Ground Point

[calais_cruzin]

Hey all,

Just wondering where everyone puts there ground point to for there amps.

I have mine grounded to the metal peice that the tenstion rods to hold boot up are.

Now i was wondering if this is a good point to ground to or if there is a better point to do it to.

All my commo's have had it grounded here so ive just kept puttin it there.

Now wat makes me think that this isnt that good of point is that i have a lil bit of light dimm when its cranking.

I have made all my grounds 4guage besides the engine and alternator grounds.

I have a responce cap 1farad.

Now when i first did my grounds again i had a lil bit of dimm, but now its startin to do it a bit more.

Now im thinkin it may be that i cant ground out enough at the point i have it to, so im wondering where everyone else has there grounds bolted to.

Just so i can work out if i do infact need to move my ground point for optimal performance.

My volts are fine 12.4 - 14.2 but thye drop bout .6 / .8 v wen pumping, this is shown by the cap volt meter.

So if everyone could let us know where u have ur gound point that would be good.


Its prolly i just need to put a better clip on the cable to ground on batt.

Nut id fort id ask where everyone has there's grounded to.

Cheers All

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

The lights dim because all globes apart from LED's are resistor type. The voltage going through them causes the filament to heat up and this creates your light. When you are drawing larger than normal currents, the voltage drop causes the lights to dim. The only way you can overcome this is to up the alternator amps so you get a constant current that doesn't drop below 12V. Where your earths are will make no difference as long as the wire gauge is large enough.

[phat_com]

I will be grounding my amps from the bolt holding the boot lock on or i'll use one of the tow bar bracket bolts.

My mate has his amp grounded off the bolt on the back of the seat (where it opens)

Also if you have a cheaper battery it dims, My mate (same mate) had just a basic duty battery and his lights dimmed so he bought a supa heavy duty battery and now the lights are fine!

[calais_cruzin]

Yeah ive got a 650cca batt, but yeah was just worndering if there is a better spot to have it, but i guess as long as its grounded to bare metal it dont matter.

I have 4guage cable thru the car

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

A good battery also gives a constant supply but only while its new or fully charged. If you are driving along at night with high beam, aircon and stereo thumping then you will notice a bit of dimming. The vehicles accessories draw power before it is directed into the battery so upping the alternator is still my suggestion.

[calais_cruzin]

Yeah well my alt bearings are feelin like there goin to go pop soon so im goin to go round to get a vr alt as they look better n get it re wired so its a tad higher amps.

Cheers all

[Car Audio Factory Outlet]

Hey all,

Just wondering where everyone puts there ground point to for there amps.

I have mine grounded to the metal peice that the tenstion rods to hold boot up are.

Now i was wondering if this is a good point to ground to or if there is a better point to do it to.

All my commo's have had it grounded here so ive just kept puttin it there.

Now wat makes me think that this isnt that good of point is that i have a lil bit of light dimm when its cranking.

I have made all my grounds 4guage besides the engine and alternator grounds.

I have a responce cap 1farad.

Now when i first did my grounds again i had a lil bit of dimm, but now its startin to do it a bit more.

Now im thinkin it may be that i cant ground out enough at the point i have it to, so im wondering where everyone else has there grounds bolted to.

Just so i can work out if i do infact need to move my ground point for optimal performance.

My volts are fine 12.4 - 14.2 but thye drop bout .6 / .8 v wen pumping, this is shown by the cap volt meter.

So if everyone could let us know where u have ur gound point that would be good.


Its prolly i just need to put a better clip on the cable to ground on batt.

Nut id fort id ask where everyone has there's grounded to.

Cheers All

GROUND no further than 2 feet or 600 mm from the AMP!

and being on the Gas Strut bolt is not a VERY GOOD IDEA! as it twists and will soon, cause the ground not be be all that GOOD!

The Chassis is the best idea for the ground or under the rear centre seat belt anchor etc. as there are a couple of spare tapped bolt holes there or on the TOWBAR anchors.. depends where you have your amp!

[Car Audio Factory Outlet]

A good battery also gives a constant supply but only while its new or fully charged. If you are driving along at night with high beam, aircon and stereo thumping then you will notice a bit of dimming. The vehicles accessories draw power before it is directed into the battery so upping the alternator is still my suggestion.

