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<blockquote data-quote="helotaxi" data-source="post: 7026123" data-attributes="member: 550915">This thread is full of CA.comThe negative post of the battery is the definition of &quot;ground&quot; in a car.&nbsp; It is the point of zero potential when the car is not running.&nbsp; When the car is running, the case of the alternator is the reference.&nbsp; The alt case and the battery negative post should be connected by a large conductive path, usually consisting of the engine block and the battery &quot;ground strap.&quot;The car electrical system works because everything is wired back to the battery.&nbsp; Since the battery negative post is connected to the chassis and the engine block/alternator, anything with its negative wired to the chassis is connected to the battery negative.&nbsp; In effect the chassis acts like a giant buss bar on the negative side.Back in the day when amps were low powered and cars were actually made with significant amounts of metal, running a short ground to the chassis was the most efficient way to go about wiring.&nbsp; As amps got bigger and the amount of metal in the car got lower, it really has become less and less the optimal way to do things.&nbsp; If you ground to the chassis, you don&#039;t know how good the connection to the battery is.&nbsp; I look at it this way, if I care enough to run 1/0 for the positive, why would I leave the other side to chance?&nbsp; Run another 1/0 and remove all doubt as to the quality of the negative connection.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="helotaxi, post: 7026123, member: 550915"] This thread is full of CA.com The negative post of the battery is the definition of "ground" in a car. It is the point of zero potential when the car is not running. When the car is running, the case of the alternator is the reference. The alt case and the battery negative post should be connected by a large conductive path, usually consisting of the engine block and the battery "ground strap." The car electrical system works because everything is wired back to the battery. Since the battery negative post is connected to the chassis and the engine block/alternator, anything with its negative wired to the chassis is connected to the battery negative. In effect the chassis acts like a giant buss bar on the negative side. Back in the day when amps were low powered and cars were actually made with significant amounts of metal, running a short ground to the chassis was the most efficient way to go about wiring. As amps got bigger and the amount of metal in the car got lower, it really has become less and less the optimal way to do things. If you ground to the chassis, you don't know how good the connection to the battery is. I look at it this way, if I care enough to run 1/0 for the positive, why would I leave the other side to chance? Run another 1/0 and remove all doubt as to the quality of the negative connection. [/QUOTE]

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