Battery ground cable locations

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bmw8890
Posts: 59
Joined: 12 Mar 2013, 17:28

Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by bmw8890 »

Hi,

I am looking for the battery ground cable locations for a 1963 Lancia Flavia Vignale. I have a cable going from the gearbox bell housing bolt to the battery but not sure how to tie ground to the chassis. Also should the sub frame be tied to ground?

Thanks,

Brian
FL30
Posts: 264
Joined: 30 Sep 2009, 19:17

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by FL30 »

Brian,

the ground cable has to be connected to the chassis as shown on the photo.
Attachments
ground_cable.jpg
ground_cable.jpg (195.73 KiB) Viewed 1626 times
Hubert
bmw8890
Posts: 59
Joined: 12 Mar 2013, 17:28

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by bmw8890 »

Hubert,

So how is the engine connected to the chassis?

Brian
fv66
Posts: 172
Joined: 24 Jun 2014, 16:26

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by fv66 »

On my Coupé the ground cable is connected to the bell housing as well. To be honest I haven't understood so far how the electrical connection goes from the motor to body.
Gruß
Hendrik
FL30
Posts: 264
Joined: 30 Sep 2009, 19:17

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by FL30 »

That´s a good question. The engine of mine was out two times in the last four weeks, but I did not notice a ground cable. There is full voltage and current when starting so there must be some solid ground connection. If ground would only be supplied via the throttle cable or similar, that would be toasted. At least there is a ground cable from the housing of the generator to ground of the regulator. That cable has a bigger section but not enough to stand the starting current, at least not for long.

Will have a close look at the car tomorrow and report.

In any case it makes sense to install a ground cable from chassis to engine of course.
Hubert
FL30
Posts: 264
Joined: 30 Sep 2009, 19:17

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by FL30 »

The spare parts book clearly states a ground cable from negative battery to chassis
Hubert
Huib
Site Admin
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Joined: 17 Dec 2008, 10:12

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by Huib »

The starter current never sees the body. It does not have to. The path from the battery is the thick battery cable to gearbox or bell house to flywheel housing to the starter motor. The starter current is usually between 100 and 200 ampere. I consider gearbox / engine as primary ground. Heavy current users / suppliers like battery and starter motor are grounded there.

The current going through the wire to the body is the return current from lights, wipers, heater fan, radio. Most of it is from the 4 main beam bulbs if main beam is on. These are 45 watts each. 45/12=3,75 ampere per bub. 15 ampere for the four. I usually figure 10 Ampere for the "rest" being tail lights, wipers, heater fan, city lights, dashboard lights. The low beams are 40 watt each. They draw 40/12=3,33 Ampere each.

Thus the current through the ground wire from body to central ground (engne + gearbox) can be:

- nothing if driving during the day without wipers, heater fan, radio
- 10 Amp if using city lights, tail lights, occasional wipers and heater fan
- 17 Amp if tail / city lights, wipers, fan, low beam
- 25 Amp if tail / city etc plus 4x main beam

Then we have the horns. If their ground wire is connected to the subframe, the subframe must be grounded. If the horns are grounded to the body, the current will also go through the wire connecting body to engine / gearbox.

On Flavia and Fulvia with a dynamo the ground wire to body runs from dynamo housing to voltage regulator. The dynamo is connected to engine / gearbox. The voltage regulator is connected to the body.
gcarenini
Posts: 1622
Joined: 18 Jan 2011, 12:21

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by gcarenini »

Hello guys,

I own two Flavia, an early 1,5 litre 815.00 and a coupè iniezione 815.430. On the early cars, the negative pole of the battery was connected to the chassis on the right side of engine bay in the coil area, the engine was conncted to the chassis with a huge copper braid (see picture). The same for the early coupè, convertible and sport. On the later cars (starting from 815.200 - 815.300 - 815-330) the negative of the battery was connected directly to the engine using the clutch bell bolts, On 815.430 the engine is connected to the front auxiliary chassis and to the car chassis through two ground wires, one from clutch bell to the central gearbox support, the second to the chassis in the fuel filter area.
On the wiring diagrams, the ground connection was clearly indicated only for the early cars (815.00 - 815.130-132-134), not for the later cars, see SAT sheet or workshop manuals.

Kind regards

Giovanni
Attachments
815.00.jpg
815.00.jpg (190.95 KiB) Viewed 1626 times
bmw8890
Posts: 59
Joined: 12 Mar 2013, 17:28

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by bmw8890 »

Giovanni,

Can you send pictures of the ground cable connections to the chassis?

Thanks,

Brian
FL30
Posts: 264
Joined: 30 Sep 2009, 19:17

Re: Battery ground cable locations

Unread post by FL30 »

It is just as Giovanni described. I went through the repairshop manual and found hints on chassis to subframe and chassis to engine ground connections, although the wiring diagram shows as Giovanni said.

My car worked with only the previously pictured ground cable installed, but has been upgraded today.

Brian, see pics how it is installed now. Subframe is in line with engine, which is in line with chassis to battery. Maybe it would be even better to go from battery to engine first (shortest way for high starter current), from there to subframe and to chassis
Attachments
chassis connection point.jpg
chassis connection point.jpg (125.85 KiB) Viewed 1627 times
ground to subframe.jpg
ground to subframe.jpg (126.57 KiB) Viewed 1626 times
ground from chassis to bellhouse continued to subframe.jpg
ground from chassis to bellhouse continued to subframe.jpg (142.56 KiB) Viewed 1627 times
Hubert
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