How to ground my Amp on Yaris Hatchback

[charleschia1986]

hi guys,

i m not sure whether is this topic already been discussed or not, but i just wondering what is the proper way to ground my Amplifier on my Yaris 5-doors hatchback?

regards,
charles

[lunjiaow]

Can ground it basically anywhere that has a bolt to the chasis.

[drew113087]

Originally Posted by lunjiaow

Can ground it basically anywhere that has a bolt to the chasis.

Yes, that is capable of turning the amp on. A simple grounding job may be adequate if grounding a subwoofer amp;When powering amps that power full-range speakers always do a detailed grounding job. ALWAYS sand more than enough area to bolt doun a grong point. I have a sedan, so it may not be exactly the same. Try removing the rear seats far enough to sand down a large area around the bolts to the rear seats. Once you see the nice shiny metal, put the sats back in while placing the gold buss bars on the bolts inbetween the bare metal and the seat frame. I have three short gold buss bars sticking from the seats and towards the trunk. One perpandicular one to connect the amp grounds three ground points on the rear of the seat. A shorter disance from the amp& more ground points=better. In some situations it may be necesarry to ground the sub amp at a different ground poin, to prevent feedback in the the full-range amp.
Also try investing in some pro home-audio RCA's they are a-lot better insulated, even if u do buy them fro Big-Lots. Always run the Rca's under the carpet down the middle of the car.

[charleschia1986]

thanks thanks....

[WolfWings]

And don't laugh... but look into adding a grounding strap that hangs down from your exhaust pipe or one of the bolt-holes on your front or rear bumper for tow-mounts, to ground to a more true earth ground.

It's an old trick from CB-radio crowds, especially those pushing (illegal) 100-1000+ watt transmitters but it can help with high-powered amps as well.

[The Architect]

if you want the best ground just run a length of wire from the - batt terminal to the amp, if youre using 4ga. it wont cost very much and youll know for sure.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Originally Posted by The Architect

if you want the best ground just run a length of wire from the - batt terminal to the amp, if youre using 4ga. it wont cost very much and youll know for sure.

NO!

[RUFFSTUFF]

Originally Posted by drew113087

Yes, that is capable of turning the amp on. A simple grounding job may be adequate if grounding a subwoofer amp;When powering amps that power full-range speakers always do a detailed grounding job. ALWAYS sand more than enough area to bolt doun a grong point. I have a sedan, so it may not be exactly the same. Try removing the rear seats far enough to sand down a large area around the bolts to the rear seats. Once you see the nice shiny metal, put the sats back in while placing the gold buss bars on the bolts inbetween the bare metal and the seat frame. I have three short gold buss bars sticking from the seats and towards the trunk. One perpandicular one to connect the amp grounds three ground points on the rear of the seat. A shorter disance from the amp& more ground points=better. In some situations it may be necesarry to ground the sub amp at a different ground poin, to prevent feedback in the the full-range amp.
Also try investing in some pro home-audio RCA's they are a-lot better insulated, even if u do buy them fro Big-Lots. Always run the Rca's under the carpet down the middle of the car.

Sounds a little overkill, but if that's the way you rock N roll... Though I recommend grounding all amps to the same point and ensure your RCAs are not routed with your power cables.

[Nexus1155]

Yeah you want the ground to be as short as possible from the amp. Just gotta sand down a spot of paint next to where you are putting the amp and just drill into the floor with a tapping screw. I did it, it works great, never a problem ever

[drew113087]

Originally Posted by RUFFSTUFF

NO!

Thanks RUFFSTUFF, I had a few hundred question marks running across my head when I read that post too.
On the other hand of ovrkill takes the alternator whine out of the sytem then so be it. The more power you have going to the amp, and the crisper your speakers are capable of the better chance you have of hearing alternator whine. So w/ 150 watts going to each of my front B.A. I have a pretty good chance to get the whine if not done properly. Especially at higher volumes.
Kinda getting off topic but grounding the outer connector of each RCA to a random screw that toucches the metal frame of the radio helps. Had that problem w/ an old 2006 pioneer HU, but not my current HU

[sqcomp]

You can also make your own RCAs...

