Connecting to negative battery terminal

[SeaMist]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm stumped. I went to connect up a UHF radio today to my defender . All went ok until I went to connect it to the battery. There was simply no room on the terminal to connect anything. It has a winch connected to terminal with not that much available thread on the top nut, not even enough to add a crimp connector in and still be able to attach the nut. Underneath it has this stupid nut with a matching bit to a cone thing that is part of the actual battery connection. There is simply no way to attach anything further there.
What does everyone else do? There has to be a way.

[p38arover]

Negative terminal? Connect it to the bodywork.

[Blknight.aus]

better than just somewhere random on the body is one of the main body earth points, While you're there may as well clean it up. :)

[oldyella 76]

I would get a bit of 1/2 inch copper pipe , flatten it,clean it and drill some holes in it. Place on your earth clamp bolt then place earth lug on extended copper on another hole. Works fot the positive as well although you will need to insulate it.
Lindsay

[CTY90]

In My D2a There is a thick brown wire going from the + on the batt to a fuse box right near it, I just fixed onto that for my elec brake controller!

[wrinklearthur]

Fasten the negative wire as close as possible to the negative terminal on the battery, does not necessarily mean the battery terminal itself, do as the others say and then find the other end of the battery cable, where it is earthed to the chassis and fasten the radio earth wire as close as possible to that point.

Keep it clean ! and coat around the joint with a conductive grease to keep the water away.

UHF CB isn't as critical as HF, where all sorts of problems from induced electrical noise can occur by having earth loops.
.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

you could also install a remote negative terminal.....which is simply just a bolt with a thick cable to the -ve terminal on your battery....
mount this on the body close to the battery...........and run all your negative cables to this......except for your winch cable.......

you can also do this with the positive terminal.....but that will need to be insulated from the body......this is best run to a fuse box and all accessories connected to their appropriate size fuse.....

[SeaMist]

In the end, because I like having my electonics going to the battery (I do electronics and believe me, earths ain't earths) I put in a longer bolt, still with plenty of clearance. A little bit of swearing was had when I discovered landrover had hand ground the original bolt to fit. Off to the shed for a bit of filing and all was well. UHF radio is now installed and there is plenty of space on the battery if I ever want to fit anything else.
Thanks for the advice guys :)

[DEFENDERZOOK]

(I do electronics and believe me, earths ain't earths)



especially on land rovers.....