1/0 spliced wire question

[mendon mafia 10+ year member]

ok so ive recently been wondering why my voltage in the rear is about .2 less than up front and i think it may be due to the fact that my ground wire from front to rear is 2 shorter pieces of 1/0 soldered together using a splicing tube.

my question is should I unsolder the wire and solder on ring terminals and them bolt both to a common position on the chassis or should i just leave it as is? which will yield higher conductivity?

I plan to add another continuous run for + and - but i dont have enough wire for 2 new continuous wires for the ground so i can leave it as is or essentially use ring terminals to create the connection rather then the splice tube.

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[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

You will get voltage drop simply from having the current having to run through wire, period. The longer the length of the power wire and the smaller the wire, the more resistance there is. Which means more drop in voltage. What you are experiencing is pretty normal. My front battery sits @ 14.6 with the car @ idle. The rear battery sits at 14.3 with the car @ idle. The only time they line up perfectly is when the car is off. Then the alt isn't feeding them. They simply have a reserve of power shared via the power wire connecting them.

Lastly, the better the ground, the less resistance, the better.

 

[mendon mafia 10+ year member]

You will get voltage drop simply from having the current having to run through wire' date=' period. The longer the length of the power wire and the smaller the wire, the more resistance there is. Which means more drop in voltage. What you are experiencing is pretty normal. My front battery sits @ 14.6 with the car @ idle. The rear battery sits at 14.3 with the car @ idle. The only time they line up perfectly is when the car is off. Then the alt isn't feeding them. They simply have a reserve of power shared via the power wire connecting them.
Lastly, the better the ground, the less resistance, the better.[/quote']

right but would it be better to use the splicer or to connect them together using ring terminals? or will it be about the same and not worth changing.

 

[Chris Z 10+ year member]

I would say it's not worth the money, time, or effort.

 

[FIMPALASS 10+ year member]

Wouldn't worry about all wire has line loss.

 

[RJesus 10+ year member]

Its perfectly normal to have some slight voltage drop. However, I would think that because you've been checking your voltage and realized this, that you're suspicious of something... Are you having any other electrical problems? Dimming, etc? Or are you just concerned with the wiring.

If you have halogen headlights, they probably dim at least a little bit when your playing your system; However, its not a problem. Halogen headlights dim practically any fluctuation in current. I have a h/o and 2 batteries, and my halogen headlights dim when I put a window down.

Try playing your system for a while, then measure the voltage at the front and rear without giving the batteries a chance to be recharged. If the gap between voltages increases beyond a small fraction, then you should upgrade your ground wire.

As a simple answer to your question, yes. using ring terminals and bolting them together and to the chassis will be superior to the splice tube/solder. I would also assume that the splice tube is pretty cheap, and not gold plated or copper like most ring terminals. A lot of the cheap electrical items at sears etc. are made from cheaper materials (that are less conductive).

 

[mendon mafia 10+ year member]

Its perfectly normal to have some slight voltage drop. However, I would think that because you've been checking your voltage and realized this, that you're suspicious of something... Are you having any other electrical problems? Dimming, etc? Or are you just concerned with the wiring.
If you have halogen headlights, they probably dim at least a little bit when your playing your system; However, its not a problem. Halogen headlights dim practically any fluctuation in current. I have a h/o and 2 batteries, and my halogen headlights dim when I put a window down.

Try playing your system for a while, then measure the voltage at the front and rear without giving the batteries a chance to be recharged. If the gap between voltages increases beyond a small fraction, then you should upgrade your ground wire.

As a simple answer to your question, yes. using ring terminals and bolting them together and to the chassis will be superior to the splice tube/solder. I would also assume that the splice tube is pretty cheap, and not gold plated or copper like most ring terminals. A lot of the cheap electrical items at sears etc. are made from cheaper materials (that are less conductive).

thanks man as soon as i get some subs i will test this but i may just go ahead and add the ring terminals and bolt it to the chassis. the wire is fairly easily accessed and i have tons of copper terminals.

I would like to say that my headlights do dim but as you said its with very little voltage fluctuation (going from 14.1 - 13.2) and this does not concern me.

i would also like to add that i already have the batteries in the rear grounded to the body of the car so that's an additional route for current to flow.