Gyu just got my amp after waiting for a month for it... and waiting 6 months after getting my subs... and its being a piece. I dont know where the hell to gorund it. I have a 97 civic coupe. Everywhere i try grounding it it sparks, and i the protection light on the amp goes on and off, and the cap isnt even working! I have power and the remote wire is working.... its making me nuts. Any help is well appreciated! Thanks Guys!

 

you most likely shouldn't be shorting out on the frame if your just grounding. you should most likely just wire back to the negative side of the battery, that way you won't get a ground loop.

 

pull the fuse on your power wire while you are grounding it. just find some good bare metal (make sure you scrape off the paint) and use a self tapping screw and screw it into the chassis. then when you are done put your fuse back in, a little spark is suppose to happen, its only 12 volts of electricity. fuses are there to keep from circuitry getting damaged

 

DO NOT ground on the battery. The ground wire should be no longer than 18". Remove the fuse from the power wire (which is also within 18" of the battery), scrape the paint in the spot where you are grounding, then screw the terminal down. Don't use bare wire, use a ring terminal.

 

now that i don't buy, i have read everywhere that grounding to the battery is much better than grounding to the frame. You are gonna tell me that the frame and body of a car, with all its incosistencies, is a better conductor than some good 8 gauge wire taken directly back to the battery. That i find hard to believe. I myself have my ground to the body, but if i could do it in retrospect, i would have gone to the battery, and probably will sometime in the future.

 

Grounding to the battery has been discussed OVER AND OVER AND OVER again...it's been beaten like a dead horse.....

There is no real reason (IMO of course) to ground back to the battery in a newer car where you don't have much corrosion, etc. This is one reason why eveyrone should check the factory grounds and upgrade them.

Everyone is missing the big picture here.....THE CAP!!!

He is not charging the capacitor (or at least it appears as such). If you fail to charge the capacitor, you will get the huge sparks he is talking about.

First things first, get the manual for your capacitor and charge it correctly. There are some different procedures if it's a monitor top or just your run of hte mill capacitor.

For a single cap in a single amp system, it recommends the following:

1. ground the amplifier
2. make your connections to the capacitor and the amplifier for the positive side
3. get a resistor (any 12 volt bulb will work, I personally use a cheesy 12v indicator lamp)
4. attach the ground wire for your cap to the chassis - do not ground the cap and the amp in the same location
5. attach one terminal on the bulb to the negative terminal on the cap, attach the other terminal on the bulb to the ground - hold this connection until the bulb on the cap goes out
6. attach the ground to the capacitor

Now you are ready to go! When grounding, always take the area where you are connecting it to down to bare metal! Be sure to use a coarse screw (or existing bolt/stud) and use a lock washer - get the ground connection tight!

That should help you out

 

thanks for setting me straight... damn i hate how you always have a clean straight up answer. all knowing audio bastard....

 

I see now... i had the same ground for the cap and the amp... and no more spark explains that. Where are you guys grounding your wires at in your civics?? any pics would be kool.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...=1498

this is the cap i got..... and it has remote turn on.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snoochtodanooch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for setting me straight... damn i hate how you always have a clean straight up answer. all knowing audio bastard.... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Nahh...not setting you straight...just giving my $0.02 - even though most times it's not asked for

All knowing...nahhh...but thanks for the compliment! You learn something new everyday in this hobby...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shaun311 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I see now... i had the same ground for the cap and the amp... and no more spark explains that. Where are you guys grounding your wires at in your civics?? any pics would be kool.</TD></TR></TABLE>

In a civic, the ground should be as short as possible. I have found that the floor pan is a good grounding location. The studs that hold in the taillights are also good grounds - or anywhere on that panel.

The bolt that holds down the rear seat cushion however didn't work for me.

Remember, bare metal is a requirement, so grab some sand paper and let'er rip until you see shiny metal!!

 

or if you've got a dremel, just put a cut off wheel and turn it at an angle and grind away for a second, you will see metal in no time. you can get a dremel for like $60 these days from home depot. its a really handy tool

 

I happen to use mine with a sanding wheel to do it!

The dremel is an essential tool to installation. It works WONDERS with fiberglass too....one of my favorite tools - probably next to my router/table.

 

thanks guys! yea i drilled and sanded a spot on some sheet of metal in the rear fender behing the trunk carpet walls... the subs work.... but the cap took a **** i gotta send it back and for now i have dimming headlights and gauge cluster.....