TheRedWRX

I came across a concept about grounding amps directly to the battery and I wanted everyone's thoughts on it.

A lot of websites, including both audio forums and installation guides, recommend running the amp grounds directly to the battery's negative terminal, directly bypassing the chassis. Now I've always been told that this isn't smart; that you want the ground to be a short wire to the chassis/seatbelt bolt/etc. I've also heard it's best to run a short ground wire from the amp to the chassis, and then run a ground from that chassis grounding location back to the battery. With the construction techniques for building today's unibody chassis, I know that chassis aren't as good of a ground as they used to be. With adhesive and spots welds, they sometimes aren't as good as the good old days. Are there any safety concerns with running a ground directly to the battery? Will the amp perform better by doing this?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
TheRedWRX

PghRedBean

well...My thoughts are that a long ground cable such as that would act as an antenna for noise. So yes, you will eliminate the chassis ground currents, however you may negate that loss by picking up all kinds of other radiated noise. I say give it a try and if it doesn't work out well, cut the cable and ground it to the chassis instead. It's an easy conversion if it doesn't work out. Of course you have to buy a bunch of extra ground wire.