Where did everyone ground their amp?

i grounded my amp behind the rear seats it works well for access and location because the seats fold down

 

Rear strut bolt.

 

at the battery.. ran power and ground via 2/0 wire from the battery all the way back...
*ponders** id may be selling those runs and get 3/0 xprt stinger oval wire

 

You want to keep your ground wire as short as possible.

 

well I can guarantee that from the battery to thw back of the car is much shorter that having it grounded to the chasis where its grounded throught the entire car

 

? how long have you been doing stereos? You realize your battery is grounded to the chassis too right? Every electrical part or your car is grounded to the chassis. You dont want your ground to be much longer then 2 feet if you can avoid it. and what are you running that you *need* 3/0 wire? Or are you one of those people who like to blow their money on shit? If so thats completely exceptable as I am part of that crowd lol.

 

BTW I ran my grounds to the seat belt bolts for the rear seats

 

If he wants to waste his money and do it wrong/harder, thats his perogative. Under 2 feet in length for a ground is ideal.

 

alright well Im not gonna lie.. thats just the wat that it was ecplained to me a while back agoand it seemed to make a lot of sense when running an spl car.. and hey.. i set a record that year so I waasnt askin questions.... just so we dont take me as being that big guy know it all stubborn ass figure in the bunch... Im far from that.. im a 21 yo female who likes her car mods lol im an EMT and work for a local sheriffs office so im by no means more knoledgable than some here may be..

then again.. people have much different opinions as to how things should work..

with this said.. I like to know WHY things work like they do.. so can u explain to me why u want a shorter ground..

ALSO.. ive been scolded by professionals for using the seatbelt bolt.. something about not a good ground because ... i dont remember.. lol and I shouldnt pull it out of my ass right now.. ive done grounds in the past where i ground right to the body interior.. steel wire brush on a drill to clear away the paint and screw it right to the metal

 

ps.. I have 2/0 power and ground that I pulled from my 01 eclipse whjen I traded it in and planned to put in the lancer but its an off brand and with my sponsorship id like to have all stinger wire..(i used to have much bigger amps than I will now..like mojo 4000's(2) and RF t30001..

so i probably wouldnt get the 3/0.. the 1/0 would be fine

 

some people dont like seat belt bolts purely because of the safety factor in them. I think someone else told me they didnt like them because of the fact that there is a bracket in between the floor and the ground. personally I have never had an issue using them and they bolt straight to the chassis so I keep using them. If anyone has a reason why I shouldnt that I dont know about PLEASE tell me. I like info . for the most part you want a short ground because 1. the shorter your circuit is the better. period. always. its physics. and 2. it greatly reduces your chances of having ground noise.



sounds like you ran some pretty beefy amps in the past. Id love to see pics of past systems. They sound pretty awesome!!



BTW (this goes for everybody) If in the future I post and it sounds like I have my head up me a** and im being cocky, Its usually pretty far from that. I just have a jerk way with words most of the time haha.[/code]

 

^ agreed.... but i forgive u

 

I drilled a hole woth a metal screw aprox 9 inches from the cap... from there i go to the cap and then to the amp...

 

WHAT?

the cap goes parallel with your system.. in my case the only thing im powering up is my amp so its parallel to the amp

 

You could, but it has the potential to create ground-loop problems.

 

Pocket, I wasn't getting on to you. I hope you weren't taking it the wrong way and I'm sorry for calling you a "he". lol

Anywho, if you think about it logically and from an electrical stand-point it will be obvious why you don't ground your audio system to the battery.

Question: What is the battery connected to that keeps it charged?

Answer: The alternator

All of the ripple (noise) from the alternator and other items in the vehicle travel to this point. From there, this noise can travel through the ground wire into the audio system. If you choose it as a ground point then you are inviting all of these elements into your sound system. Its bad enough that the everyday consumer has to run the power wire to the primary car battery. If you take a look at the PRO Class in SPL and SQ, you will notice that 99.9% of them run thier audio off of a second (or more) battery thats not tied (connected) to the vehicles alternator. These are usually deep cycle batteries that hold charges awhile and can recharge them several times.

Good luck to you and if you ever have any more questions, please don't be afraid to ask. And if you want you can even PM them to me.

P.S. I was a formal dB Drag competitor

 

yea grounding multiple things to one point can create a ground loop. if you think about it makes since. everything is a circuit or a loop. when you ground multiple things to one spot you take a chance to have your signal travel back up the ground of the next amp or what have you and create noise.

another problem Ive run into is alot of people will use a self tapping screw to drill a new hole and ground their amp. These dont create a strong ground and will loosen and start to arc. that quickly turns into a blown amp. whenever you drill a new hole make sure you drill a hole and put a real bolt and nut in and torque that sucker down!!!