Led light on door

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cdahlen

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Adding led light to the interior door to help wife see the ground due to a stroke. Should i run the negitive wire all the way back to ground bolt near the fuse box or just find a screw in the door and ground it that way?
 

Plati

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That's a great question. They do it like that on my snowmobile trailer … and its an issue for several reasons, but this is different. I really don't know the answer but I looked at wiring schematics and it looks like that's the common (pun intended) way to do it. I do not know the correct answer! Just sharing what I see on the wiring diagram. Along the bottom of this, see all the black wires going to ground with locations shown?
ground.jpg
 

Trainmaster

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I would splice the ground wire from the harness on the door locks. That runs to ground on the door jamb, as MrSticker's schematic shows.

If you don't want to be bothered with that, you can just attach it to the door, and you'll know if it's a good ground if the LED doesn't flicker. Since there's minimal current I really doubt you'll get any destructive arcing or sparking at the hinges. Probably "good enough".

Or if you're really motivated, you can thread it through the boot to the door jamb behind the kick panel where the other door grounds go.
 

Plati

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MrTrain , good point … the ground connections from stuff on door use wires to go to ground on frame of vehicle - not door? I was wondering about how much of a ground you would get connecting to door - which is on a hinge to frame. Doubt the hinge is a really great circuit path back to the battery. Of course … if attaching ground to the frame you have to NOT put ring terminal on paint, has to go to metal. I'm with MrMaster.
 
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Plati

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Thanks for the thoughts. Didnt think about hidges being a weak point
Yes, that's an issue with the snowmobile trailer. Lights ground to aluminum frame. Aluminum frame pivots on hinge for loading/unloading snowmobile. That pivot (hinge) is a BAD electrical path to ground on the trailer tongue and then back to vehicle & battery. Same deal (or no deal). Took me 15 years to figure that out.
 
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