[Thebestestdrummer]

2001 Dodge Ram Sport Regular Cab

I am building a new sub box and while doing so I am redoing all of my wiring to better locations. My current grounding location is terrible.(So terrible I'm not going to mention where) and I would like to ground it to somewhere better. My current thought is straight to the frame/chassis of the truck.
My questions are:
A) Best route to get it to the frame? Amp will sit about half a foot to a foot above the floor behind the middle seat.
B) Or is there a better spot for a ground? How to get there?


Added information:
I will be using 4 gauge wire or bigger. It will be ran through an extra terminal in the sub box for grounding of other future amps or future electronic projects. Would that have negative effects by Grounding Loops?

Thank you.
Any help will be GREATLY appreciated

 

[brandonjansen]

To me it sounds like you're doing some pretty extensive sound system work in your truck. What size amp(s) are you running or planning to run in the future? For anything big or multiple amps the best option is to run your ground all the way back to the battery. If you're just running a single small amp the frame will work fine.

 

[Thebestestdrummer]

I currently have a SPL Z2X-1600, its 1600 peak and I think its running 748 watts rms. some odd number around that. I'm also putting my 2 rear speakers in this box to because the location of the sub box would completely block out the sound of the stock location for them. They will be of course in separate chambers. But when I get some more money id like to amp them too. So not a huge amp. Just enough to give it some more push. And id use this grounding point for lets say more interior LEDs or smaller auxiliary lights.

And isn't the battery just grounded to a simple spot on the frame anyway? or are you saying ground at the batter simply for easier access? Would it be safe to run the ground parallel with the power back to the battery? just make sure they aren't touching?

Thank you

 

[brandonjansen]

Yes, I'd definitely run it to the battery with those plans. And no, you kind of have that backwards. Your frame is grounded to the battery, not the other way around. The battery ground is the best ground on your truck.

You can run them back beside each other no problem as long as the wires are properly insulated. But don't run your RCA cables along side the power wire as you will get interference.

 

[Warlock III]

^ I agree^

You might want to think about getting at least a 1 Farad capacitor

 

[Thebestestdrummer]

So far I have never had any dimming or anything a capacitor would help on, surprisingly. not to mention they're pretty expensive for an 18 year old with no job! haha. It might be on the to do list soon though.

and Thank you, I will definitely ground it to the battery!

Off topic. But would you know how to LED mod the amp and the ports of the box?
my question is how do you put more that 4 3v LEDs together? that adds up to 12v. one more LED would be 15v. and that wont work. or am i totally just all wrong on this?

The ports would be on a separate wiring just themselves. But can I tie the LEDs into the REMOTE on the amp on the inside? or will that draw too much power from the stereo/ amp? Keeping in mind the future possibility of daisy chaining more amps with the remote line too.

I would be trying for 3 different color options (to match my other LEDs whenever i have different colors on.) The basic red blue and green on different switches, or like a tri-rocker switch if they have them. Hopefully my confused description makes some sense to you.


Thank you very much.

 

[brandonjansen]

You are correct, you can only hook up 4 3v LED's on one circuit. You would have to run separate circuits for each set of 4.

I would not draw power from the LED's from the remote wire for the amp. It's not meant to supply power like that. I would sooner run a relay off the main power wire for your amp and then use the remote wire to turn on that relay.

In order to wire switches in to that for the different colours your switch would have to be in between the relay and the LED's.

 

[Thebestestdrummer]

ahh. Relays confuse the heck out of me.

Thank you.

 

[Thebestestdrummer]

do distribution blocks also work with the ground?

 

[brandonjansen]

ahh. Relays confuse the heck out of me.

Thank you.

They're actually very simple once you play with them a little bit and know how they work. Essentially it's a switch to turn on a lot of power with very little power. You can run straight power from the battery or similar source to a component that draws high current (amps) without having to run that high current through your switch. Or without drawing too much off another source depending on how you wire it up. If you do a quick google search and read up a bit you'll learn lots.

do distribution blocks also work with the ground?

Yes :smileup:

 

[Thebestestdrummer]

cool! Thank you very much for you help.

 

[brandonjansen]

No problem! That's what the forum is for. :smileup:

Be sure to post some pictures of your install once you get it all done. It will be cool to see your set up.

 

[Thebestestdrummer]

I will most definitely take some before during and after photos!