Car audio ground question

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iivan

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Just curious of those with a car amplifier, where do you get your ground and where is the best ground on the lincoln ls?
 
Mine is also grounded to the battery ground in the trunk. Others may have it going to the shock tower. Terms of the best ground, although not practical for an amp ground in an LS, wouldn't that be the engine block?
 
jmtiseo said:
Mine is also grounded to the battery ground in the trunk. Others may have it going to the shock tower. Terms of the best ground, although not practical for an amp ground in an LS, wouldn't that be the engine block?
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No, the battery ground should be best.
 
jmtiseo said:
Mine is also grounded to the battery ground in the trunk. Others may have it going to the shock tower. Terms of the best ground, although not practical for an amp ground in an LS, wouldn't that be the engine block?
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The amp ground is not supposed to be any longer than 18 inches... though I've broken this rule myself, running from the back all the way to the engine block is definitely not advisable.
 
Just thought it was good since it's something you do during the big 3 upgrade. I know the shorter the run for ground and power the better, hence mentioning it is not practicable. Whether or not that's the right word to use there is another question :).
 
Running a ground from the amp to the engine block is not part of the big three. You may be confusing it with the batt to engine block which is.
 
I'm not making myself clear lol. I was referring to what you just said Frank, using the engine block as another ground in the big three. Not necessarily for an amp, just a good additional ground point. I was mentioning another ground besides the battery ground and shock tower.
 
as long as your amps are in the trunk, the best place for the ground point is at the battery itself. still better than any body point closer to the amp with a shorter ground cable.

you really shouldn't need more than five feet of power and ground wire (each) if mounted in the trunk, and even with the longer ground cable, you will still have a much shorter path for the electricity to flow through compared to a standard car with the battery under the hood and only a 12" ground cable, shorter total wire = less resistance = less voltage drop.
 
Going off of post 3 and 4, no.
Why do you think it would be bad?
 
right now i have my amp grounded underneath some black metal (you can see it if your seats down..and i have my battery grounder to the shock tower . Are you guys sayinf i sould buy a longer ground cable that can reach to my - on my battery?
 
by the way my amp lights dim pretty nasty i assume its badd ground and also my amp is drilled to the seat
 
Usually, right at the battery will be the cleanest (electrically) power and ground connections that you can get.
 
joegr said:
Usually, right at the battery will be the cleanest (electrically) power and ground connections that you can get.
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so its safe to ground my amp to the -terminal of the battery? even if the cable is pretty long?
 
iivan said:
so its safe to ground my amp to the -terminal of the battery? even if the cable is pretty long?
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As long as the cable is pretty big, yes. Better yet would probably be to move the amp to the trunk near the battery.
 
joegr said:
As long as the cable is pretty big, yes. Better yet would probably be to move the amp to the trunk near the battery.
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Thank you:) i also added 2 0 gauge cable to my negative on the batter for more ground, if i do ground my amp to the - terminal would it cause any problems? since i added those 2 cables?
 
You are asking the same questions over and over...

Adding cables for power to travel through will never hurt unless you are obviously connecting things that should not be connected.
 
why are doing so much work if you have no ideal what the hell is going on???

you probably need to do a lot more reading and learning and question asking long before you start the project.
 
iivan said:
by the way my amp lights dim pretty nasty i assume its badd ground and also my amp is drilled to the seat
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my bet is that you are either not getting enough power, returning enough power, or creating enough power for your application
 
doubt that is your problem


power wires deliver and return electricity

alternators create electricity

batteries just store the electricity
 
1LoudLS said:
doubt that is your problem


power wires deliver and return electricity

alternators create electricity

batteries just store the electricity
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Technically batteries generate electricity too, but for a far shorter amount of time.

But for the genius that will likely set his car on fire doing this install, the power that runs your car (and complete stereo system) once it is running is produced by the alternator.

I suggest you have a professional do it for you.
 
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