grounding?

[ejs262]

I'm currently working on wiring up my MS3X, and had a couple of questions regarding grounds. is it a bad idea to use bus bars, then run a single larger ground wire to the ground? example, I put the 10 engine block grounds on a bus bar near the MS3, then run a single larger diameter wire, to the engine block? how about the sensor grounds? there are several sensor grounds, but only one main sensor ground wire on the MS3, is it a bad idea to use a bus bar here?

I was plannig to use a marine style bar with an insulating cover, something like this (cover not shown)



Thoughts?

-Eric

[whittlebeast]

I use one buss bar for sensor ground and 2 buss bars for dirty grounds. One in the engine compartment and one in the passenger compartment. I then have a large wire connecting the dirty ground buss bars. Dirty grounds are things like ignition coil power grounds and the main ground that goes from the block to the chassis that the starter uses. Block to the chassis is made from welder grounding wire.

I also have one for switched power for things like the GPS or gauge backlighting.

[billr]

If you use a truly big wire from the bus to engine/battery, then I think it will work fine. Step up to AWG2, or such; there should be no concern with that.

[ejs262]

If you use a truly big wire from the bus to engine/battery, then I think it will work fine. Step up to AWG2, or such; there should be no concern with that.

I was going to use an 8 awg wire, I feel like that should be more than sufficient. there's not really any high current stuff here, highest current is probably the fuel pump,

[slow_hemi6]

8ga should be fine, but take whittlebeast's advice and have at least 2 bars with their own separate grounds back to the block. It is not just about the total current being returned it is about how much noise/fluctuation/ripple is in that current. Hence the dirty/noisy bar and then the 2nd clean/sensor bar.

[ejs262]

oh yeah, multiple bars was the plan



you can see I currently have 3, one is B+, one is sensor ground, and one is just a general ground. along with a relay and fuse center, the whole assembly will be mounted using soft mounts to prevent vibration transmission to the MS3.

mounts:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-8823

Thoughts?