Why Run A Ground Wire From The Battery to the amp?

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

I never understood this since generaly ground wires should be as short as possible. It seems to me that you would simply be adding resistance? Granted with 0ga it may not be enough to matter, buy why waste cable?

Someone please inform me why it is better to have a longer ground other than to possibly eliminate a ground loop?

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[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

having a ground wire as short as possibly is only when you are using the chassis as a ground, which is usually made of steel/other metal that has a higher resistance than a strand of 1/0 wire. The 1/0 wire is alot more conductive, and will flow more electricity to your amp directly from your batt

 

[UNDERGROUND_BUM 10+ year member]

because some car body/ frames create more resistance than running 0 gauge.......... and you can be certain you have a good ground (paint, not solid metal, etc)

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

Well the battery is grounded into the body/frame/chasis anyways so I don't see the advantage of a longer wire. If your grounding to the battery the battery is not ground, what it is connected to is the ground. I also heard to never ground into a set bolt hole, but thats what I did, and the bolt goes directly into the frame. But everyone says I should have ran 2 wires. I guess I just can't electricaly see any benefit other than maybe it looks cool or something?

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

Well the battery is grounded into the body/frame/chasis anyways so I don't see the advantage of a longer wire. If your grounding to the battery the battery is not ground, what it is connected to is the ground. I also heard to never ground into a set bolt hole, but thats what I did, and the bolt goes directly into the frame. But everyone says I should have ran 2 wires. I guess I just can't electricaly see any benefit other than maybe it looks cool or something?

did you not read my post.

I give up, you obviously know more than anyone else.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

did you not read my post.
I give up.

I read it, but it does not make any sense. (Your point is that the battery is a better ground than the body/frame?). How so? What do you think the battery is grounded to? The battery is grounded to the body and/or frame as well. So adding a longer wire should only increase resistance...

Hope someone can explain this to me so that it makes sense.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

I read it, but it does not make any sense. (Battery is a better ground than the body/frame). How so? What do you think the battery is grounded to? The battery is grounded to the body and or frame as well. So adding a longer wire should only increase resistance?

You really don't understand how the battery works., which is ok. I thought you were being a smartass to me, but if you truly dont understand give me a second and I'll type up a long reply to hopefully help.

What you need to understand is the car is not the ground, but the battery negative terminal is the true ground.

 

[UNDERGROUND_BUM 10+ year member]

I read it, but it does not make any sense. (Your point is that the battery is a better ground than the body/frame?). How so? What do you think the battery is grounded to? The battery is grounded to the body and/or frame as well. So adding a longer wire should only increase resistance...
Hope someone can explain this to me so that it makes sense.

haha we just did explain it to you........

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

You really don't understand how the battery works., which is ok. I thought you were being a smartass to me, but if you truly dont understand give me a second and I'll type up a long reply to hopefully help.
What you need to understand is the car is not the ground, but the battery negative terminal is the true ground.

Ok thanks that would be good, but when jumping your car they ALWAYS recomend jumping to the positive and connecting the negative to the frame so as to avoid blowing up your battery should it not be grounded. So the real ground surely must be the frame.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

The way a battery works is that it stores energy within it in cells. These cells have both a + and a - end. the way we get power is by harnessing that.

Just like a battery cell, a battery is just a conglomerate of those cells wired together. The difference in voltage between the posts is what we call "potential voltage" Which in most car battery's is around 12v.

In order for electrons to flow there must be a complete circuit. To complete the circuit to your amp, ignoring the other electronics in your car, you must have a connection to the + of the battery and the - of the battery.

You have no choice in Domestic cars, or hell any car other than an older british one which uses a positive ground which is a whole other story, but to run a power wire. That connects to the positive side of the battery. Now in order to complete the circuit to the battery you have to get from the amp to the negative side of the battery

 

[UNDERGROUND_BUM 10+ year member]

Ok thanks that would be good, but when jumping your car they ALWAYS recomend jumping to the positive and connecting the negative to the frame so as to avoid blowing up your battery should it not be grounded. So the real ground surely must be the frame.

i never jump start my car like that.........

always - bat to - bat + batt to + batt

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

Ok thanks that would be good, but when jumping your car they ALWAYS recomend jumping to the positive and connecting the negative to the frame so as to avoid blowing up your battery should it not be grounded. So the real ground surely must be the frame.

Are you intoxicated right now?

 

[UNDERGROUND_BUM 10+ year member]

Are you intoxicated right now?

lol

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

To get back to the battery you have two options. The first of which is utilizing the existing wiring in the car. That wiring goes from the battery of your vehicle to your engine block/chassis. In some cars its either or and in some cars it's both. Either way all it is doing is connecting your frame to the battery to give a common (which is sometimes used interchangeably with ground) place to get your potential voltage from.

A vehicles frame is made of strong metals and is painted over and all in all is a poor conductor for high amperage needs ( ie big amps ) It works fine for little things like windshield wipers and other things that take little electron flow.

When you get into higher demand things like larger amps like all of us here like to use you start running into problems of trying to flow more energy through a poor conductor.

Alot of times people explain DC electricity like water flowing in a hose, which is how I learned it. If you think of a vehicles chassis as a water hose that has a large diameter, but all kinds of things impeding flow, ( IE Metal impurities, paint, rust, dirt grime etc) you will see that there is a problem there.

In order to help water flow faster and more smoothly you can run a direct route straight there using a smaller hose, that has no kinks or anything impeding flow.

That direct route, is a large piece of 1/0 power wire that allows electrons to flow much easier.

Remember electricity always flows in the path or least resistance //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

**** you fools posting in between my educational posts