Grounding Issues

[phrozen5100 10+ year member]

Ok, so I decided to get off my lazy ass and test out my new Type RF amps. X1...doesn't turn on...X5...doesn't turn on. Tried out my Hifonics amp and it powered on OK. Everything looks ok, except my pathetic ground. My ground is simply a small screw in the base of my plastic seat...now this ground has worked for several other amps, but I believe it's most likely the problem...unless by some bizarre chance Rockford decided to send me two bad refurbs, haha. That ground didn't work all that well with my Hifonics Zeus, though...it kept going into protect because of undervoltage and that ground likely contributed in a few cases it went into protect. So does the ground sound like the problem to you guys? If so I might just have to order some nice grounding terminals and get real grounds for my amps. Thanks in advance.

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[mattj 5,000+ posts]

Very possible that its the ground.id suggest moving it to bare metal as well with a nice solid tight connection.

 

[lexus rx 10+ year member]

x2. hook it to the frame if possible.

 

[skeptikal Premium Member]

i've done 4 different installs (not much but cant be wrong 4 times) and i have always hooked the ground wire either under the backseat or to the frame of the body that you can get to under the trunk...

the backseat is a ***** to do but i have found it almost fool proof.

 

[pavengmike6 10+ year member]

RF has been known to be very sensative to ground problems. The RF amps push more current through the ground then most of your standard amps. I agree. Your ground is just as important as anything else.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

The RF amps push more current through the ground then most of your standard amps.

hey...it takes a lot of current to barbecue //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

yeah, make sure you have a nice solid connection to bare metal...measure it with a DMM if you can.