a good read on volts and hertz

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

How Electricity Makes Volts & Hertz | eHow

It makes sense now why your ground wire is equally important to the positive wire.

Click to read more...

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

yes it's not understood enough by people- they should be treated equally. classic physics can actually interpret the negative wire to carry the energy carriers to your energy consumer- which is opposite of intuition.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

I didn't check the link out yet, but yes. Your entire electrical can be worthless without the same quality - as +. Some people don't know this, but most of us on here do. If you use 1/0 for power and 8 gauge for ground, your 1/0 is completely worthless as you will only be able to use as much power as your 8 gauge ground.

Electricity is not point A to point B, its point A to point B back to point A. it is a circuit or loop, not a straight connection. Your ground affects your positive and vise versa.

 

[HomeGrown 10+ year member]

Question

I have 1 run of 0/1 from front to back with Big 3. In the trunk I have 2 batteries both same kind and size. Last battery is grounded to chassis with 2 0/1 short cables . I'm running 2 12's and an AB120.1 and.solo. adding a 180amp alt. .

Do you see my electrical up to par?

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

Question
I have 1 run of 0/1 from front to back with Big 3. In the trunk I have 2 batteries both same kind and size. Last battery is grounded to chassis with 2 0/1 short cables . I'm running 2 12's and an AB120.1 and.solo. adding a 180amp alt. .

Do you see my electrical up to par?

I'd say so. Not sure with the 120.1 does for power? 1200?

 

[HomeGrown 10+ year member]

I'd say so. Not sure with the 120.1 does for power? 1200?

2200

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

2200

You'll probably be fine. It's always hard to say. Depends on how much accessories your car has to run. Voltage will tell you when you install it all. I wouldn't go below 12.6v ever. And try to stay above 13.

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

Question
I have 1 run of 0/1 from front to back with Big 3. In the trunk I have 2 batteries both same kind and size. Last battery is grounded to chassis with 2 0/1 short cables . I'm running 2 12's and an AB120.1 and.solo. adding a 180amp alt. .

Do you see my electrical up to par?

no it's not

 

[HomeGrown 10+ year member]

no it's not

Could you elaborate?

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

A better read: Basic Car Audio Electronics

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

Could you elaborate?

currently you are relying on your chassis as your negative wire. in small systems this is fine, because V=I*R, and when I (the current being drawn for amp) is small, then V (the voltage drop between the negative terminal on your amp and the negative terminal on your battery) is also small. here R represents the resistance of your chassis. now in any car audio system the above V should be minimized, because this voltage is representative of wasted power (essentially going to heating up your chassis).

now in large car audio system "I" from above is also large, making "V" larger. to remedy this issue people make "R" smaller by instead of using the chassis as there negative wire, simply running a 0 gauge wire. furthermore, beyond the above considerations it is also desirable to have the same resistance in the negative and positive connections to the amplifier. that is why people will have the same number of positive and negative runs of wire. in competition it is not uncommon to see 8 runs of positive, and 8 runs of negative 0 gauge wires running from front to back- the high number of runs is to lower the effective "R" as much as possible.

so in your case this is how i would wire the system: 2 runs of 0 gauge from front to back, one is + and one is -. then have small gauge (like 12 or 10) + and - running from back batteries up to headunit. this helps prevent any ground loop issues and also makes it unnecessary to connect the rear batteries to the chassis. under the hood your good with the big 3. but now since your wiring your car audio electrical on top of your cars eleectrical, instead of integrating it with the chassis, one of the big 3 connections isn't as important- the one going from the negative battery terminal to the chassis. in the systems i've done i've just upgraded the + and - from the alt to the battery.

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

currently you are relying on your chassis as your negative wire. in small systems this is fine, because V=I*R, and when I (the current being drawn for amp) is small, then V (the voltage drop between the negative terminal on your amp and the negative terminal on your battery) is also small. here R represents the resistance of your chassis. now in any car audio system the above V should be minimized, because this voltage is representative of wasted power (essentially going to heating up your chassis).
now in large car audio system "I" from above is also large, making "V" larger. to remedy this issue people make "R" smaller by instead of using the chassis as there negative wire, simply running a 0 gauge wire. furthermore, beyond the above considerations it is also desirable to have the same resistance in the negative and positive connections to the amplifier. that is why people will have the same number of positive and negative runs of wire. in competition it is not uncommon to see 8 runs of positive, and 8 runs of negative 0 gauge wires running from front to back- the high number of runs is to lower the effective "R" as much as possible.

so in your case this is how i would wire the system: 2 runs of 0 gauge from front to back, one is + and one is -. then have small gauge (like 12 or 10) + and - running from back batteries up to headunit. this helps prevent any ground loop issues and also makes it unnecessary to connect the rear batteries to the chassis. under the hood your good with the big 3. but now since your wiring your car audio electrical on top of your cars eleectrical, instead of integrating it with the chassis, one of the big 3 connections isn't as important- the one going from the negative battery terminal to the chassis. in the systems i've done i've just upgraded the + and - from the alt to the battery.

"then have small gauge (like 12 or 10) + and - running from back batteries up to headunit"

I don't get that part. Connecting your HU directly to your back battery?

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

"then have small gauge (like 12 or 10) + and - running from back batteries up to headunit"
I don't get that part. Connecting your HU directly to your back battery?

yes. it is best for your entire car audio system to draw from the same power source location. the reason for this links back to what i was discussing befroe about the voltage difference across different parts of your ground (something undesirable). it is best that the negative wire coming out of your head unit is at the same voltage potential as the negative lead of your amp; this can be achieved by connecting the head unit directly to the back battery (because the back battery is at the same voltage as the amp inputs)

i discovered the significance of this issue when i kept blowing the ground on the pre-amp in my head unit. this happened because the ground of the HU was at a different voltage than the ground of the amp.

if you are having no issues with how your deck is currently wired then you need not necessarily change it. i am just simply describing the best way to wire an electrical system.

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

yes. it is best for your entire car audio system to draw from the same power source location. the reason for this links back to what i was discussing befroe about the voltage difference across different parts of your ground (something undesirable). it is best that the negative wire coming out of your head unit is at the same voltage potential as the negative lead of your amp; this can be achieved by connecting the head unit directly to the back battery (because the back battery is at the same voltage as the amp inputs)
i discovered the significance of this issue when i kept blowing the ground on the pre-amp in my head unit. this happened because the ground of the HU was at a different voltage than the ground of the amp.

if you are having no issues with how your deck is currently wired then you need not necessarily change it. i am just simply describing the best way to wire an electrical system.

Hmmm. That honestly makes a lot of sense. I might have to do that. I will add it to my "to do" list for my car. It isn't asking for much since my HU isn't even in. and Neither are the door speakers or the wiring for them. so either way I have to run wire to that back of the car.

Nice find on that!