Hey guys heres a tip i got today at a local hardcore car audio shop, and it worked!

My neighbors car has 2 JBL 10's in a sealed with a Kicker amp and some other nice stuff, anyway the tip we got was shorten the ground wire to as short as possible. Made sense to me, and you'd die laughing watching me contort into that grand-am's trunk hooking it up.

But in the end, i cut about 18" out of a 3 foot 8-gague ground wire, and it made a noticable difference. The volume was only a bit louder, but the notes were much clearer and more distinct, it made it sound like the amp was working much less. No joke! Talk about a free mod.

------------------
88 Base Camaro
305 Auto
All Stock....for now

 

I wonder why that works? Does any one know?

------------------
yellow 86 Camaro
LG4 700R4
Pioneer head unit
Kenwood speakers
Infinity Beta Digital 300 amp
2 Infinity Perfect 12s

 

Well, I'm not an electrician or am I very well versed in theory, but let me give it a stab. I would say that the cable in a stereo system is the weak link. I would also assume that if you used the shortest power cable, and speaker wires, the the amp would hit a little harder as well.

That's what I think anyways,

Chris

 

It is really simple actually....Electricity is just like water. Shorter the distance the more presure. The shorter the wires the less loss they incure.

------------------
91 Z28 Camaro
305 TPI
700R4 with 2000 Stall and shift kit

 

Using the simple formula V=IR where V is voltage drop, I is current and R is resistance. The longer the wire, the more resistance there is. So using that formula, if your amp pulls 20 amps and the resistance is .5 ohms, then the voltage drop would be 10 V. That is how many volts are lost throughout the wire before the amp. Since your car only puts out 12-14.4 volts, that leaves you with 2-4.4V to run your amp. Those numbers are exaggerated, but you get the point. The smaller gauge number (larger wire) wire you go, the less resistance. The shorter the wire, the less resistance. If you run a long wire, you must increase the wire size to keep the resistance from becoming too large. If I were you, I'd try running at least 6 gauge wire from your battery, preferrably 4 gauge. This will allow the most voltage to get to your amp. I would do the same for ground wire. The bigger the diameter and the shorter the length, the less the resistance.

------------------
1992 Camaro Z28; Engine:383 w/Ported Edelbrock RPM heads. Lunati Solid Roller Cam 224/232 .502/.502, Fluidampr, Comp Cams 1.5 Roller rockers and lifters, Comp Cams Triple Valvesprings, SVO 30 lb injectors. Holley/Walbro 255 lph in-tank pump, Haltech E6GM DFI, SLP 1 3/4" headers, 4" Mufflex, T56, SLP Clutch, Pro-5.0 Shifter, 4.10 Gear, Auburn Offroad Pro Posi. Super Ram. 17" X 9.5" Ronal FireHawk Rims w/ 275 40ZR17 Bridgestone RE 730's up front and Nitto Drag NT 555R's out back.

Double-Pump This! EFI Rules!

 

3rdgenfrank is right im running 0 gauge wire to have the least resistance......

 

That "trick" only works if you were using an inadequate wire gauge to begin with. If you were using 4 gauge to begin with, shortening it would not have made a difference.

------------------
The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Just a sugestion, don't run cheap stiff wire. More strands the better, don't get a 2 guage wire that has 7 strands, you'd be better off with 8 guage and 2000 strands. Less resistance because the wire has more surface area than the one with fewer strands.


------------------
, Jon (350 TBI! getting 23mpg highway)
91 Red RS w/grey int, sq stereo (Alpine v12, kicker solo, MB quart premium etc)AIM: JPrevost

• Holley 670 TB unit w/ 1/2" spacer/adapter
• Edelbrock RPM vortec intake
• 350ho 330hp vortec crate motor
• 8" harm. balancer
• Stewart stage 2 water pump w/160 thermo
• SLP tri-y headers to full 3"
• Rebuilt trans w/ SLP shift kit
• Centerline 16x8's all around
• 36/24 mm sway bars
• Full poly bushings, even motor mounts
• SLP LCA and panhard
• Alston SFCs
• Edelbrock 3 point STB
• Global west steering brace aka wonderbar
• Eibach pro kit springs
• Bilstien high perf. struts and shocks
• All this and I still have AC

My websiteAny questions?

 

would shortening the ground cable stop my Alternator Guage from bouncing when the bass hits by any chance?

and what exactly does this mean?

kev

 

JV, actually multistrand wire isn't necessarily better. At high frequencies, electrons travel along the surface of the wire, but at DC, it travels through the wire. But, quality cable is still better. In general, it's a more pure copper, and the flexibility alone makes it worth it.

myposcamaro, your voltage gauge bounces because your alternator is not capable of delivering a constant voltage because of the immediate and substantial current consumption of the amp when the bass hits. You need a stronger alternator and a stiffening capacitor to fix this.

That being said, it's still a good idea to upgrade your factory ground wire if you've got a very high power system. The stock ground wire is a 4 gauge wire, which is adequate for most situations. My car has over a 100 amp draw and uses 2AWG power wire (upgrading to 0AWG soon) so I upgraded my ground by running an aditional 4AWG piece to the chassis.



------------------
The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

BINGO



------------------
-Justin-
T-Top '86 5.0L LG4 700R4 WS6
T-Top '92 5.0L TBI 700R4
My '86 Firebird Homepage
The F-body Model Kit Pictoral Archive (updated 3/14/01)

There can be only one!!

 

if it dont work, can i come over and beat you over the head with my amp for making me dig up my cables?

jk

kev

 

Let's also not forget that the length of the power wire is important too.

Theroetically, if you could mount a big huge amp under the hood right on top of the battery, with only 6" of wire...you could probably get away with 10-gauge wire if you had to.

On a more practical note, installing an amp under the dash or a front seat means that the cable doesn't have to be as thick.

Likewise, if you're putting an amp in the far rear of a 15-passenger van, the cable should be thicker.

 

Reminds me of the instruction book of a Rockford Fosgate amp I installed, it went something like this... "Rockford Fosgate will not be responsible for damage caused by installing the amplifier in the engine compartment, or for the ridicule you will endure from your friends."


------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

Ya know, its nice to actually be posting to a board where people know what they're talking about. I'll agree its probably more of a thing to help make up for too small of wire, I've always been under the impression the bigger the wire the better, but unfortunately us poor college kids don't always wanna cough up the extra $$ for 4 gague. Oh well, I'm just glad to actually own a "real" car for the moment, even though its not exactly quick at the moment.

------------------
88 Base Camaro
305 Auto
All Stock....for now

 

whenever i updated my grounds, i noticed a diffrence...my ground is always bigger than my positive, dont ask me why, hooked it up that way one time, and keep it that way since then...

in my topaz, i noticed a difference also mounting to acual frame instead of just like stripping paint off metal and using htat...

 

You're right. Spending big bucks on wire sucks, but it's a necessity. It should ALWAYS be put into your total budget before you buy anything. Saving up to build an 11:1 compression motor isn't going to do you much good if you don't have any money left over for high-octane gas. This is the same situation.

------------------
The IROC Homepage
<A HREF="http://www.rit.edu/~jli4307/camaro" TARGET=_blank>
View the restoration of an 85 IROC</A>
"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

I've heard quite a few systems sound like crap (and heard of two that caught on fire) because thin/cheap wires were used! So many guys buy the best amp/speakers/whatever, then use the cheapest wire to hook them up, and then wonder why their system sounds so badly. I had to diagnose a system once that was a complete mess; thin, cheap wires looped back & around to everything. When I fixed the deal, the guy asked me "why'd you mess up my wires?" LOL...


------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!