Running 12V to bed - best practices?

I'm going to be running 12V to the bed, I intend to use 4AWG to the fuse panel in the bed. I've seen some people run a power and ground all the way to the rear and some just run the power, then make a short ground to the frame in the rear.

I assume best practice is having the ground loopback all the way to the front?

 

I run an extra ground from the battery to the frame giving me a good ground at the frame anyplace.

Being your project if you want to run the extra wire go for it

Either way works

 

To the frame locally is fine, then the frame is your "wire" back to the front of the truck.

 

frame ground s o m etimes corrode become HIGH Resitant to voltage

usually Unseen & difficult to detect

run the BEST largest wire the length to avoid Any issues in the future

no less use a wiring loom to protect from chafing against other wiring & frame

natural strumming/vibrations going down the road

attach with zip ties .......snug Not overly tight min 12inches.....max 18inches

 

"It depends on the application," the man says, tapping the hourly consultation sign.

4AWG pure copper is nominally good for up to 60A, and there are plenty of things in the neighborhood of 720W (60A @ 12V) and up that chassis ground. Personally, I would run a separate ground wire for anything electronic as opposed to electric (does it have complex circuits in it as opposed to something like lights), but only because I've been pissed off by inexplicably bad chassis grounds before.

For higher power applications like a winch (which I assume is not the case here, as you are using 4AWG) I would use a separate ground wire.

 

I needed some power in the bed for a canopy mounted LED light. I ran a small wire from the positive battery post along the frame to the left taillight housing. I used plastic sheathing, zips and added a 10 amp fuse inline near the battery.

Since it was just a little LED domelight, I just grounded right to a small bolt near the taillight. If you want to run something with a higher load then more consideration for fuse/wire gauge/ground selection would be needed

 

The *best* would be a wire back to the battery for ground, but you can probably get away with grounding to the frame. I like knowing the entire path of the current when I add a new circuit, so I would run the extra wire.

Make sure to put a breaker or fuse for the whole thing as close to the battery as you can manage as well.

 

Not sure if OP is still around but it an OR should have that power outlet in the bed. Might poke around there and see if you can tap into some power, should a be a good ground point in there.

Cant remember if that power outlet is only key on or all the time though