It's pretty rewarding, you do it right and it'll save you a good amount of money.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Alternator whine is usually independent of volume.. it is induced directly into the amplifier usually due to ground loops which is why it is most commonly heard at low volumes or when the amp is on but no signal is present. Gain will affect the "whine level."

[talnlnky]

if you want the best ground you can get (from the chasis) you will want to sand any painted metal like stated above.... also... you won't be using self tapping screws. You'll want to use a bolt of some kind whether it be oe or your own addition.

for reducing noise, rca placement has very little difference... the whole car is the ground... and interference can be induced from both the positive & ground... the "ground" in a car isn't a "true" ground there is still voltage and amperage passing through it... its not like a 3 prong plug in a wall outlet which has a pos/neg/gnd. Cars are actually more like pos/neg (ground is kind of a misnomer).

sheilded RCA's are usually a waste of money too...as the noise problems are usually nothing to do with the RCA's or shielding.

AND... as architect tried to say.... Sometimes running two runs directly to the battery, one for power, one for ground (pos+neg) is the best ground you can have. It all really depends on where your amps are installed, whats your power draw, and what your cabling is like for your Big 3.

To say anything otherwise is a hasty generalization that ignores many variables that come into play.

One last bit... if you want the best ground.... always use bigger power+gnd wires than needed. For example. Your amps have 60amps of draw and your power cable is 15ft long... you could get away with 4awg... but 2awg or 4awg would be even better. Thats expensive yes... I know... and thus some people may not be willing to do it... but you won't have the best ground then. If you are ever reaching the limit of your cables potential.... UPGRADE!

the biggest and most common offense for this concept isn't for amps however, but for the decks.... 99.9% of the time decks are installed using 16-18awg wire. Yet the fuses on decks are usually 10amps. Upgrade to 10-12awg for the power + gnd.... that will also help reduce the noise... ESPECIALLY if you ground to the same place as your amps!

In my mazda I ran 8awg to my deck... and it had a max amp draw of 2amps!!!! (no internal amp).... Seems overkill.... but I never had any noise problems.

noise problems are easy to prevent, but hard to isolate once you have them. The cost in copper is usually cheaper than the cost in labor you'll spend trying to solve noise problems.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Originally Posted by talnlnky

...for reducing noise, rca placement has very little difference... the whole car is the ground... and interference can be induced from both the positive & ground... the "ground" in a car isn't a "true" ground there is still voltage and amperage passing through it... its not like a 3 prong plug in a wall outlet which has a pos/neg/gnd. Cars are actually more like pos/neg (ground is kind of a misnomer)...

Actually you are wrong. In your home the 3-prong outlets are POSTIVE/NEUTRAL/GROUND with the larger slot being NEUTRAL. NEUTRAL and GROUND are actually both connected to ground. This is a safety feature that allows a short to the casing of whatever is being powered to trip the breaker.

In a DC system (like a car stereo) ground always has current flowing through it as long as there is a path to the positive power source. In a car most people call it GROUND when referring chassis metal in a negatively grounded electrical system.

Some people advise against routing your RCA cables next to your power cables because the high current the power cables pass may be enough to induce a voltage into the RCA cables which would appear as noise.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Also keep in mind, many people advocate keeping the ground wire as short as possible... actually the best practice would be to keep the positive and negative (ground) wires as short as possible. The longer the cable, the greater the electrical resistance, the larger the voltage drop from source to destination for a given current. The voltage drop can be reduced by increasing AWG size, or shortening the wire.

[TinyGiant]

i installed my amp in the back and used the place where the spare used to screw into . i used a nut and bolt and tightened it with the wire between it.

the wire is about a foot long :)

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by RUFFSTUFF

Some people advise against routing your RCA cables next to your power cables because the high current the power cables pass may be enough to induce a voltage into the RCA cables which would appear as noise.

thank you for proving my point... power still flowing through the chasis... still a good amount of power (about 20-50% more power than over the power cable in fact depending on what kind of amp you run). And noise being induced into the signal via RCA's is still one of the least common reasons for noise in the system. So even if placing your cables did make any kind of a difference.... IT STILL WOULDN'T MATTER 99.9% of the time cause its all about bad electrical connections and voltage differentials.

[RUFFSTUFF]

Sure the most common cause of noise is grounding...