posted
i am going to be installing an audiobahn a2200hc amp in my ford explorer i will be mounting it to the floor and i am wondering how to ground my amp and caps can i just drill a screw into the metal floor under the carpet ant make the ground that way also if any bod y could give me some rough dimensions for a 3 cubic foot box with 2 1.5 feet^3 chambers thanks
Posts: 64 | From: Louisiana | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
as far as i know a screw would work in the metal floor but make sure to sand away the paint or else it wont work. also a bolt might be better if you can
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scrape away all paint, get a nice clean shiny surface. use a bolt. if you dont.. you will probably have to go back and redo it in a month or less
Posts: 1853 | From: freezing in FAIRBANKS ALASKA | Registered: Aug 2000
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Yeah, spend allot of time on the grounding... Or even run a wire straight from your amp's (-) to your batteries' (-)! DC Power runs backwards... so your amp actually pulls it's juice in from the (-) terminal... Imagine it trying to suck up all those electrons from the floor of your tunk... ick. Personally I like to do a dual-ground thing, where I run wire from my battery to my trunk, and screw it into a grounding block that grounds right into my metal floor of my trunk, and then the second terminal of the grounding block sends wire to my amp.
-------------------- (1) PPI AMP PCX-2200 (800 Watts @4ohms Bridged) PCX-480 for my highs (2) DD 3512a's in a 4.4cube box with 50sq. inches of port tuned to 33Hz Street 1-2 [TEAM DD] 147.7dB My Sound Domain page Posts: 1655 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jul 2001
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I run a 4ga ground to my alt bracket, and a 1/0 ga ground to the main frame of the car. The frame is welded and bolted to quite a few places in the floor pan, which is where everything's grounded. Drill a hole, sand around it, and use a 5/8" bolt, lockwasher, and nut. If you do that, you will have no ground problems.
Posts: 16 | Registered: Nov 2001
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The only time a wire is required from the battery's negative terminal to the amp ground point is if the ground potential of the chassis of the car is off battery ground...For example if you take a mulitmeter on the ohms function and you measure the potential difference from the battery negative to the amp ground and the multimeter reads anthing other than 0.00 on the multimeter a wire may be required...Most cars are pretty good...Most german cars are usually 0.00...Japanese cares are usually good..American cars can be really off. I have seen some GM cars off as much as 15 ohms and that plays havoc with little items such as engine noise...As cars get older the grounds deteriorate so be aware...
Posts: 6 | From: Ma. | Registered: Mar 2002
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grounding straight to battery (-): not a good idea, if your car's batt. to chassis connection goes bad, your car's charging system will try to find ground through your amps. at best, blows fuses, at worst..new amps... Use existing bolts such as seat belt or seat mounting bolts, they're already there, large, and very secure. This is what the MECP suide says too....
Posts: 4 | From: Colorado | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I didn't know about those side effects when grounding to the battery... Thanks for the heads up. Anyone know if there's a maximum current that you should attempt to send through the frame?
-------------------- (1) PPI AMP PCX-2200 (800 Watts @4ohms Bridged) PCX-480 for my highs (2) DD 3512a's in a 4.4cube box with 50sq. inches of port tuned to 33Hz Street 1-2 [TEAM DD] 147.7dB My Sound Domain page Posts: 1655 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Honda Accord LX 89: I didn't know about those side effects when grounding to the battery... Thanks for the heads up. Anyone know if there's a maximum current that you should attempt to send through the frame?
maximum current for the frame?? wow... it would not be possible to exceed that...
the only way it would ground thru the amp is if the amps chassis was touching the vehicles chassis... if your amp is off the ground, mounted to mdf or whatever, then it is safe to ground to battery directly..
Posts: 1853 | From: freezing in FAIRBANKS ALASKA | Registered: Aug 2000
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maximum current for the frame?? wow... it would not be possible to exceed that...
the only way it would ground thru the amp is if the amps chassis was touching the vehicles chassis... if your amp is off the ground, mounted to mdf or whatever, then it is safe to ground to battery directly..
Plus if you dual ground in your trunk, and add battery-to-chassis grounds under the hood... You're good to go.
-------------------- (1) PPI AMP PCX-2200 (800 Watts @4ohms Bridged) PCX-480 for my highs (2) DD 3512a's in a 4.4cube box with 50sq. inches of port tuned to 33Hz Street 1-2 [TEAM DD] 147.7dB My Sound Domain page
posted
Yeah I don't ground to the frame at all I just ran grounds all the way up (3 power runs, 3 ground runs) I HAVE to break the rules . Absolutely no noise problems so just sayin it can be done. I also have an Interstate upfront and 2 Yellow tops in the back no isolators or anything, and over a year and no probs. The charging lead upfront won't break cause it goes right from the alternator to the front battery post. Then from there there are 3 leads goin back to 2 Optimas in the trunk so if anything broke the Optimas are still there...no alternator to amp worries. Thats a hell of a good point though man...if you had no batts to soak it up i'm guessin the alt would proabably kick the voltage up too because the V Reg would be kinda confused lol.
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I've always heard that when mounting your amp it's best to mount it on wood then the floor. Otherwise it's possible you might have noise in the system. The ground terminal on the amp to a bolt or bare metal is best to use to ground the amp. That's what I've heard (and always done), may not be entirely true.
Posts: 394 | From: Jacksonville AR | Registered: Nov 1999
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