not a problem but rather a ?

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

i had my amp grounded with 8ga wire, my power was 4ga, while my ground was 8ga i had dimming problems but when i changed my grounded to 4ga too my dimming problems stopped..can anyone explain this?

Click to read more...

 

[PickupBass 10+ year member]

i had my amp grounded with 8ga wire, my power was 4ga, while my ground was 8ga i had dimming problems but when i changed my grounded to 4ga too my dimming problems stopped..can anyone explain this?

The grounding wire is supposed to be the same size as the power wire. I do not know the reason, but it does make sense. Who put 8awg as the ground and 4awg as the power?

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

i did and i know their suppose to be the same it was only like that for a day.. i said it wasnt a problem ..

 

[Acidburn 5,000+ posts]

the smaller wire has more resitance and since more resistance = more voltage drop, there was less voltage going to the amp which caused it to draw more current starving your lights

(i think thats it, some one correct me if im wrong)

 

[xSomeguyx 10+ year member]

You see, current flows the opposite way of voltage. Technically speaking, you've got positive volts going from your battery through your power cable, to the amp. Meanwhile, current is actually flowing from the negative end of your battery, through the body of your car, and up through the ground wire. Since it's a series circuit, the effective current flow is reduced to that of the 8gauge wire, and it's got to try and pull more to compensate. I don't know if this makes sense, but it was crystal clear in my head before I started typing...

 

[swimfreak26 10+ year member]

xsomeguyx is exactly correct. It's a little known fact unless you've studied the physics of electricity, but electron flow (current) does not originally travel through the "power" wire.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

thats kind of what i was thinking, the amp was being a current hog and having to work harder.

 

[KARLEON 10+ year member]

I noticed the same thing as you before i learned the ground should be the same size as power wire. Unfortunately, i had to learn the hard way. I bought a amp kiit that had 4 guage power wire, but they had 8 guage ground. And being that was my very very first install and i was just learning about systems and such, i didnt think much of it. Until i got a bigger amp (tsunami 1800 at the time) And when i would be bumping for a long time or playing bass heavy tracks, one day on my way to my football game i was smelling something burning. It was a slight smell but strong enough for me to notice. i turned down my music and pulled over to examine my stuff. Everything was fine. So i figured it must have been something in the air.....After the game i was bumping again...and it was in the same area that i smelled it again. So i didnt even bother trying to check...Next day over my cousin house, i was letting him hear a song on my system then what do you know, the darn smell again. then i knew it was my car. so i checked everything. and my ground wire was almost melted completely. It was near my back seat and started to burn a slight hole in it. I immediately took it to the next caraudio shop i ran into and he gave me a new piece of ground wire and put it in for me.