
The picture above of the red bus is not the preferred location- the 14ga wire could hold the strap up away from the body, causing a slightly higher voltage drop. The TL ground should not be under the strap. If VW thought this was better it would have been this way from the factory.
PS Someone put a new strap on this bus and it had something like .3v drop at this spot because they didn't buff the paint off first. They did use a serrated washer, which didn't help. Buffing the paint fixed the V drop and made the starter spin audibly faster.
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'65- http://leakoil.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4263 |
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EverettB
Administrator
Joined: April 11, 2000
Posts: 69809
Location: Phoenix Metro
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 6:37 pm Post subject: Re: Battery ground strap |
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I understand what you mean and it makes sense.
I think the '64 above had a bare wire wrapped around the battery strap mounting bolt.
Not the cleanest thing to do.
On my '63 I used a large ring terminal under the bolt so it basically acts as an extra washer.
These sorts of things
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