ground issues - where to locate for my high power amp

[DRCKISS 10+ year member]

I have a powerbass 3000d and works fine, great, but if I put a hard load on it it goes into protect, I cut the engine off, goes out of protect then plays fine until I put a really hard load on it. I am sure I have good power but I am either thinking I have the gains up too high but I only have them at 3/4 and I have a 2v alpine signal going into it, and then I have my amp grounded to the battery post to the extra battery in my trunk. I have never used this much power should I ground the amp to the frame as well as the second battery? plz offer any suggestions getting really frustrated and I want to use this setup for bassrace, I do not have the luxury of rolling the volume, I have to have it LOUD for 30 seconds.

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[squeak12 10+ year member]

Do you have a cable running from the front battery negative to the rear battery? If not, that would be your best bet.

 

[DRCKISS 10+ year member]

no, I have post to pos on each battery and the neg in the back is grounded to the frame and the amp is grounded to the neg post on the rear batt

 

[squeak12 10+ year member]

Best idea would be to connect the negative terminals as well. Also, what ohm load is the amp seeing?

 

[DRCKISS 10+ year member]

dual 2 sub to be ran at the amp,,,, 1 ohm...... the amp is suppose to love 1/2 ohm daily and can burp down to .35 so 1 ohm is not going to hurt this amp.

 

[squeak12 10+ year member]

Just checking to make sure it couldnt be mis-wired to a lower load. Sounds like its just not getting enough current when its driven hard in which case you should upgrade the power and ground wire to atleast one run of 0/1, if not more. Grounding to the frame will work, but a direct run will ensure full potential is being used. If that doesnt solve it, you may need a High Output Alternator.

 

[DRCKISS 10+ year member]

I have 2 yellow tops and a 280 irragi HO alt with 1 run of 2/0 ga wire. I am pretty suer I have sufficient current. At the moment maybe it is the ground i hope

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

Myaybe you should set your gains correctly instead of guestimating where they should be.