rfbasshead Posted January 15, 2015 Report Posted January 15, 2015 Ok so this is my first serious bulid and I want it to be perfect. This is what ive come up with so far. My first question is (and I know its a super noob question) but how do I properly ground everything? Do I ground it directly to the frame or is any metal contact ok? Do I put a ground wire to the frame to the motor? If so do I use any bolt on the motor? Will all the different ground points introduce a ground loop? Also, what are the proper fuse size do I use? Everything is shca 0awg except for the amp wires which is a rockford fosgate 0awg amp kit. Which consists of 0awg up untill the distribution block which goes from 0awg input and goes to 4 awg output to the amps. I bought a mechman 240 amp alternator, the front battery is a duralast platinum agm battery, the rear is a kinetik hc1300. Its also my first time running a second battery, do I have the pac isolater wired right? Do I hook it up to the accessory from the head unit? Btw the air compressor is a horn blasters train horn. Ive asked a ton of questions on here before and ive always gotten help and I really appreciate it. Thank you for all your help you guys! Im almost ready for the build! The alternator is coming tomorrow and im waiting on the last 25' of 0awg thats on back order. Im getting all my hardware this weekend as well as getting a braket made for the alternator, so hopefully my build will commence next weekend!
SLYentist Posted January 16, 2015 Report Posted January 16, 2015 The diagram looks fair. Fuse for the wire, not the amplifier current draw. I probably can't help you with every questions, but i'll try: There is typically already a factory ground wire from the engine block to the chassis. This works as a ground for the belt drive accessories, and the starter motor. What you want to do it find this ground and simply add a run of 0awg to supplement. Leave the original in place. This will create a parallel connection to ground. You'll also want an additional run from battery ground to the chassis, a run from the battery positive to the alternator positive, and (often overlooked) a ground from the engine block or battery ground to the case of the alternator. The last one upgrades the alternator ground, which is crucial when using a fabricated bracket to mount the alt. Use pre-existing ground locations whenever possible, as they are usually placed there for a reason. It's best not to just ground to just any metal surface, the frame is highly recommended it at all possible. Avoid really remote locations away from the main body of the car. I usually don't recommend strut tower bolts, because there is usually a lot of weld points between the strut tower and the frame. Seat belt bolts are popular, just clean them up well. Don't rely on the bolt threads to transfer current, there is usually a fair amount of loc-tite (silicone) on the threads to make sure they can't work themselves loose. Cables and wires almost never fail; the terminations do.
rfbasshead Posted January 17, 2015 Author Report Posted January 17, 2015 When you say "fair" what could I do to improve it?
xan326 Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 On the factory ground, make sure you get to bare metal. I know some vehicles have their factory ground on top of paint, never made sense to me, but it's also a small wire. If you don't want to do that, you can ground to your strut tower, imo this is the best ground you could do in most cases especially with it being open, some vehicles just don't have the room for a 1/0 ground where the factory ground is. Also I didn't know about the strut towers, I've always known that they're one of the best grounds. Also on seat belt bolts, be careful they're not U bolts, some cars do use them, U bolts create a very bad ground. To check, just take a multimeter with a continuity mode and check both sides of the seat belt bolt if it has two, some only have one bolt and should be fine. And your diagram looks fine. I'm just confused as to why the amplifiers are on the front, wouldn't it be easier to have them with the rear battery? If you have your amps right next to the battery (or close) you can just use the negative post as ground. Also in this kind of setup where the batteries are independent, you don't need an isolater. As far as I know, isolaters are used when you're putting two batteries on the same output wire, in your case they're on two separate wires. But I'm not a genius or guru at this, so it might be something that has no logic and requires an isolater no matter what.
alaskanzx5 Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 I would Ditch the isolator to start with. The second battery is for an aftermarket horn that will only be used every once in a while if I read correctly. That means the power draw will be rather small. Wire both batteries in parallel with each other. Get rid of the distribution block and run power from the back battery to the APIs and the aftermarket gotten wires to which ever battery is closer. The big 3 as fallows in 0gauge 1. Alt to batt pos 2. Batt neg to frame 3. Alt case or mounting bolt to frame 4. Alt case or mounting bolt to batt neg (optional but a good idea) That's how I would do it with the way you have described what your time to do. t1500bdcp 2 t2d4 15" 1 t600.4 1 t400.2 1 set p1 tweets singer alt, tons of wiring, smd vm-1, 80prs, back seat delete, still in the works, aiming for a 145-147 with the ability to play 25hz up to 50hz.
rfbasshead Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Posted January 22, 2015 That's not to scale lol. It's a single cab so the amps aren't going to be that far from the battery. Probably like 6 feet of wire. The rear battery is in the bed so it'll prob more difficult to use that's my power source for the system, it's also pretty small. I'm hoping that I can get a d3400 by next check and use that up front. I'm under the assumption that "more is better" so I'm trying to go overkill on this haha. Now when you say "fram" you mean literally the frame of the truck? Also, when I got the isolator they said it was so the compressor won't turn on while the car is off? Is that true or where they just trying to get 40 bucks outta me?
alaskanzx5 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 By frame I mean frame/chassis It's a huge chunk of metal. t1500bdcp 2 t2d4 15" 1 t600.4 1 t400.2 1 set p1 tweets singer alt, tons of wiring, smd vm-1, 80prs, back seat delete, still in the works, aiming for a 145-147 with the ability to play 25hz up to 50hz.
rfbasshead Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Posted January 22, 2015 So basically the whole car right? Or literally the frame? As in when you can remove the body of the car to the point it's where it's just suspension and wheels motor/tranny? Or the metal of the car like the floor of the inside of the cab or the fender? I know this probably sounds dumb but I want to be very clear of what it is I should be grounding to. Right now I just drilled it into the floor of my truck under th carpet.
alaskanzx5 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 That floor you drilled in to is simple attached to the frame it's a thin metal that is barely attached to the frame. So its best to ground straight to the frame/chassis itself. That or run an equal amount and fudge I'd neg wires asking with the positive. t1500bdcp 2 t2d4 15" 1 t600.4 1 t400.2 1 set p1 tweets singer alt, tons of wiring, smd vm-1, 80prs, back seat delete, still in the works, aiming for a 145-147 with the ability to play 25hz up to 50hz.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.