is grounding ampiliers directly to the battery good or bad?

[mscott1979 10+ year member]

wat up peeps? i have a question that i've tried to thread-locate but i cant seem to find the direct answer im looking for. I have an AQ 4 channel and AQ monoblock that i recently mounted in the trunk of my car along with a 2nd optima battery and i decided to ground both amps to it. I instantly got a little bit of alt whine from the 4 channel and it's running pretty hot now, well in my opinion above operating temp. When i had them mounted to my back seat (which stayed folded down all the time due to the size of the monoblock) Neither amp got hot just warm enough and u could lay the palm of your hand on either and leave it there if that gives you guys an idea. Both where grounded to the chassis and i was wondering should i ground them where they were before or is it that my trunk is just holding heat around the amps and causing them to run warmer than usual?

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[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

why not use a DMM to see if you have a good ground and go from there? posting questions on here is not trouble shooting.

 

[schackel 10+ year member]

no your trunk would not make that much of a difference. the issue you are having would likely be fixed if you made a better ground for the battery. or ran 2 wires besides just one for the ground. OR just ground the amp where you have the battery grounded and fix it all easier.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

i grounded direct to the battery. some people say not to but tbh i don't see why it would be a problem. neg post on the batt is attached to the frame, so it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

where is the battery in the back grounded to? I'm assuming it's connected to the front battery with a run of + and -

almost everyone that has batts by the amps uses the batteries as distribution blocks for the amps

 

[the727kid 10+ year member]

Doesn't make a difference if your grounds are ideal. You can measure this by checking resistance.

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

I recently was having some issues with a few amps that wanted to shut off and or slip into protect at full tilt and on the advice of somebody else ran a new ground directly to the front battery(no extra batteries but I do have the big 3 done) even though I "knew" my ground in the back was good. It made a huge difference for sure. Never had any grounding issues in any other car ever but this one just didn't have a real good spot anywhere. With the amp grounded directly to the battery up front it is like I got a bigger and better sounding amp for the price of a run of power wire. I know if I really really searched that there is most likely a good ground somewhere in the back but after doing this and having such favorable results I don't think I will ever bother with chancing it again plus I would venture to guess that a run of 2/0 copper wire has much lower resistance than the steel sheet metal or even the frame of the car.

 

[mscott1979 10+ year member]

where is the battery in the back grounded to? I'm assuming it's connected to the front battery with a run of + and -
almost everyone that has batts by the amps uses the batteries as distribution blocks for the amps

i ran 0 gauge directly from the alternator to the back battery and i grounded it in the same spot that i previously had the monoblock grounded at. I have a 98 accord and i used the same spot where the fuel pump is grounded, just sanded the paint down all the way around and underneath it

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

all my wires go straight to battery in the back (thru fuses of course...). why would anywhere BUT the battery be better if it's close enough?

 

[mscott1979 10+ year member]

i've always done chassis grounds on my systems, this is my first time doing a battery ground so am i doing sumthin wrong or do i need to relocate the grounding point for the battery? i know for a fact that this is a good ground for the amplifiers they never had alt whine or ran that warm before i changed up and yes i've played them both at full tilt before and after the change

 

[mscott1979 10+ year member]

all my wires go straight to battery in the back (thru fuses of course...). why would anywhere BUT the battery be better if it's close enough?

all my power and ground connnections for the amps are to the back battery (fused of course) i just dont know why they're running hotter than they were before....i'll have to take everything apart again and take a look at the ground spots i guess

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

check your ground and your connections

 

[mscott1979 10+ year member]

yep...that's the only thing i can do, i'll post when i get it figured out

 

[CHEMMINS 10+ year member]

Grounding to the batt is always the best. No if's and or but's.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I only ground my batts to each other. I don't ground to the frame, and my voltage drop (or lack of) is good proof that it works well.