# Earthing/Distribution block - E-Level



## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Hi all, I'm wiring up e-level and I'm wondering how to get it all earthed up. 

My ECU and VU4 are near to each other (Mounted on MDF) and my Accuiar power supply kit/relay is sat away from them. 

With the ecu and vu4 having small wires (Not sure of the gauge?) how would I go about using a ditribution block which tend to only have fixings for much larger wires? 

Or...Should I mount a steel bolt/stud for earthing the ecu and vu4 seperately to the Accuair relay/solenoid? I wanted to get some good gauge wire off the rear seat belt bolt, running into a block, then get everything in there (Relay/ecu/vu4) but doesn't look like that's possible. 

Pics of peoples setups would be grea t:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:


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## [email protected] (Feb 10, 2012)

RILEY UK said:


> Hi all, I'm wiring up e-level and I'm wondering how to get it all earthed up.
> 
> My ECU and VU4 are near to each other (Mounted on MDF) and my Accuiar power supply kit/relay is sat away from them.
> 
> ...


 When mounting on a non-grounded surface, we usually tie the ECU GND and the VU4 GND together on the VU4 mount bolt and add one additional 16 awg wire that will run to the chassis ground or directly to the battery. You can also tie your compressor relay ground into the same destination. 

Good grounds are critical for the e-Level (and all other precision electronics for that matter). We don't suggest seat belt bolts or anything else. If you can't find a factory ground post to the body, than make a good one somewhere or run some big ground wire all the way to the battery :thumbup:


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Thanks Reno:thumbup: 

Here's some pics to better show where things are mounted in my setup... 

As you can see, the ecu and vu4 are mounted near to each other on mdf base... 









And the rear...The Accuair relay/solenoid will sit somewhere below the tank...so it's some distance from the ecu/vu4. 









I would have thought the large seat belt bolt under the rear bench should be a good earth point? 

The idea of tying the ecu/vu4 through the vu4 mounting bolt sounds good, and running an earth lead to it too.


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## [email protected] (Feb 10, 2012)

RILEY UK said:


> Thanks Reno:thumbup:
> 
> Here's some pics to better show where things are mounted in my setup...
> 
> ...


 Looks like you are gonna need to mount the compressor relay on the back side of that board just under the ECU/VU4. In that case, you could make a little ground distribution block as you suggested just next to the compressor relay. That would probably be the cleanest looking when you are all finished. 

It looks like you are mounting that compressor directly to your mdf enclosure. I would suggest utilizing the rubber isolators that we use in our EXO brackets to try to reduce the vibration and noise. We sell the little rubber isolators for $5 each... you would need 4 per compressor. You basically drill a 1" hole in your mdf so that the isolator can "float". The other idea would be to just order an EXO compressor mount for $60 (for 380/400C) $70 (for 480/444C) and bolt it to the back wall part of your mdf.


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## [email protected] (Feb 10, 2012)

This is the EXO-COMP-MOUNT-400. The 444/480C is the same thing, just wider:


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

I've got the rubber feet that came with the compressor Reno, are these what you mean? I was going to use those. Edit: I just saw a pic of the 'floating' type rubber mounts, where can i get those if i decide to go with them? :thumbup: 










PS: The back board is going to be removable for maintenance etc http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v640/a777ovl/raddo2/airridemountingecu1.jpg :thumbup: hence I was going to run the relay on the other side under the tank, but I think I've come up with a way to get it all earthed up. 

Using your idea of tying the ecu/vu4 through the vu4 stud, I'll run an earth from that stud at the rear of the vu4, then through to the tank side, going into a distribution block, and from there to the relay and a good solid earth point :thumbup: 

Maybe using something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stinger-S...r_Technology&hash=item588f0f8ffa#ht_500wt_898 

Thanks for the input Reno.


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

My comp is the 444c btw as you can see, I'm liking the idea of those floating feet/mounts :thumbup:


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## John Reid (Jun 30, 2010)

Yup, since you're using fairly flexible wood as a mounting base, vibration isolators will help reduce unwanted resonance from the compressor when it's running. 

As far as a good earth point, find a place near your set up where you can sand off the paint down to the bare metal, and attach the earth point there. 

You can use a terminal strip (also called a barrier strip, may be a different name in the UK) instead of a distribution block for the grounds. 
You should be able to find these at your local electronics supply store.


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)

RILEY UK said:


> My comp is the 444c btw as you can see, I'm liking the idea of those floating feet/mounts :thumbup:


 Link: http://bagriders.com/modlab/products/EXO-COMPRESSOR-MOUNT.html 

:beer::beer:


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

Cheers Will, but do you just sell the rubber feet on their own? :thumbup: 

Thanks for the tips John, we do have strips like that obver here so I'll get searching.:thumbup:


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)

RILEY UK said:


> Cheers Will, but do you just sell the rubber feet on their own? :thumbup:
> 
> Thanks for the tips John, we do have strips like that obver here so I'll get searching.:thumbup:


 Vibration isolation using rubber mounts really works because of the combination of both the isolators and the mount itself. If you used just the isolators themselves, you would need to fabricate a mount that would take advantage of the isolators just like the eXo mounts do. 

Here is an example of a customer that built his own isolation mount:


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

I'm thinking I can just drill four 1" holes in my MDF compressor compartment and bolt the isolators in there as Reno suggested Will :thumbup: Can you supply the feet on their own? And did you get that email? :thumbup:


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## meanopause (Sep 15, 2008)

John Reid said:


> Yup, since you're using fairly flexible wood as a mounting base, vibration isolators will help reduce unwanted resonance from the compressor when it's running.
> 
> As far as a good earth point, find a place near your set up where you can sand off the paint down to the bare metal, and attach the earth point there.
> 
> ...


 








they sell jumper strips for these barrier strips at radio shack. it'll clean up some wiring


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