How important is proper ground????

[Black Truck 10 10+ year member]

My real question is, how important is it to have all my grounds go to 1 spot? Reason I am asking this is because I will have 1 battery in my toolbox (in bed of truck) 1 battery up front under the hood. I will then have 3 amps to ground inside the cab of my truck on the back wall. I thought about grounding my amps and my negative battery cable from my battery in the tool box to the same spot, but do I really need to run my battery negative from the front battery all the way to the rear? Or will I be ok with just grounding that to the front chassis, and everything else to the rear of the chassis?

While im at it, just to make sure I can use a distribution block regardless or + or -. What I mean is can I buy 2 of the same distribution blocks, and use 1 as my ground distribution, and 1 as my power distribution. im pretty sure I can but I just want to make sure.

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[Foote 10+ year member]

My real question is, how important is it to have all my grounds go to 1 spot? Reason I am asking this is because I will have 1 battery in my toolbox (in bed of truck) 1 battery up front under the hood. I will then have 3 amps to ground inside the cab of my truck on the back wall. I thought about grounding my amps and my negative battery cable from my battery in the tool box to the same spot, but do I really need to run my battery negative from the front battery all the way to the rear? Or will I be ok with just grounding that to the front chassis, and everything else to the rear of the chassis?
While im at it, just to make sure I can use a distribution block regardless or + or -. What I mean is can I buy 2 of the same distribution blocks, and use 1 as my ground distribution, and 1 as my power distribution. im pretty sure I can but I just want to make sure.

Having the multiple grounds is perfectly fine.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Using a distribution block for + and - is just fine.

I recommend using kicker's block because it has (2) 1/0 inputs and (4) 4/8 gauge outputs.

 

[grimreper912003 5,000+ posts]

your front battery is already grounded. If you add another ground to it, it will be 1/3 of the big 3. You dont have to ground to the same spot and personaly, I would ground the second batt to the front and run all your grounds to the negitive on the second batt.

 

[Black Truck 10 10+ year member]

Ok so ground off the front battery, then take my 1/0 from my 2nd battery negative run in inside the cab to the distroblock and collect the ground 4 gage wires. Then run another 1/0 from the 2nd battery negative to the chassis of the car.

Do I have this correct? and I shouldnt expect any noise or interference?

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Ok so ground off the front battery, then take my 1/0 from my 2nd battery negative run in inside the cab to the distroblock and collect the ground 4 gage wires. Then run another 1/0 from the 2nd battery negative to the chassis of the car.
Do I have this correct? and I shouldnt expect any noise or interference?

That's how I would do it.

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

your front battery is already grounded. If you add another ground to it, it will be 1/3 of the big 3. You dont have to ground to the same spot and personaly, I would ground the second batt to the front and run all your grounds to the negitive on the second batt.

x2. I'd do this. Run 1/0 neg from front bat to rear bat and then run 1/0 from rear bat to distro block for 3 amps ground. And never expect not to have noise. Then you definitely will. No amount of 'proper' grounding can stop noise. It can be a beotch.

 

[Black Truck 10 10+ year member]

Oh ok so Im needing 2 runs of 1/0 from my front battery to my rear battery 1 "+" and 1 for "-". That makes sense.

Ill probably look for a battery terminal then since that would be 2 1/0 from my negative on my main battery and 2 from my extra battery. Thank yall then, this looks like itll work

 

[DBDRAGGUY 10+ year member]

Oh ok so Im needing 2 runs of 1/0 from my front battery to my rear battery 1 "+" and 1 for "-". That makes sense.
Ill probably look for a battery terminal then since that would be 2 1/0 from my negative on my main battery and 2 from my extra battery. Thank yall then, this looks like itll work

You can run dual runs of 1/0, and add another ground in the rear near your amps. You can never have enough grounds.

 

[Black Truck 10 10+ year member]

You can run dual runs of 1/0, and add another ground in the rear near your amps. You can never have enough grounds.

Whats the advantage in doing this?

 

[grimreper912003 5,000+ posts]

Whats the advantage in doing this?

voltage stabiltity and the voltage your rear batt will see. Do NOT forget to ground 12" from the front batt AND 12" from the rear batt on your + run.

 

[bball09124 10+ year member]

voltage stabiltity and the voltage your rear batt will see. Do NOT forget to ground 12" from the front batt AND 12" from the rear batt on your + run.

you mean don't forget to fuse right?

 

[Black Truck 10 10+ year member]

haha I hope he means fuse, because if Im supposed to ground a positive that could lead to some serious confusion. I planned on doing 250 amp anl fuses for the 1/0 wires. I wont have to add a fuse aft my distribution block inside the cab would I? ill be going from 1-1/0 to 3-4 gauge wires, each run would be like 2 feet.

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

I've never fused from 1/0 to 4g when the run is so short. If you end up going over 2 feet definitely do. Don't forget to fuse the positive run from the rear bat within 18" to the distro either.

I would also recommend using a firewall bushing for each wire you cut through metal for to help protect the wire and keep moisture out.

 

[Black Truck 10 10+ year member]

Ya I was going to use a total of 2 anl fuses. 1 about 10 inches aft my 1st battery, and the other at the same spot on aft my second battery. (250 ANL fuse correct or should I go 300? I know the wire itself goes up to 350 amp I believe ( I get a bit confused here)