Advantage of short ground cable?

[XaznKewLguyX 10+ year member]

What are the advantages? More power or..? Does having a long ground wire have anything to do with an amp overheating? I'm having that problem and my ground wire is probably longer then 1ft.

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[Sleeklsc 5,000+ posts]

i've had them anywhere from 1.5ft to 5 ft......no probs....

 

[KngOfThePkngLot 5,000+ posts]

i've had them anywhere from 1.5ft to 5 ft......no probs....

x2

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Your ground wire being 1' long isn't going to cause any problems.

The only advantage to a shorter ground cable is less resistance in the wire.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Less resistance in the wire, but that still doesn't make a good ground. You want the least resistance from the amp to the neg battery post. The wire is only part of that path if you are using a chassis ground. The actual chassis of the vehicle is the largest source of resistance in most cases.

 

[XaznKewLguyX 10+ year member]

Would alot of resistance cause an amp to overheat? I am having overheating issues.

EDIT: My amp shuts off and goes into protection mode.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Less resistance in the wire, but that still doesn't make a good ground. You want the least resistance from the amp to the neg battery post. The wire is only part of that path if you are using a chassis ground. The actual chassis of the vehicle is the largest source of resistance in most cases.

Tru dat.

I was just pointing out that the difference between a "long" ground cable and a "short" ground cable is the amount resistance introduced by the wire.

Would alot of resistance cause an amp to overheat? I am having overheating issues.
EDIT: My amp shuts off and goes into protection mode.

It may if your ground was absolutely horrible.

But my first two guesses would be that you either 1) are presenting the amplifier with a load below it's stability, or 2) have the gain/bass boost set improperly.

 

[nVRuckus 5,000+ posts]

yeah I would make sure your speakers are wired right for that amp and make sure your not over gaining your amp.