Ground cable

[Bass so loud it HZ]

I have 2 runs of 2/0 and one run of 1/0 for my power from my 320 amp alt to bank . I personally don't think it would cause any issues but would running 3 runs on 1/0 from alt to my banks cause any issues? Ik everyone says to run same size or bigger but I can get 50 ft of 1/0 for 100 bucks right now on market place and it's hard to pass up. Wil it cause me any problems ?

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[Doxquzme Premium Member]

I have 2 runs of 2/0 and one run of 1/0 for my power from my 320 amp alt to bank . I personally don't think it would cause any issues but would running 3 runs on 1/0 from alt to my banks cause any issues? Ik everyone says to run same size or bigger but I can get 50 ft of 1/0 for 100 bucks right now on market place and it's hard to pass up. Wil it cause me any problems ?

Actually because I run 3 different caps after my rear battery to my 3 amps (I don’t believe there's such a thing as overkill), this doubles the number of grounds headed back. To insure the trip back to the battery/chassis ground under my hood I run different cable gauges. I have1/0 from the front to the back and run 2/0 from the back to the front. There is no such thing as TOO much copper for ground or power. They don’t need to be equal; they both just need to exceed the need!

 

[HardofWhoring]

It won't cause any problems. The only reason "to run the same or bigger" is because it's an easy way to guarantee you aren't causing resistance on your ground. (It's like saying make your ground cables 3ft long. It's an arbitrary number, but if beginners follow that basic/general rule, they won't burn their vehicle down).

Go at least as big as you need, and as big as you want.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

My car doesn't have a frame per say, rather it's a unibody type structure. They use a lot of epoxy resins in unibody structures which can present grounding issues. Even big sheet metal panels, section of the body these days are thinner and may not actually be all that big. RIbs and other parts that support the unibody may also be glued together. Knowing this and needing substantial grounding, I run both the (+) power and the (-) ground from the engine compartment to the back and use distribution blocks for power and ground in the hatchback area of the car where all the gear is. In my set up, I have (4) 4guage grounds and (2) 1/0 gauge grounds that are connected through several distro blocks and back to the front on the 2/0 gauge wire. This configuration ensures that there is a low resistance path for effective grounding on the run back to the front. I’ve just made it a habit to do my installs this way, it’s effective, it’s clean, but it requires a little bit more plumbing, blocks, fuses and breakers and cost more for sure. As for under the hood, not sure what you are referring to. I did a 1/0gauge upgrade to the entire charging system under the hood, adding it to existing wire; I did not add another, extra ground, no need. Again, as I and others have suggested, as long as all your wiring meets or exceeds the need, you will be fine.

 

[spokey9]

Please never install anything if you don't know what the ground is for

 

[Firewalker]

Yep plus he thinks coaxial cable is used and head units can't have wifi in them.

He really needs to get out of the Hawaiian Sun!

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Yep plus he thinks coaxial cable is used and head units can't have wifi in them.

He really needs to get out of the Hawaiian Sun!

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

In truth, RCA's are coaxial cables. RCA was created to employ coaxial cables as indicated by the actual RCA connectors. A core conductor connects to the conductor at the center of the "coaxial" cable whilst the circular metallic ring contacts the secondary conductor on the external perimeter as well (by definition, coaxial). I've been in the Communications and audio fields going on 45+ years (22 of them specifically with a major communications company, currently still) and the terminology used has changed over the years and a lot of it bleeds over. I don’t even refer to coax as coax anymore, its RG5, digital RG6 or F-pin etc. And don’t even get me started on why people can’t discern the differences between BT, 5G over the air and Wi-Fi. I blame mass appeal marketing from the cell phone companies!

 

[Firewalker]

Well if you look at the one post where he claims that a couple days ago. I said RCA's can be classified as coaxial cables. But they don't go directly to the speakers like he suggested in that one thread. I installed burglar alarms, and wired houses for cable, internet and so on. So I also worked in that industry at one point.

But yeah I get what you are saying.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Well if you look at the one post where he claims that a couple days ago. I said RCA's can be classified as coaxial cables. But they don't go directly to the speakers like he suggested in that one thread. I installed burglar alarms, and wired houses for cable, internet and so on. So I also worked in that industry at one point.

But yeah I get what you are saying.

I remember helping a guy UN-wire a mess in his home theater. He ran out of speaker wire so he cut the ends off of a 30ft RCA cable, pulled the center lead up and unraveled the other lead to feed his passive sub in the back of the room from a rack style monoblock amp! That’s essentially a 30ft, 24guage speaker wire run! He was surprised when the sub never really performed all that well!

 

[Firewalker]

Yeah I saw a lot of that when doing those installs as we also did surround sound system wiring as well. I always ended up being the doing it as others hated wiring up systems like that for some reason. Even though they could wire up a burglar alarm motherboard with 30 incoming 2 wire wires with no problems. But they all hated doing those systems and it was easy. Plus it kept me inside when it was 90 degrees out in Illinois,lol