Posted February 18, 200916 yr I know the smaller length of ground wire the better but what do they mean by small? like 3 feet and under...i really want my amp to be closer to my car cabin instead of by the trunk but thats means my ground would be about 4 feet...is that too long? Edited February 19, 200916 yr by ADK
February 19, 200916 yr I dont buy into having a fixed length for a ground ie it has to be under X amount. Make it what ever length you need. Edited February 19, 200916 yr by bromo
February 19, 200916 yr Try to keep them 30" or under is what most manufacturers say.Can you tap through the floor to the frame anywhere in the trunk?I've found in most cases as long as you have a GOOD, CLEAN connection to the frame (chassis) of the vehicle,you usually won't pick up any ground hum or current loss.You're ground is just as important as the power feed.Any poor connections will introduce unwanted results.
February 19, 200916 yr Author Yea sorry for posting in wrong area but thanks for the feedback...more feedback would be great too. Edited February 19, 200916 yr by ADK
February 19, 200916 yr i think this has more to do with resistance more then anything else..... so if you have to run a very long ground.. and you were gonna use 4 gauge.. then you should use a 2 gauge or a 0... to make up for the resistance...... IMO.
February 19, 200916 yr ground wire should be same gauge as power wire. i would not have a ground wire over 24'. i was always taught the shorter the better. sorry cant give a technical answer. and try to ground all in one area.
February 19, 200916 yr shorter is generally better but as long as you have a fat enough cable to carry the required current lenght shouldnt be a problem. Some even run a ground from the front to the back.
February 19, 200916 yr only thing to worry about is voltage drop. if you dont get bad voltage drop dont worry about it. if it is a little bad shorter wires or thicker wires will work. if you run 1/0 but your amp cant fit it use a step down connector or a distro close to the amp with smaller wire.
February 19, 200916 yr The body is made out of steel...steel is less conductive than copper. The length of the ground wire doesn't really matter imo (as long as it's the same gauge as the positive run), since the body is not going to be as conductive as the wire.Also, there is another "bottleneck", the stock wire from the body / frame to the negative terminal of the battery.
February 25, 200916 yr You could ground back to your battery. And upgrade your battery ground to chassis. It helped with my car and it helped clean up the static i was having.
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