Bus bar for “sensor ground” allow expansion easily

[Z32 TT]

Hi,

I was wondering if it would be ok to use a bus bar for all the sensor grounds to be wired to (and connected to megasquirt via one wire) it would allow easy expansion of sensors? Any problems with this

[billr]

Use a lot (all?) of those MS ground pins, not just a single one, to connect to the bus.

[jsiedlicki]

I do the exactly that, a bus bar connecting to all my sensors and a single wire back to the MS unit's sensor ground (pin #7 Black w/ White stripe) wire. All those other ground wires are for noisy stuff like injectors, coils, etc.

[Z32 TT]

Thanks mate! And for the other grounds that go to engine (I think 11 on ms3x) I was going to do the same as I can only get 6 20 gauge wires to the head. But then I found out they are all linked in the board anyway so just wire 3 from ms3 and 3 from the x card?? Surely that’s enough

[Six_Shooter]

Thanks mate! And for the other grounds that go to engine (I think 11 on ms3x) I was going to do the same as I can only get 6 20 gauge wires to the head. But then I found out they are all linked in the board anyway so just wire 3 from ms3 and 3 from the x card?? Surely that’s enough

I do 5 and 5 ground wires, 18 AWG. I would suggest doing the same. It seems that anybody who tries to do this differently has issues.

But, yes a bus bar for sensor grounds, while over kill will work just fine.

[Z32 TT]

So I went with 5 and 5 as per the manuals “power grounds” reading manual all today. I wanted to confirm that it would be ok and desirable to ground the shielded sheeth of my wires at the sensor ground also?

Btw ecu is talking to computer and all works ok

[jsiedlicki]

I wanted to confirm that it would be ok and desirable to ground the shielded sheeth of my wires at the sensor ground also?

I would ground the shields to your power grounds. Shielding protects signal wires from electrical interference (i.e. noise). You don't want noise on your sensor grounds if possible.

[Z32 TT]

In the manual it states to have the screened sheeth at sensor ground. I have attached a screenshot of the part of the manual

1B213857-C940-421D-89BE-D71E83993142.png (134.91 KiB) Viewed 413 times

[elaw]

Just to confuse matters a little more, I like to split my grounds into three.

On the main DB-37 connector, I connect pins 1+2 together and use that for sensor ground. Then I connect pins 7+8 together and use that for shield ground. The remaining ground pins (9-19) go to the engine block.

And just to emphasize what the manual says: the shields should only be connected at the Megasquirt end, NOT at the sensor end.