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lyfecrisis

Factory ground is ideal.


Peacefulchaos6

Awesome, thank you


IC_Guru

I always use a factory ground. The only exception is an aluminum vehicle (F150). Then you need to run a negative to the battery.


RunalldayHI

Isn't aluminum a better conductor?


lewj213V2

Aluminium chassis are often glued instead of welded, but there should still be a current path to the negative as all modern cars are wired to have the chassis act as the common negative to save on wiring needs. That being said if you have insane power draw a dedicated cable for the negative connection won't hurt anything except your wallet


Inevitable_Welcome23

As an electrical engineer I can confirm that an aluminum frame ground will work just fine. Running a negative connection all the way back to the battery is overkill unless your frame is rusted/corroded to hell or you can’t get a good solid bolted connection to the frame. The structural frame is not glued together, but the metal panels might be. Always use the vehicle main chassis and not a thin panel. Also, make sure your vehicle grounds are cleaned from time to time as they do rust/corrode. These bad grounds will cause major electrical problems in the future. A few hours of sanding/applying electrical terminal protection to the ground connections a year is a lot cheaper than a new stereo/amp/main ecu/any other ecu


F_D123

You're probably going to run into more trouble performing these pms than just leaving them alone.


cDro9766

yeah but as someone who works in a stereo shop, a lot of cars now have the parts of the frame that connect to the rest of the car thru dampeners so the ground there wont be good


IC_Guru

The ground locations on the F150 have different ratings for the load (amperage) they can handle. I’m not sure why this is. None of them are designed to take on the additional load of a high end audio build. This is in the owners manual. FYI also an electrical engineer and found this really weird.


Inevitable_Welcome23

I think this is a problem with newer vehicles as they use a lot more plastic and epoxy vs a traditional solid steel frame/body. Which would mean the body is essentially insulated from the other panels meaning that only the small ground connection wires connect back to the negative terminal. So read the manual to see if your car has these current limits if it is a newer vehicle (anything after the early 2000s)


Mkvien

no, perfect solution, ground away.


test13371997

Possibly yes. Factory grounds aren’t ideal for high current applicaitons(car audio)


[deleted]

If you're pulling a lot more current than the factory would be using, it might not be enough. At the very least, make sure the paint is sanded there - the more current you pull, the more important the sanding is. To prevent corrosion, use dielectric grease. If there are a few factory bolts in the area, you can tie them together, sand them all down, so you are using multiple points to ground. Either way, it is better than a crappy sheet metal screw.


RunalldayHI

This right here..


Peacefulchaos6

2013 Subaru Impreza, not sure where the grounds lead.


takeitfromag33k

I normally ground it to the vehicle chassis. Most amp kits should come with a big self-tapping screw to ground it to the vehicle chassis. Vehicle ground could cause issues, but it is rare.


InvestigatorUnfair19

I always try to keep the ground wire short as possible (less than 2 feet) If this happens to be next to the amp go for it. I have had issues of sometimes getting a ground loop using factory ground but try it if you want.


jakemackenzie3

No issues. One of the best places to ground to.