Negative wire question.

[cha0 10+ year member]

So i always thought that there was just a power wire from the + of the battery to either a battery bank or to the + on your amp. nothing came off the -. but latley i have seen lots of people with wires running back from the negative on there batt to either the - on there battery bank or the - on there amp. so what is the difference?

im running two runs of 2/0g from the + on my underhood batt, too the pos of a buss bar of 3 kinetik 2400s then to an amp. do i run two runs of the 2/0g from the - on the underhood batt to the 3 kinetics then from the 3 kinetiks to the ground of the Amp? or just ground the - on the underhood bat, ground the - on the 3 kinetiks then ground the amp? sorry for the lame question but im sure i have seen both done.

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[lostdaytomorrow 10+ year member]

Is your car unibody or does it have a frame with rails?

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Since your wires are so big, I would without a doubt run 2 more runs of 2/0 from the front battery to your kinetics in the back for the negative. Then ground your amps to the kinetics as well.

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

so on positive side ill run 2 runs of 2/0 from positive ob batt to positive on the bus bars (3 kinetiks bats) to a distroblock to downgauge the wire to 0g to the positive on my z1a amp

Then the negative

2 runs 2/0 from nehative on battery to negative side of bussbars to distroblock which downgauges to 0g to ground on z1a.

Only problem I see is is then the only real ground is the ground on the stock electrical from the negative post of the battery. Big 3 will be done in 3/0g but still. Am I understanding right? Basicly make a big loop with the negative just like the positive?

Should I also run another negative from the bank of kinetics bats as well?

 

[mile098 10+ year member]

one of the reasons for running another wire from the minus pole is to avoid the ground loop, the difference in potentials causes sometimes the engine whine in your system....i have that problme in my car, working on it.....

anycase its always better to have your power wires(minus and plus) from the same point for the hu and amps...

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

so like this...

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

I don't see why you need distros... Just get 2 1/0 ring terminals for the buss bar side of the 1/0 going to your amp.

As for the single ground, thats OK because you still have only stock items grounded to the chassis. All of your aftermarket is grounded directly to the battery so an upgraded ground isn't NEEDED, however upping to 3/0 sure as hell won't hurt //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

Your right. Since the batteries are right next to the amp its pointless for the distros.... good call

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

so like this...

thats perfect. just be aware of the risks you take without fusing that wire between the battery's though.

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

that was my next question actually. where do i drop fuses and what size should i use? obvisouly one goes on the main power run inbetween both batteries on the positive side. where else?

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

well to make it safe you would fuse right at the front battery pos and right at the back battery pos with the largest fuse you can use. i know 1/0 is 300 amps but not sure baout 2/0. you can also not run any fuses but it will become hazardous if the jacket of the power wire breaks. someones van just burnt down this way i believe. for competitors though, you hardly ever see them fuse this.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

fuse both ends of both + wires between the batteries. Also fuse the + going from the kinetics to your amp.

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

Ok so basicly just fuse the hell out of the positive side. Thanks guys.

 

[J31Rob 5,000+ posts]

1. you'll wanna fuse tha battery bank to battery connection..

2. you'll wanna run a fuse in between tha battery bank & amp.

3. distro blocks aren't really needed.. unless you only need them to make the wire from battery to amp smaller.. if that's the case, get reducers.

& grounding to the battery up front just makes for a better ground really..

 

[fwb_1234 10+ year member]

fuse both ends of both + wires between the batteries. Also fuse the + going from the kinetics to your amp.

You do not need to fuse one wire more than once. Current flow is the same throughout the wire. The only reason to use two fuses is if you doubt one will blow, which should not be a major concern.