Wiring

[TonWardHD]

Quick question. 4 positives from amps to bat, 4 negatives from amps to bat. How many negatives from bat to chassis?

Click to read more...

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

How many batteries in a bundle when 4 amps have 8 grounds and ... wait huh??

The answer is none. If none of your amplifiers are grounded to the chassis and are instead grounded to the battery, the loop is already complete.

HOWEVER... It doesn't hurt to run the same gauge or number of cables of the same size to the chassis and the engine block.

 

[02WS6]

You shouldn't be running grounds from Amp to Batt - The batt's should be grounded to chassis and so should the Amps. Making sure that wire gauges are the same.

 

[los33]

The amount of negative to chassis is the amount of amperage you are pushing realisticly. Not the amount you do dynamicly.

Shorter runs from the battery to chassis can handle way beyond the amount the wire is rated for especially for audio since they are short bursts and not sine waves.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Honestly... you don't have to ground your amps to the chassis. In fact, you don't have to involve the chassis of vehicle at all if you don't want to. Saying that you have to ground your amps to the chassis is misleading. It depends on how the person wants to wire their system. Ground the battery or batteries to the chassis. At that point you "could" ground your amplifiers to the chassis but why when the most direct route to the battery ground is, the battery ground... grounding to the chassis puts a resistive item betweent the amp ground and its journey back to the battery ground. Best bet is a second battery in the close proximity of the amplifiers so that those amplifiers can ground directly to the negative of that battery.

 

[02WS6]

Honestly... you don't have to ground your amps to the chassis. In fact, you don't have to involve the chassis of vehicle at all if you don't want to. Saying that you have to ground your amps to the chassis is misleading. It depends on how the person wants to wire their system. Ground the battery or batteries to the chassis. At that point you "could" ground your amplifiers to the chassis but why when the most direct route to the battery ground is, the battery ground... grounding to the chassis puts a resistive item betweent the amp ground and its journey back to the battery ground. Best bet is a second battery in the close proximity of the amplifiers so that those amplifiers can ground directly to the negative of that battery.

While technically accurate I think most go with chassis grounding to limit the length of their wire runs. I guess it really depends on the install and where the batteries are located compared to the amplifiers. Depending on that, would determine how to wire everything together.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

I am curious as to why there are 4 positives from the amps and 4 negatives from the amps... and why they are going to what I have to assume is an engine bay mounted battery? What size are these cables?

 

[02WS6]

I assume he's talking about 4 amp power input and grounds? Depending on amp wire sizes he should bus bar right off of the amps to a single wire up to the battery and then make sure the primary wire and ground wires are the same size and matched for length/amperage the amplifiers will draw.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Your first sentence there is one that leads me to think you should not drive right now...

Perhaps there are 4 amplifiers therefore 4 power wires and four ground wires. Hopefully sometime between now and later he will post and give us a little more info on his setup... Man, now I am typing like I am drink.

 

[02WS6]

Your first sentence there is one that leads me to think you should not drive right now...

Perhaps there are 4 amplifiers therefore 4 power wires and four ground wires. Hopefully sometime between now and later he will post and give us a little more info on his setup... Man, now I am typing like I am drink.

Tired but sober, you understood what I was saying. 4 Amplifiers and 4 power/ground wires. Anyone doing that would either bus bar or "distribution block" in the car audio world. Depending on amp power requirements, size the 4 amp wires and then final power wire accordingly.

 

[TonWardHD]

I am curious as to why there are 4 positives from the amps and 4 negatives from the amps... and why they are going to what I have to assume is an engine bay mounted battery? What size are these cables?

I got two taramps 8ks in the back ran on 1 limitless lithium 70aH. No front battery, all 1/0 ofc. Dual inputs for the taramps 8ks. So a total of 4 positives from amps to battery and 4 negatives from amplifier to battery. I’d rather ground amps to battery since this is a higher power application. I’m 17 and don’t have too much experience, no one I know does car audio so I’m self taught from the internet for everything.

It’s a series 6th for 4 zv5 18s.

Running a single 350 alt in the front and will upgrade to dual if my voltage drops too much.

 

[TonWardHD]

Yeah so I don’t have to involve the chassis at all? It would just be the alt and head unit that’s grounded to the chassis..

If there’s a right way to do it with the setup I explained above just let me know lol. Thanks

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

I got two taramps 8ks in the back ran on 1 limitless lithium 70aH. No front battery, all 1/0 ofc. Dual inputs for the taramps 8ks. So a total of 4 positives from amps to battery and 4 negatives from amplifier to battery. I’d rather ground amps to battery since this is a higher power application. I’m 17 and don’t have too much experience, no one I know does car audio so I’m self taught from the internet for everything.

It’s a series 6th for 4 zv5 18s.

Running a single 350 alt in the front and will upgrade to dual if my voltage drops too much.

That is a lot of power... I have not run that much so hopefully someone will chime in.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

I got two taramps 8ks in the back ran on 1 limitless lithium 70aH. No front battery, all 1/0 ofc. Dual inputs for the taramps 8ks. So a total of 4 positives from amps to battery and 4 negatives from amplifier to battery. I’d rather ground amps to battery since this is a higher power application. I’m 17 and don’t have too much experience, no one I know does car audio so I’m self taught from the internet for everything.

It’s a series 6th for 4 zv5 18s.

Running a single 350 alt in the front and will upgrade to dual if my voltage drops too much.

Wait...you're 17 and have all that stuff???

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

I got two taramps 8ks in the back ran on 1 limitless lithium 70aH. No front battery, all 1/0 ofc. Dual inputs for the taramps 8ks. So a total of 4 positives from amps to battery and 4 negatives from amplifier to battery. I’d rather ground amps to battery since this is a higher power application. I’m 17 and don’t have too much experience, no one I know does car audio so I’m self taught from the internet for everything.

It’s a series 6th for 4 zv5 18s.

Running a single 350 alt in the front and will upgrade to dual if my voltage drops too much.

What vehicle are you running 4-18's in? Pics?