Ground Wire

[Basshead808 10+ year member]

Im just wondering where everyone connects their ground wire in their vehicle

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[ntense702 10+ year member]

I used my back seat belt bolt

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

My vehicle is one huge ground plane - so I just bolted it to a hole I drilled and sanded down.

 

[jsloan10 10+ year member]

I take no credit for this other than my uncanny ablility to cut and paste.

2.5 I heard that I should run my power wire directly to my car's

battery. Why should I bother, and how do I do it? [JSC]

===================================================================

For some components, like head units and equalizers, it's acceptable to

use the stock wiring for power. However, amplifiers generally require

large amounts of power, and accordingly will draw large amounts of

current. The factory wiring in most cars is not designed to handle

large amounts of current, and most wires have 10-20A fuses on them.

Thus, you will almost always want to run the power line for your

amplifier directly to the positive terminal of the battery. This could

require drilling a hole through the car's firewall, or at least

spending time hunting for an existing hole (the steering column is a

good place to start looking). Always remember to place a fuse on your

wire as near to the battery as possible! For various reasons, such as

an accident or simple wear and tear, your wire's insulation may

eventually crack, which could allow the conducting wire to make contact

with the chassis of the car and short the battery through this wire,

which could lead to a serious fire. The closer you place a fuse to the

battery, the more protected you are. Also, when running wire through

areas with sharp metal corners, it is a good idea to use rubber

grommets to provide extra protection against tearing through your

wire's insulation.

2.6 Should I do the same thing with my ground wire, then? [JSC, IDB]

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No. In almost every case, the best thing to do is to ground your

amplifier to a point that is attached to the chassis of the car and is

as close to the amplifier as possible. The ground wire should not need

to be more than about eighteen inches long, and should be at least as

large as the power wire. The point to which you make your ground

connection should be an unpainted piece of bare metal.

Some cars (Audi, Porsche) have galvanized bodies, and in these cars,

you must find one of the manufacturers' grounding points or else some

noise can result.

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

Test potential ground spots with a multimeter, then use the point of least resistance. Not sure of the accuracy of the above statement, Ive always heard that grounding back to the battery is a good idea, as it eliminates the chance of a ground loop occurring.

 

[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

My ground = bare metal...

 

[Basshead808 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Wow, Interesting

 

[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

I certainly thought so.

 

[Nightskye 10+ year member]

I grounded straight back to the battery.

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

frame=0 noise

 

[Insomniac119 10+ year member]

Mine is bolted to the metel behind the back seat. The multimeter showed it was good.

 

[btnhfan 5,000+ posts]

I ground it to my batteries in the back, then have those going to the battery in the front.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

the way mine's installed.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

My head unit is connected through a factory wiring harness adapter so it's grounded wherever the OEM stereo was. I have no noise problems so I'm assuming it's sufficient.

The ground cable feeding the distribution block in my trunk is welded to the spare tire mount under the trunk floor. Again, no noise issues so I'll assume it's working. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Basshead808 10+ year member]

Alright, Way to go! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif