Hi all. I've recently went searching for the ground in my car and I believe I may have found it. When I bought my vehicle 2 years ago, I had no clue where any of the wires were/lead to, and to this day I still dont really know. When I bought a head unit and 4 speakers 1 month ago, all I did was - Cut the existing harness out from under the dash, leaving exposed chords. Stripped the chords, and soldered/heat shrink them to the head units harness. I then wired all the speakers direct to the head unit, with their own seperate speaker wire. BUT now that I'm looking into an amp or 2, I have been looking for the cars existing ground, to see if it is good enough or will need to upgrade. I found this, its about the closest thing I can think of as being as a ground, as it doesnt look like their is any other use for it. It is under the bonet, could easily get wet (is that a problem) Im not sure if its the ground so ill leave it up to you. This car has really dodgy wiring, been like that since I bought it. If anyone could shed any light on if they need to be upgraded or if they are right the way they are, please do. It would be greatly appreciated.
Anything metal should be ground. With that said the main thing that I would upgrade is the wire going from the battery negative terminal to the chassis. The picture of the battery shows the negative post and the wire going to the block, but I cannot see the wire going to the chassis. It should be 8 or 4 gauge depending on the amp size.
Hi I have no amp, if thats the amp your refering to. and I dont plan on getting one for a little while. Im just wondering if bad grounds make the head units power output worse, resulting in bad sound. All the wires are in a pipe and I always thought the chasis is the frame of the car, under the bonet. Am i incorrect.
Anything metal should be ground. It does not have to be under the hood (bonet). Yes a bad ground can cause problems. What type of car do you have??
Hi I have a 1986 toyota carolla seca 5 door hatchback. When I installed the new head unit I just plugged the wires from the old harness into the new head unit harness. So I would have used the grounds that were originally in the car, I think. Should I make a new ground instead or just leave it the way it is. If i have to make a new one,, it would have to attach to the ground, and then attach to the battery somehow. What kind of wire would I use. Its all abit much for me if I leave it the way it is will it be ok.
The factory ground should be OK. If you feel it might be a problem, then you can attach the radio ground to any metal surface behind the radio. It is not necessary nor recommended that the ground goes to the battery.
Hi that is excellent. I will attach the black wire to something metal in close range to the head unit. just to be safe Thankyou very much for all your help it is greatly appreciated.
