Random wiring questions

[Karkov]

If i have 3 amps hooked to the same battery, or same point on a battery, do I then need to have 3 grounds for the battery to balance the current? Each amp will of course have it's own ground.

#2 To get the correct impedance for my mids/highs I need to connect all positives together. Instead of connecting positive to positive from speaker to speaker, I would really like to run a completely separate wire from each speaker positive to the amp and then just connect them all together where they go into the amp? Same result different quantity of wire used correct?

[JamieHoward]

Each ground should handle as much amperage as whatever it is attached to – for example: If the battery will be running all 3 amps simultaneously, the ground for the battery should be a wire that can handle as much amperage as all 3 amps will pull maximum at once. Each amp should have a ground wire that will be able to handle whatever amperage that particular amp will pull. This is minimum, never hurts to overkill on electrical.

As far as the speaker wire, I would run 1 bigger wire per circuit and branch off near the speakers. It really doesn’t matter if you want to run a dedicated run for each speaker, just seems like a waste of wire to me, as well as being easier to distribute than trying to cram 3 runs into the amp terminal.

[Karkov]

Each ground should handle as much amperage as whatever it is attached to – for example: If the battery will be running all 3 amps simultaneously, the ground for the battery should be a wire that can handle as much amperage as all 3 amps will pull maximum at once. Each amp should have a ground wire that will be able to handle whatever amperage that particular amp will pull. This is minimum, never hurts to overkill on electrical.

As far as the speaker wire, I would run 1 bigger wire per circuit and branch off near the speakers. It really doesn’t matter if you want to run a dedicated run for each speaker, just seems like a waste of wire to me, as well as being easier to distribute than trying to cram 3 runs into the amp terminal.

Thanks. Kind of what I was thinking too but I wanted to re-confirm before I did it to make sure. lol, thanks for the fast response!

[Karkov]

Where is everyone wiring their volt meter into? and are you guys adding toggle switches on the positive side or is that bad idea? I see people mounting them on dashes but do you have wires running to the rear batts? Or you measuring voltage at dash? under hood? might be slightly different than exactly what your amp is seeing.

I will wire mine with what the majority is doing, lol.

EDIT: I should add that I am referring to the permanent volt meters in vehicles, whether it be digital or SMD. Not the hand helds...

[Soccerballzs]

Hey you might want to run a 0-ground to the motor also. And 0 ground to frame. remove paint from area you attach wire to. My Jeep has 3- 0 grounds. One of them I just simply replaced the 8 gauge OEM wire with 0 gauge. You will need battery connectors. KnuKoncept has some fine battery connectors as well as Rockford Fosgate.

[kl0wn]

Where is everyone wiring their volt meter into? and are you guys adding toggle switches on the positive side or is that bad idea? I see people mounting them on dashes but do you have wires running to the rear batts? Or you measuring voltage at dash? under hood? might be slightly different than exactly what your amp is seeing.

I will wire mine with what the majority is doing, lol.

EDIT: I should add that I am referring to the permanent volt meters in vehicles, whether it be digital or SMD. Not the hand helds...

I have my volt meter in my cupholder, because BMW is stupid and put cupholders in a spot that drinks don't fit in... But I have the +/- hooked up to my amp so I can see exactly what the amp is seeing.

[JamieHoward]

Where is everyone wiring their volt meter into? and are you guys adding toggle switches on the positive side or is that bad idea? I see people mounting them on dashes but do you have wires running to the rear batts? Or you measuring voltage at dash? under hood? might be slightly different than exactly what your amp is seeing.

I will wire mine with what the majority is doing, lol.

EDIT: I should add that I am referring to the permanent volt meters in vehicles, whether it be digital or SMD. Not the hand helds...

Toggle switch is fine, but you will want the positive coming off of the amp's positive input like kl0wn said, so that you can see what the amp is seeing.

[Karkov]

Hey you might want to run a 0-ground to the motor also. And 0 ground to frame. remove paint from area you attach wire to. My Jeep has 3- 0 grounds. One of them I just simply replaced the 8 gauge OEM wire with 0 gauge. You will need battery connectors. KnuKoncept has some fine battery connectors as well as Rockford Fosgate.

I can't have that many grounds run through my sensor under the hood. But in the rear I do plan on grounding body to frame etc.

[Karkov]

Thanks for all responses so far guys. I have liked the idea of attaching volt meter to amp input best so this thread is just re-confirming it even more. =)

[bbeljefe]

Just an FYI on the speaker wire question.... it's the exact same principle as power wiring to the amplifiers except that it's AC current rather than DC current.

Let's say your speakers need ten amps of current each (~150 watts) and the length of the runs is ~10'. One 16g wire to each will suffice. However, to run only one wire and then branch off, you'd need to run 10 gauge cable in order to carry the 30 amps of current all three will draw.

That said, speakers will seldom draw maximum current and even then, not for long periods but if you're going to extra efforts to provide the amp with enough power, why not do the same all the way to the finish line?