Wondering what people are using for grounds in the trunk area. I used factory installed bolt on the floor of the trunk between the spare and the battery compartment area. I'm thinking that's not the best spot and will be checking with a volt meter this weekend.

Hoping you guys can suggest some places to move it to.

 

This is my ground



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Weak

 

Ground it to the same spot, the car battery is grounded to

 

what are you trying to ground anyways? If its an amp, ground it to a bolt.

 

There are bolts all over the car that carry too much resistance to act as a good ground. Ignorant response.

 

 

OP - as you have probably figured out, this board is not very knowledgeable about car stereo stuff. You are better off going to a car audio forum if your questions are more than basic.

 

Mine is grounded to a bolt under my driver side seat where my amp is. I have a JL Audio HD 900/5. And I am running another battery with a bracket next to the washer fluid reservoir and its grounded to where you are saying. Unless your running a super powerful setup. That ground will be fine.

 

wow. lol

 

Ignorant response? You're the one asking questions here.

You'd want to run the shortest ground as possible, so pick a bolt that is the closest to your amp that is grounded to the chassis. Of course, this takes into account that the chassis acts as a ground. So it's only as good as the chassis could carry, in our case the unibody construction. (body on frames are more ideal) Also make sure the gauge of the ground wire matches the same gauge as the power wire.

If you really want to get picky, then run a very large gauge wire from the amp directly to the battery negative post (same size as the power). You'll avoid the problem of having too much resistance in the chassis. Another point that people miss is the factory ground itself. If your power wire to the amp is larger than the factory ground wire coming off the battery to the chassis, then there's your choke point. Of course we're talking small variances here, but I know nothing of your setup and how **** you want to be. (but I have a very good guess!)

I know, old post. But ungrateful thread starter.

 

Not ungrateful actually. "Ground it to a bolt" is not helpful and shows a bare minimum of understanding of what's going on here. On top of that, the "" is condescending. Hence my claim of ignorance.

You're response on the other hand was somewhat helpful.

"Ground it to a bolt" helps no one. Fact.

My insinuation with this post is that our cars offer a variety of bolts to ground to, but the chasis construction leaves various points that offer too much resistance to act as a good ground. Hence my asking for specific points that people have had success with.

 

Ok, noted.

When in doubt, ground it directly to the battery negative post with the same gauge wire as your power wire. You'll eliminate the resistance of our unibody chassis and any grounds or bolts associated with it. What is it exactly that you're experiencing? Interference noise? Rule of thumb is that if your power and ground wires cross over each other some how, then make sure it's done at a perpendicular angle. But you should be able to run them separate through your car away from each other. How much resistance are you actually measuring at the ground bolts?

You can also try to upgrade your ground wire from the battery to the factory ground too. It's a sometimes forgotten piece of the puzzle since some people run large gauge power wire but forgot to properly size the ground wire too. Every little bit helps, but unless you're running some big powered amps it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I'm getting alternator whine. I've checked all of the usual suspects including power, rca, and ground wires crossing.

The real weird thing is that I can't tell where the whine is coming from exactly. When I put my ear next to the speakers it doesn't sound like it's coming from any of them. And, I still hear it when I turn the power to the deck off.