How to keep ground short??

[Jamesr316 10+ year member]

I have read that the ground wire going to your amp should be around 3 feet or so. How do you keep it within 3 feet and mount it on the back of the seats or boxes. Where is the ground coming from?

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[supa_c 5,000+ posts]

1.make it as short as possible

2.make shure its the same gauge as the power.

3.Mount it to metal, not paint

4. the ground dosent come from anything.

5. do you have a DMM( multimeter), you can find out if you are mounting to a bad location

*edit

6. welcome the the board/forum //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/clap.gif.178cba2c538c68e720c727fcb024b19c.gif

 

[Jamesr316 10+ year member]

thanks for the welcome. i havent slept, i didnt mean where does it cme from but rather where it is going to.

my amp has a mm on it but i think that just measures input from power cable.

my battery is in the back so i will run power wire from there. i want to mount the amp to the back of my rear seats. however i am sure that the distance to the battery is atleast a good 5 feet, which is fine for power but not ground.

 

[supa_c 5,000+ posts]

do all the steps //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

*edit

to answer the title, you cut the wire to keep it short

 

[Black_Jesus 10+ year member]

noo you must not cut the ground wire!!!! it wil cause your car to catch fire and explode!!!!!!

ehehehehehehehehheheheh just kidding

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

the ground wire goes from the amp negative terminal eaither to that battery you have in the trunk (which in turn should be connected to the chassis of the car) or connect it to the frame of the car, and like stated before- scrape off all paint to do this. get a ring terminal, and bolt it on somewhere nice and tight. keep in mind to keep it as short as possib and as close the the frame of the car if possible, you can connect it to sheet metal (as long as that has some avenue to reach the frame)

basically all - terminals in the car are connected to the engine block, and the engine block is connected to the - battery terminal. all posative connections lead directly to the + terminal on the battery (maybe thru a fuse box or somthing but to the battery in the end)

so basically the - electricity has to get back to the battery and alternator, and you do this by connecting your - terminals to the frame\metal of the car.

does that help?

 

[Jamesr316 10+ year member]

the ground wire goes from the amp negative terminal eaither to that battery you have in the trunk (which in turn should be connected to the chassis of the car) or connect it to the frame of the car, and like stated before- scrape off all paint to do this. get a ring terminal, and bolt it on somewhere nice and tight. keep in mind to keep it as short as possib and as close the the frame of the car if possible, you can connect it to sheet metal (as long as that has some avenue to reach the frame)
basically all - terminals in the car are connected to the engine block, and the engine block is connected to the - battery terminal. all posative connections lead directly to the + terminal on the battery (maybe thru a fuse box or somthing but to the battery in the end)

so basically the - electricity has to get back to the battery and alternator, and you do this by connecting your - terminals to the frame\metal of the car.

does that help?

I understand how all of the current flows. I have never installed a system so I have yet to tackle this issue. I wanted to just attatch the power and ground to the battery, however I do not believe I can do that AND mount the amp on the rear of my seats and keep the cable under 3 feet. I guess what I really am asking is Where to connect it. Is it metal under the carpet in the trunk? Do I just attatch it to that with a bolt or something?

 

[blackgeltabs 5,000+ posts]

Id see if there is anything you can do to get the amp closer to the battery in the back. Grounding to the battery negitive is the most ideal way to do it. Its just not usually viable cause the battery is in the front.