How do you test where attaching your ground to your vehicle is good enough?

[briman1001 10+ year member]

In the trunk of my civic I am having trouble locating a decent location to attach a 4gauge cable to something substantial. A little help of some ideas. Should i drill a new hole? Loosen a bolt and try and fit the ground underneath? What is best?

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[phyphoestilic 5,000+ posts]

Drilling a new hole is fine, same with the bolt. As long as u sand it down to bare metal.

 

[BoomBoomBoy 10+ year member]

In the trunk of my civic I am having trouble locating a decent location to attach a 4gauge cable to something substantial. A little help of some ideas. Should i drill a new hole? Loosen a bolt and try and fit the ground underneath? What is best?

I also have a Honda, and if you lift the seat portion of your rear seat, you can attach it directly to the seatbelt hold down bolt. That's what I did and it works great.

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

i found it dosent matter where you do it, as long as you scrape the metal bare till its shiny and drill a fresh hole //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif ... but its usually best to do it @ a point lowest to the ground

 

[dleccord 5,000+ posts]

i think the only way you know its good ground is if the voltage by the amp is as close as the battery under the hood. but im sure there are other factors the affect the voltage, not just ground. but bare metal is what you should go for.

 

[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

you can test using a dmm do a search im sure its been covered

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I perfer the jack.

 

[dleccord 5,000+ posts]

cool.

 

[briman1001 10+ year member]

Ok thanks for the ideas. I will look into the seatbelt connection and there is a big bolt towards the rear of the floor in the trunk that I may to use. I am trying to see if I can drill another hole next to it and attach the gold connector I bought for the 4 gauge.

 

[BoomBoomBoy 10+ year member]

I'm pretty convinced after re-reading through these posts, many here don't understand grounds.

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

I'm pretty convinced after re-reading through these posts, many here don't understand grounds.

x2

 

[Relax 10+ year member]

LOL "I prefer the jack"

The ideal ground is runnign a second length of wire all the way to the battery like your power. Thats what I do- but if you can't-

1. Find an area that is unseen and generally inaccessable. You don't want the wire being pulled on and shit as you put stuff into your trunk.

2. Find an area that is part of the car- you want a main structural component, directly to the chasis is the best. Places like the jack just introduce several spots where the electricity is going to flow through welds and joints- directly to the chasis which is solid is best.

3. Make sure the spot the sire will be touching is bare. That means brand new looking shiny metal.

Thats pretty much the best you can hope for.

The seatbelt is like the jack- there is several welds and joints and different metals- everytime you go from one type to another there is an impedance rise, and everytime it goes through a joint.

 

[briman1001 10+ year member]

Ok. I can get to both the jack and seatbelt and I sanded the current spot it is connected.

I guess a more direct way to ask my question would be= is there a way using a DMM or some tool to actually know for sure that the spot I chose to connect the ground cable is good enough. I have 4 gauge going to the battery and have always read that 4 gauge to the frame or good grounded metal is sufficient. Is this wrong. It is a civic ex and I know the stock power system is weak at best but I am only running a Memphis MCA3004 75rms X 4(Fronts and rears) and a Soundstream rubicon 300-2 300rms X 1 into my 10's. I should have bought a class D sub amp.

 

[briman1001 10+ year member]

I perfer the jack.

I do not understand this. Please elaborate.

 

[Rattlebrain 10+ year member]

I do not understand this. Please elaborate.