Are you supposed to ground RCA's?

[bbobb123 10+ year member]

Simple question, the RCA's that came in my wiring kit have to ground wires connected into them. I did not see this on any of the other ones in the stores.

Should I snip them or should they be grounded?

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[Spooney 10+ year member]

As soon as you plug your rca cables into your headunit they will be grounded. The rca shield ground(the outermost part of the rca plug) is connected to chassis ground in the head unit(usually through a very small fuse inside the headunit). If you had any noise for whatever reason you could try hooking up those ground wires but it isn't usually necessary. This is the wrong section for this kind of question. People on this forum usually frown on people who post in the wrong areas.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Unless you have a pioneer head unit with a blown pico fuse you will have to ground the rcas on the back of the head unit.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Are you sure it's a "ground"? Some RCAs have a thin wire that runs along with them, this more typically used to run remote turn on back to your amp.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Yep your right about that. I usually use it if it is 16 gauge but any thinner and I run a new piece of wire for wake up wire.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Are you sure it's a "ground"? Some RCAs have a thin wire that runs along with them, this more typically used to run remote turn on back to your amp.

That wire can/is used for both purposes.

Dont ground the RCA unless you have a noise issue. In that case, ground the h/u end to the h/u chassis.