THIS IS CALLED - GET A HIGH OUTPUT ALTERNATOR!!! and or a DEEP CYCLE BATTERY!

[wrx884]

Not sure how true this is but i was told that if u got a farrad cap more than 2 farrad not less that it helps on the dimming? but in saying that also ive heard the opposite as they really do jack and u just need a high output alternator? on that note wats a decent size output on an alternator 2 have?

[Car Audio Factory Outlet]

Not sure how true this is but i was told that if u got a farrad cap more than 2 farrad not less that it helps on the dimming? but in saying that also ive heard the opposite as they really do jack and u just need a high output alternator? on that note wats a decent size output on an alternator 2 have?

Doesnt matter if you have 25 farad as if you can not power it up after it discharges then you are in the same boat...

They do help though only with a HIGH OUTPUT Alternator and a DEEP CYCLE Battery!

[garfa]

90% of people asking why does my light dim/why does the voltage drop from 13 to 8 will have ****ed up the wiring.
simple.
keep all wires as short as possible.
wires: alt to engine block.
block to chassis
batt to chassis (2 wires to different chassis panels points if you can't be bothered testing for resistance.)
alt to batt
all must be equal or greater than the amp to batt positive! its not that hard.
once you have done this then replace the alt/batt (deep cycle if you want to play with your car off.)
i am assuming than you can actually tell that your alt/batt if stuffed and realyise you need to buy a new one, instead of the buy a new high output alt and see if that works trick.

[shaggerz]

The gas strut mount point is probably not the best ground but its probably not whats causing your problem. I use one of the anchor points for the rear seat back.

If you haven't upgraded your battery to chassis earth that will probably be it.

Knowing your system though, I can't say I'd be surprised if you'd reached the limit of the stock alternator

[calais_cruzin]

I dont know where everyone gets teh gas strut mount point from, ive got it bolted to the tenstion rod mounts for the boot lift, where the hinges to the boot are, not on any strut mounts.

Im thinkin bout moving the ground to a anchor point on the seat.

Ive got 4guage grounds from Batt to earth, just need to do the onse from alt and engine.

My dimm is very small compared to wat it was like originally, but ive still go a slight dimm, only ver very small n i wish to fix this.
Drops from 12.4 to like 11.9 not much drop but still a drop.

I got a price on a VR alt n to get it rewound, but now i have lost my pwr steering soo that has to get done asap.
But still have to wait just under a week to get it done while still driving it to work.

[garfa]

I dont know where everyone gets teh gas strut mount point from, ive got it bolted to the tenstion rod mounts for the boot lift, where the hinges to the boot are, not on any strut mounts.

Im thinkin bout moving the ground to a anchor point on the seat.

Ive got 4guage grounds from Batt to earth, just need to do the onse from alt and engine.

My dimm is very small compared to wat it was like originally, but ive still go a slight dimm, only ver very small n i wish to fix this.
Drops from 12.4 to like 11.9 not much drop but still a drop.

I got a price on a VR alt n to get it rewound, but now i have lost my pwr steering soo that has to get done asap.
But still have to wait just under a week to get it done while still driving it to work.

what are you running in terms of car stereo if you dont mind me asking?

[dephilile]

Capacitors don’t do anything other than look good. In theory they work. In practice they are unable to hold enough charge to be effective for a 10000000000000W sound system.

Do they still dim if you rev the engine a bit? Your alternator won’t reach its peak output power while the car is idling.

If you don’t run the stereo for prolonged periods of time while your car isn’t running you don’t need a deep cycle battery. Note that a deep cycle battery won’t stop your lights dimming but it won’t die as fast as a normal car battery.

[garfa]

caps do work they just need to be big enough....

[wrx884]

how big garfa? and 4 wat sorta system would it suit? (power rating i mean not brand) like how would u work out wat cap suits ur system?

[dephilile]

how big garfa? and 4 wat sorta system would it suit? (power rating i mean not brand) like how would u work out wat cap suits ur system?

You need to set some sort of specification for the voltage ripple in the supply voltage.

If you said you wanted no voltage ripple (i.e. 0.001volts) for a 1KW sound system you would probably need hundreds, maybe even thousands of farads. It all depends on what sort of alternator you have and how much it can pump out.

