Do I need a chassis ground?

[Michael_Grumbach]

I have solar going to a 24v battery bank thru an mppt. I have 120vac input from shore power to a victron multiplus.
The mppt and multiplus are tied to the battery negative terminal.
Do I need to tie the negative terminal to the chassis?
I'm concerned about the interaction between the starter battery and the battery bank and the electronics.

 

[Bert06840]

I have solar going to a 24v battery bank thru an mppt. I have 120vac input from shore power to a victron multiplus.
The mppt and multiplus are tied to the battery negative terminal.
Do I need to tie the negative terminal to the chassis?
I'm concerned about the interaction between the starter battery and the battery bank and the electronics.

You can have only one ground. (Exceptions apply)

I don’t know the Victron Multiplus, so I had to look it up. Do not connect the batteries or panels to ground.




It can be complicated because you need a safety ground for AC, and IF you need a DC high current ground for alternator charging, your controllers and inverters must be set up for what appears like a two-ground tie approach. If you have only solar, or an isolated charging system like yours, this is easy because you can have a floating system on the DC side, and you can tie your inverter AC ground to your vehicle chassis ground and that is then your safety ground.

DC grounding is not necessary for safety, AC grounding IS. Just follow the Victron manual.

By the way, I ground the frames of my panels to the bus for rudimentary lighting protection and static discharge.