how should i wire my ground and positive?

[Flebbyfresh]

Hey hows it goin, i have a skar audio sk4500.1d amp and it has two grounds and two positives, i have 1 ground bolted to the chassis and the positve going to the secondary battery, should i run the other ground to my battery or bolt tot he chassis as well?

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[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Hey hows it goin, i have a skar audio sk4500.1d amp and it has two grounds and two positives, i have 1 ground bolted to the chassis and the positve going to the secondary battery, should i run the other ground to my battery or bolt tot he chassis as well?

You can, as long as the return ground from the 2nd is to the primary battery too. it's called parallel grounding. It ensures that the path of least resistance is taken. AND contrary to some assumptions, it does not create ground loop issues, at all.

Car Audio Myths – You Can’t Ground a Car Audio Amplifier to the Battery

Let’s clear up the confusion about the myth that you can’t ground a car audio amplifier directly to the battery in your vehicle.

www.bestcaraudio.com

 

[Flebbyfresh]

You can, as long as the return ground from the 2nd is to the primary battery too. it's called parallel grounding. It ensures that the path of least resistance is taken. AND contrary to some assumptions, it does not create ground loop issues, at all.

Car Audio Myths – You Can’t Ground a Car Audio Amplifier to the Battery

Let’s clear up the confusion about the myth that you can’t ground a car audio amplifier directly to the battery in your vehicle.

www.bestcaraudio.com

i read the article and from what im getting is that i can run a ground to the chassis and run the secound ground to the battery as long as i do parallel grounding? im still kinda new to subs and this bigger stuff im learning as i go, maller stuff like me and my were running was fairly easy but this is a new ball game lol

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

That is correct. You could run both the amp grounds to the chassis ground as well. I just prefer the parallel method. Grind down the area you want to use for both and use something like this if that is the way you want to go:

Amazon product ASIN B0BVC3VT22

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

In some of my builds (well actually all), i use double aught between the primary and the secondary and don't run any chassis ground in the rear at all. Depending on the total system output of course. My current system is around 3500 watts so I have it parallel-grounded

 

[Flebbyfresh]

That is correct. You could run both the amp grounds to the chassis ground as well. I just prefer the parallel method. Grind down the area you want to use for both and use something like this if that is the way you want to go:

Amazon product ASIN B0BVC3VT22

appriciate the help my man, but one more question if i may, so i already have 1 power going tot he secondary battery and 1 ground going to the chassis, and right now how they are tuned my gain is sitting at 12 o'clock (straight up) and if i try to go farther it starts clipping, would running the second power and ground supply the amp with more power to turn it up more or would it not make that much of a diffrence?
apm - https://www.skaraudio.com/products/skv2-4500-1d-monoblock-subwoofer-car-amplifier
subs (x2) - https://www.skaraudio.com/products/zvx-12v2-12-inch-car-subwoofer?variant=ZVX-12v2 D2

i have the subs wired at 2 ohms

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

appriciate the help my man, but one more question if i may, so i already have 1 power going tot he secondary battery and 1 ground going to the chassis, and right now how they are tuned my gain is sitting at 12 o'clock (straight up) and if i try to go farther it starts clipping, would running the second power and ground supply the amp with more power to turn it up more or would it not make that much of a diffrence?
apm - https://www.skaraudio.com/products/skv2-4500-1d-monoblock-subwoofer-car-amplifier
subs (x2) - https://www.skaraudio.com/products/zvx-12v2-12-inch-car-subwoofer?variant=ZVX-12v2 D2

i have the subs wired at 2 ohm

This should not have any effect on the clipping. It should allow your amplifiers to dissipate current to ground more effectively/efficiently especially if the one you have now isn't adequate and is causing a return-to-ground bottleneck.

For some reason, I thought that we were talking about a different amplifier. That amp wants a dual power input too. So, yes, dual power and dual grounds, at least from the 2nd battery station. I would run a single 2/0 +/- from primary to secondary unless you're running really long runs in which case you may want to consider dual 1/0 on both the power and ground in the battery-to-battery run. I think that you'd be fine with the dual 2/0 in the battery section of the run. Then from the battery, dual 1/0 to the amp and dual 1/0 from the battery to ground with a third 1/0 going to chassis ground. I'll attach a crude drawing here in second.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

No Leonardo DaVinci but you get the drift. All wiring from the 2nd battery to the amp and ground from the amp are 1/0 gauge. The main bat to bat can be 1/0 gauge too if they are not excessively long. I didn't draw the fuse(s) for the primary battery, it is assumed you have fused within 18" of the primary battery.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Something like a couple of these for the dual runs near the connection to the 2nd battery

Amazon product ASIN B08XXXBWR5
One of these for the positive input near the amp:

Amazon product ASIN B097T5T1TB
One of these for the negative distro block

Amazon product ASIN B097T3H729
These for the runs from the distros to the amp +/- (you will need 5 total) so 1 sets of these

Amazon product ASIN B01K1IEE48
and 2 sets of these

Amazon product ASIN B07JMVLJ74

 

[Flebbyfresh]

View attachment 54543

No Leonardo DaVinci but you get the drift. All wiring from the 2nd battery to the amp and ground from the amp are 1/0 gauge. The main bat to bat can be 1/0 gauge too if they are not excessively long. I didn't draw the fuse(s) for the primary battery, it is assumed you have fused within 18" of the primary battery.

alrighty thanks my man, i really do appreciate the help

 

[Flebbyfresh]

View attachment 54543

No Leonardo DaVinci but you get the drift. All wiring from the 2nd battery to the amp and ground from the amp are 1/0 gauge. The main bat to bat can be 1/0 gauge too if they are not excessively long. I didn't draw the fuse(s) for the primary battery, it is assumed you have fused within 18" of the primary battery.

heres the set up as of now, it dont look so organized or pretty but me and a buddy threw it together in a night just to get them runnin, onces we get another day and night together we are gonna clean it up

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Yup, definitely get another run to the other side, get the 3 input block, run two back to the block, block to the 2nd battery like the drawing, the third to the chases ground and your good to go.

 

[djdilliodon!]

Distro blocks make everything look cleaner, make for perfect connections, and make it easier. I like using blocks that accept ring terminals and use ferrules over the wire into the amps.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

Distro blocks make everything look cleaner, make for perfect connections, and make it easier. I like using blocks that accept ring terminals and use ferrules over the wire into the amps.

Yeah, I can be lazy for sure, ferrules and heatshrink and an allen wrench work too. Have a great 16 to 2/0AWG compound crimper tool and still...

 

[djdilliodon!]

Yeah, I can be lazy for sure, ferrules and heatshrink and an allen wrench work too. Have a great 16 to 2/0AWG compound crimper tool and still...

Blocks that accept the wire bare or with ferrules are great too just I have ocd and like the way ring terminals look . When I build subs I always do direct leads and when I install them I use ring terminals for those connections too