Single main + cable to a Anderson plug
 

I am thinking of putting in a Anderson plug to the back of my WK2 MY14 Grand Cherokee Overland near the tow bar and was wondering if I could just put in a single heavy positive cable from the battery to the plug with a circuit breaker and just use a short negative cable maybe connected to the tow bar itself for the return.

Are there any problems that this would 'cause? personally I don't think so as the body is earthed as negative, but then again what would I know? :), and thought that I should throw that idea out here for the more knowledgeable.

Cheers

Ed

I've had different people tell me that it's Ok to do this and not OK. My own thoughts are, and I've always done it, is to run a cable directly from the Positive and Negative terminals. Never had a problem, but I've never done it the other way either so nothing to compare with.

I have heard mixed results when researching this in the past. I dont see a reason why a shorter neg would cause any problems as you have said, after all that is how the car's are usually neg wired up.

In saying that, I'm with Notso, I've ran both Pos and Neg directly from the battery terminals for my anderson plug.

I always run both cables directly to the battery terminals for everything. I figure that there is more chance of problems with a body earth.

Cheers
Numb Thumbs ;)

That's the way the pro's do it, they will always take the neg. from battery for a direct feed.
I'm no electrician but I have DIY fitted an Anderson or two on older cars. These days I choose to pay for pro installations on cars that have more sophisticated electrics. It depends what you want to use the Anderson for (e.g. HD towing, or just an occasional air comp. etc?). I use mine to power various systems when towing the caravan. On the Jeep I had Anderson's (x2) done by a very good auto elec. The grey Anderson wired via ignition, important to prevent 'van fridge draining the battery when parked. A second (red) Anderson powers the van's ESC. The sparky was very particular about using correct and specific relays, fuses and wire gauges. For my application it's not something I wanted to compromise on, or (in his words) risk upsetting the smart-alternator with loads it can't recognise.

Thanks for all the replies guys, I contacted 2 auto electricians this morning and they both said that they all go back to the battery but the only reason they do it that way is to ensure a good earth, so looks like if I can get a good earth then there is no other reason why I can't just earth the neg to the body which most likely will be via the tow bar.

That connection should be easy enough to test so looks like I will do it that way as a single cable should be much easier to route through, now just have to work out how to get the cable through to the back and under to the tow bar.

I have a length of single 10mm2 cable, a 50A circuit breaker and a couple of Anderson plugs laying around in the shed so can now put them to good use:D. My reason for it is mainly for the air compressor and to a much lesser extent, to powering a electric/hydraulic brake system if I ever get around to towing a big trailer.

Cheers

I run a single + and short earth for a rear dual battery in a jk however I also put a separate body earth on the main battery.

I wouldn't earth it to the exterior of the vehicle because I think that the termination would suffer corrosion.