Electrical Mapping

[Shogen 325]

Does this make sense? Am I looking at this right? What I would like to do it setup my starter battery to an aux battery... I can connect the 2 negative terminals from both batteries okay, is it safe?

Also, would I then still have to ground the aux battery to chassis? is it just good to have an extra ground off the aux battery?

Could the amps be connected to the negative terminals of the aux battery if I have both terminals from the 2 batteries connected?

Help me make sense of this or tell me how to do this better... Didn't think this was advanced so I made a generic post... thanks guys

or does this work better?

Edited September 24, 2010 by Shogen

[slim2fattycake 85]

is your battery ground shorter or the amps' grounds shorter?

[Shogen 325]

Hmm... I didn't expect that one... I didn't take any measurements...

If I took a educated guess the battery ground would be longer than the amp grounds...

Would one way have a positive impact compared to the other?

[johnecon2001 82]

Length is a myth. As long as the resistance of the cable is less then that body of the car, you can make it as long as you want. The goal is to get as close to 0 ohms resistance as possible.

I like the second option better.

[Shogen 325]

1. The goal is to get as close to 0 ohms resistance as possible.

2. I like the second option better.

1. How do I know or measure for this? I have a DMM already...

2. Why?

[slim2fattycake 85]

set it to the ohm measurement. the reason is that current drives on the the path of least resistance, which is as close to 0 as possible.

[Jd377 6]

Do you have to run a "negative" wire from the front battery to the rear battery? Or can you just run a "positive" from the front to the back battery and then just ground the back battery to the chassis of the car?..

[slim2fattycake 85]

You can do either as the front and rear are going to be grounded through the chassis anyways. I wouldn't waste the wire grounding front battery to rear battery unless you have really shitty grounds in the rear.

[Shogen 325]

ahhh.... I thought that connecting the negatives would make a better "ground"... okay... I was misinformed...

So then the first picture minus the battery negatives together makes better sense then???

[Shogen 325]

Also, I'd be running in-line fuses for extra protection from the aux/rear battery to the amps...

Edited September 24, 2010 by Shogen

[Jd377 6]

Good... because I'm planning on adding my second battery next week and I had planned on just grounding the battery to the chassis and I didn't get wire long enough to go all the way up front.

Now, If you ground the rear battery to just the chassis, should you ground the amp to the chassis or to the negative of the rear battery? or will it even matter. I thought about grounding the battery to the chassis and then running the power and ground both from the amp to both terminals on the rear batt. cuz they would only be like super short runs as the amp will be right close to the battery.

[slim2fattycake 85]

Also, I'd be running in-line fuses for extra protection from the aux/rear battery to the amps...

make sure to have a fuse about 15" or closer to the front battery and then another one 15" or closer to the rear battery.

Good... because I'm planning on adding my second battery next week and I had planned on just grounding the battery to the chassis and I didn't get wire long enough to go all the way up front.Now, If you ground the rear battery to just the chassis, should you ground the amp to the chassis or to the negative of the rear battery? or will it even matter. I thought about grounding the battery to the chassis and then running the power and ground both from the amp to both terminals on the rear batt. cuz they would only be like super short runs as the amp will be right close to the battery.

It doesn't matter. Path of least resistance. My first comment in my thread was retarded as I wasn't thinking. I didn't go to sleep last night.

[Shogen 325]

Just did this for purpose of realizing how to do it... (setting the gain)

My voltage for the JL Audio amp is like almost spot on...:

Now because I did this I checked the battery voltage with the car on...:

^^is that right???^^ 30.1v ??? impossible.. am I reading it wrong?

Edited September 24, 2010 by Shogen

[Shogen 325]

Bump... Any of the even visitors read through? I'm confuzzled by this finding today....

[Impious 1,476]

You have the DMM on the wrong setting.

Battery and your car's electrical system is DC voltage, you have the DMM set to ACV.

Although I'm not sure why it's showing 30V AC, that's more than a bit out of the norm. Your alternator produces AC voltage which is then rectified into DC voltage. You may have an issue with your alternators rectifier? That or your DMM is freaking out. The rectifiers don't completely remove the AC ripple, so I wouldn't have been surprised if it had read a volt or two of AC.....but 30V has be a bit confused. I would imagine you would be having serious problems with the vehicle if the electronics were getting hit with 30V AC.

[Shogen 325]

CRAP! Was I right to have it on AC for the amplifier gain settings?

[Impious 1,476]

Yes, for gain setting ACV is correct.

But I would try to find a way to verify the ACV readings of the electrical system. If they really are outside of the normal range (~1V), you may have a problem that needs fixed......so it might have been a lucky mistake.

[Shogen 325]

Quoted from Kinetik's website...:

" For additional power cells near your amplifier installation, run one positive wire from your starting battery or new replacement starting power cell to one of your Kinetik HC Power Cell positive terminal. Run one negative wire from your starting battery (or ground to vehicle chassis if necessary) to the negative terminal on the same Kinetik HC Power Cell. If adding more than one Kinetik HC Power Cell, continue to connect each power cell together in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) until all power cells are connected. "

^^--- so is this correct??? I actually only happened to read that by mistake.... makes sense?

@impious:

I'm gonna check out the battery readings in the morning ro see the resting/floating voltage...

[helotaxi 46]

Also, I'd be running in-line fuses for extra protection from the aux/rear battery to the amps...

That's not "extra" protection, that's minimum protection.

If you can measure the resistance of your ground with a normal DMM, the resistance is WAY too high.

From an electrical circuit standpoint, both of you diagrams are the same. If you ground the rear battery and the amps to the same point, you've taken the chassis of the car out of the equation and have achieved the same effect as grounding right to the battery terminal. The front to rear negative wire isn't needed from a circuit standpoint, but it won't hurt and depending on the car might help a decent bit.

The bit from the Kinetik website is correct and basically exactly what you have drawn.

[Shogen 325]

So I went back and checked the voltage at the battery... float/resting voltage sits at or about 12.8-12.9 ... Have yet to recheck it with the car on...