[calais_cruzin]

what are you running in terms of car stereo if you dont mind me asking?

Im runnin a JBL75.4 amp 540wrms that has 2x JBL 12inch 250wrms 1000peak

So its not big or anything, only running the subs all speakers are off h/u.

Im goin to shorten my batt grounds as they are a bit long.

But i did test it last night had its up near peak with car revin at bout 3000rpm n she was fine, so i guess my alt aint puttin out enough on idle.

[garfa]

Im runnin a JBL75.4 amp 540wrms that has 2x JBL 12inch 250wrms 1000peak

So its not big or anything, only running the subs all speakers are off h/u.

Im goin to shorten my batt grounds as they are a bit long.

But i did test it last night had its up near peak with car revin at bout 3000rpm n she was fine, so i guess my alt aint puttin out enough on idle.

thats strange. i am running 800Wrms plus 520Wrms, so a total of ~1300Wrms and no dim at all.
just trying to say that there is probably a fault some where.


WRX:IF i was ever going to get a cap i would have to be running some serious SPL or SQ stuff, and the cap would probably be over 10F. i personally would not be as concerned about the power rating if it was an sq system, i would just spend a good amount on a cap so that i could say that the power was clean and free of ripples and also so that i knew my amps had a power supply that was more constant.
as for spl, the bigger the better. a cap will be there just so that the amps have constant power so that the highest SPL level can be achieved.

[calais_cruzin]

Yeah well i thought it was a bit strange too as my mate has the 1000w PDX alpine amp and his thumps compared to mine but his dont dimm.

I wired it up and the only difference in the wireing is i have a Breaker fuse and his is a norm fuse.

We have the same wireing kit, just he has a bigger amp.

So this makes me think that my amp isnt very efficent (spell?)

It has a 60amp fuse in the my amp, so i shouldnt be drawing that much.

I recon it is my alt that is causeing the problem.

Cheers for everyones input

[wrx884]

thats strange. i am running 800Wrms plus 520Wrms, so a total of ~1300Wrms and no dim at all.
just trying to say that there is probably a fault some where.


WRX:IF i was ever going to get a cap i would have to be running some serious SPL or SQ stuff, and the cap would probably be over 10F. i personally would not be as concerned about the power rating if it was an sq system, i would just spend a good amount on a cap so that i could say that the power was clean and free of ripples and also so that i knew my amps had a power supply that was more constant.
as for spl, the bigger the better. a cap will be there just so that the amps have constant power so that the highest SPL level can be achieved.

yer no worries i only get a slight dim and its only through the headlights wen drivin at night i can see it dim on the road but in dash lights rnt a problem since ive dun the dash conversion with LEDs so it doesnt bother me 2 much im only runnin a standard VT alternator it has been re wound a few years ago but was gonna get a cap just so my amps have consistant power instead of drawing it outer my battery so much like wat uve said but most ppl say a caps not worth really puttin in so i havent bothered

[Phreddy]

This is easy. You probably have a real heavy gauge wire from the battery negative to the block, but a thinner one from the battery to the chassis. Replace that link with a fatter cable, so the chassis ground is as good or better then the engine ground. (which is all what Garfa said above - just worded a little different.)

[calais_cruzin]

Ahh didnt really get ur post the first time i read it, but now i do.

So if i up my engine ground to the same guage cable as the Batt to chassis this should fix my problem.

I went to do that one but i couldnt find where it was to upgrade it, so i just did the batt ground n left the alt and engine for later.

If sumone could point me in the direction to where the engine ground is located this would be good as i will upgrade this and the alt ground on the w/e.

Cheers all

Ive also got another problem that has com round in the past 2days.
my h/u amp is f@rkin up from my jbl splits as there 2ohm n sumtimes all i get is crackles, turn off the amp in h/u then back on n she works for a lil bit.

Need to get a small amp to run these speakers, i do have a older audio gods amp but on back says 4ohm only so i dont wanna break that amp too. and dont want to have to run them @ 4ohm n loose a left or right signal

[shaggerz]

if it says minnimum of 4 ohm its probably right... thats really odd that you've got 2 ohm splits... I had never heard of such a thing... you'll have to find an amp that is 2 ohm stable I expect