Amplifier Ground

[joker4096]

Where is a good place in the trunk area to ground an amplifier? Some say to ground to the bolt behind the rear seats. Anyone else have any suggestions?

[tmr263]

I did it on the bolt behind the back seat, although most people will probably advise you not too. I've had no problems with it though.

[CadenceScion]

Mine is grounded down where the spare tire is to a bolt, works great.

[navylife59]

I too have used the seat bolt w/o issue. Be sure to use a toothed lock washer. External teeth provides the most contact surface area and being that there is a bracket involved, an internal tooth would not be making much contact. I put one under the bolt head and one under the bracket. The reason why you need to use one is the fact that the weld nuts (anchors) are spot welded to the frame. Spot-welds are notorious for weak and/or high resistance connections. The tooth lock washer actually digs into the sheet metal providing better contact surface area for the connection and less resistance. Without the bolt head to the surrounding metal surface, electrons are required to jump the tiny gaps in between the threads of the bolt and the nut while still traveling through the not so electrically optimal spot-weld.

Note: Ideally you want a ground connected directly to the frame rail and not to sheet metal as this sheet metal is spot-welded to the frame. This is the case of the tC, but the number and quality of the welds provide an excellent path for electron flow with negligible resistance.

NOTE: Some people will scuff away the paint to put their lugs on bare metal. This has a few cons.
1. The two mating surfaces are irregular. The tooth lock washer is slightly more flexible and can conform to irregular surfaces better.
2. Bare metal is now going to be prone to corrosion. The tooth lock washers maintain the integrity of the surrounding paint with the bare metal contact being wedged under each tooth. Though this is far less likely to corrode than straight bare metal, some sort of corrosion preventer should be used whether it be battery connector sealer or a thick grease.
3. Without a lock washer, the ground lug is liable to work itself loose causing intermittent rises in resistivity or actually shorting out. Tooth lock washers a far superior than a standard split-lock washer mainly for the above listed reasons. The split-lock has a smaller surface area, won't conform to irregular surfaces, and would require removal of paint to form the electrical contact.

As you can see, a proper ground is the most important aspect of a sound audio system. There is alot more that goes on there compared to the positive side. This does not even take into account of Electron Hole Theory. Whew!

[excelon72]

i have a multiple amp setup as well as a line booster so i needed a good ground.. i pulled out one of the child seat latches and tested it for ground AFTER i used a dremel to remove all the paint and mounted a ground anchor i have 3 grounds going to it and 0 noise... talked to crutchfield and they walked me through using a multi meter to test the resistance and its a good spot.

[excelon72]

stinger makes a ground anchor that works awesome..

[navylife59]

Stinger has always had a great product line.