Battery question

Where to you ground your amp? Can you ground it to the negative post on the battery or is that a bad thing to do?

That is really the only option and is what everyone does unless you want a 15-20 foot ground run, that would be a bad thing.

I've had the most luck w/ grounding my amps to the negative post on the battery.

Battery

Grounding to the battery is the best option, always.

"unless you want a 15-20 foot ground run, that would be a bad thing"

Just curious...how and why?

Why, because you want your ground to be no more than a couple of feet long for best results, and how well you would probably have to run a ground to your radio antenna, that's all i can think of.

You want to essentially keep your ground wire as short as you can without any disturbances from metal touching metal.

Anyone else care to chime in or contradict my statement, feel free to do so. Friendly criticism is always appreciated.

So if i have the amp under the drivers dash and run the ground all the way to the back of the boat that would be a bad thing?

well why dont you ground the amp to your FM antenna, it should be bolted under your dash somewhere as well.

So if i have the amp under the drivers dash and run the ground all the way to the back of the boat that would be a bad thing?

Brett, this is what you want to do.

well why dont you ground the amp to your FM antenna, it should be bolted under your dash somewhere as well.

NOT what you want to do....sorry eder

Eder, There is nothing wrong with a long ground run on a boat, just curious why someone would think it's bad.

(Message edited by chpthril on April 16, 2008)

"Grounding to the battery is the best option, always.

"unless you want a 15-20 foot ground run, that would be a bad thing"

Just curious...how and why?"

The only other place to ground an amp is the engine, do you really think thats the best place to ground it, especially since your power wire will be significantly shorter, that's how and why.

The only other place to ground an amp is the engine, do you really think that's the best place to ground it, especially since your power wire will be significantly shorter, that's how and why.

If you are getting you Pos and Neg from the same source, as recommended, then why are they different lengths??? I'm asking why is a 15-20ft ground wire is a bad thing. If your battery is that far away from the amp, and you are drawing the Pos from it, why would you not draw the Neg. And where else could you???

A "good" connection is about low resistance, ohms, impedance. This is directly related to wire size x length. Wire has a resistance of Ohms/ft. The longer you run the larger gage wire you need to use.

Ok I was assuming (my bad) that he had a v-drive or an inboard and his batteries were in the storage locker giving him his power local and running the long ground. I see he has a bayliner and I have no idea where the batteries are, probably next to the engine.

Grounding length doesn't matter as long as the cables are sized properly. Many auto installs are done grounding to the battery as well; especially in SPL setups for obvious current supply reasons.

Grounding short in a car makes it easy and keeps ID 10 T errors low. The current still has to travel the same distance.....all the way from the battery.

(Message edited by olSkoolTige on April 16, 2008)

Thanks for the input guys. It isn't on my bayliner it is on a friends 1990 rinker 206 so the battery is in the back next to the engine.

ID 10 T..........Have not heard that since I was in the Navy.

Sweet, this is a question that I have been wondering about for a while but always forgot to post it.

My mate reckons that you can run enough power for a 200w amp and 12" sub through whatever cabling is there already (16 gauge or probably even smaller, haven't measured it or seen it in a while, or pulled it out yet, which I really should do and flag the rest, especially when I have some "kindly donated" welding cable at home) I told him bollocks. Just because it worked for the last guy doesn't mean it will work for me. I don't want to burn my boat down. I'm not even sure that it's a fire hazard but it seems like running a big current through a little wire is a bad idea.

Can I run a larger cable up to where I want the power source (and the ground) and then run off a distribution block from there? That would hopefully allow me to expand on the system later on and run an amp for tower speakers etc.

Running 16 guage cable to an amplifier is a risk I wouldn't be willing to take in my boat, I'm sure you feel the same. What you suggest about the distribution block is ideal and that would yeild you the best results. If you have welding cable at home that would work perfect.