2015 Ice Castle Ground Problem

I own a 2015 Ice Castle. It’s a custom Grand Castle. I’ve been having problems with the ground. The bad ground causes the exterior lights to not work, included issues are the LED lights used to see around the house at night, running lights, and brake/tail lights. Called the dealer whom told me there is a bolt on the bottom of the frame located on the rear drivers side of the house. The bolt is on the bottom of the frame. The resolution they provided was to spin the bolt at a high RMP to break away the corrosion and rust. This has worked several times. Temporary fix as the issue presents itself after a couple of weeks again. It defiantly fixes it but after the house sits for a few weeks same problem occurs. The bolt cannot be tightened as the nut is behind the diamond plate and only accessible by removing the diamond plate and digging through the spray foam. I Removed the diamond plate, noticed the bolt appears to go up into the subfloor of the house. I’d like to replace it and or tighten it, however without removing everything it seems like it’ll be a real pain in the butt. Anyone else had this problem and if so what did the dealer do or say to resolve it more long term. My suspicion is having to remove the diamond plate, remove the sprayfoam and hopefully locate the nut and replace or tighten. It isn’t accessible from inside the house. Seems like a difficult design. Thanks all!

if you have enough wire length,cut the wire ( s ) away from the terminals they now have and install new one ( s ).
get a large self tapping screw and install it through you new eyelet( s )

thats assuming you have a something similar to a .120 thick frame wall.
if it is much thicker than that you might be able to drill through the metal and tap it fit the required bolt size.

Yep I’d just set up a new ground. Do you have any kind of warrantee? I’d check on that first to make sure you’re not voiding it.

Custom Grand Castle, huh. If you’d like I’ll take it out for the weekend and take a look at it for you

What was the solution, oddly enough I have the same house “now” and it’s having the same issue…..?

This is exactly why it is not a good idea to use the frame as a ground. The best wiring circuit will be a positive wire and a negative wire running to each light. Unfortunately if the present wiring is buried behind spray foam, adding a negative wire to each light will be a chore.

I did manage to find the ground, this one is half way down the drivers side of the house, screwed into the frame and diamond plate. Set screw was corroded, put some heat on it, pulled it apart and put contact grease on everything, put it back together and away the lights went. Ice Castle should really have a sealed box around that to keep it out of the elements. Funny (in a sense) how something so small has such a large effect.

The 3 rules of 12 volt systems.

1. ground
2. ground
3. ground

X2 on iowaboy reply, even if you dont have a lot of extra wire to deal with, cut ground, telephone wrap, solder and shrink tube on an additional length to reground to the frame. Contact grease, selftap screw and your ground issue should be solved.

If still concerned about corrosion after that, I’d smear it with RTV gasket maker or silcone to help as an protective agent, then monitor the situation and see how it holds up to the elements/abuse