Thread: Ground Wire Thickness Question

Originally Posted by wh0k

Okay, let's say I run a 4ga wire to a distrubition block and then from the block I have an 8ga wire to a 150w OPUS and an 8ga wire to an amp.

Should I ground the OPUS and amp using a 4ga or 8ga wire?

Thanks much.

You could happily use a 8ga wire to ground both devices. These runs will be comparitively short and so the (IxIxR) losses will be much smaller than your long distance run from the battery.

Ideally, you want to use the biggest cable possable for ground (especially if the runs are long) as the vast majority of interference and noise problems are ground loop related.

even if you were running 4 guage straight to the amp, you wouldnt ground the amp with a 4 guage wire. I would say to be safe ground the amp with an 8 guage, but the opus you should be able to get away with whatever guage is attatched to it....12 or whatever it is.

Originally Posted by wh0k

Great--thank you guys.

I have one more basic (and probably stupid) question:

Most people recommend grounding to the "same point". Does this mean I should put ring ends on all grounds and then stack them up and use one bolt to connect to the frame? Or does it just mean the same "general area"?

Thanks again.

same grounding point doesn't mean they have to all be on one big bolt, & they can be close to each other & fine. A good thing to consider to do it right is to use a junction block for your grounds,grounded with 4 gauge, 8 gauge feeds, same as power. costs more, but pretty pro.........