when installing a cap, is it ok to run a ground wire from your amp to the neg terminal on your cap, and then run a wire from teh neg terminal to the chasis of the vehicle. will that work for what i need it to do ??

im' gonna run the power line to the cap and off the cap to the amp...so i figured itd be the same for grounding...

 

when i had my cap i ran a wire from the amp to the car, and a wire from the cap to the car, in different spots thought cuz of how it was all setup. but i dunno if u can do it the way u said.

 

Ground the cap to the same spot you ground your amp on the chassis. This will prevent ground loop.

So it'll look like this:Chassis will have two ground wires, one goes to the negative side of the cap, the other goes to the negative side of the amp.

 

1. What is ground Loop ??

2. Why would the way I said not work: wire neg amp to neg terminal on cap and then wire that to the chasis ??

 

1. Ground Loop - The condition created when two or more paths for electricity are created in a ground line, or when one or more paths are created in a shield or an audio cable. This can create undesirable noise such as a high pitched whine when the vehicle is running or pops and clicks when other devices are used in the vehicle.

Ground loops are created whenever an audio ground is established at more than one location. Theoretically, the only place the audio ground should be connected to the chassis ground is at the source unit. I've found that in systems that have noise problems, a ground loop is the culprit nine times out of ten.


Mainly to help keep down on the noise. Theoretically, it's not exactly wrong to ground at two points, as you can create ground modulation possibly from grounding two amps to the same point. But in the case of a cap and amp, that's very unlikely to happen.


2. You want to keep the ground wire as short as possible.

 

essentially i should ground the amp to one chasis bolt and the capictor to an Entirely separate point on the chasis...?

 

No, ground the amp and the cap to the same point on the chassis.

 

you can run the ground of your amp to your cap then ground the cap to a bolt or screw. make sure you scrape the paint off where the bolt/screw is to make sure you get a good ground.

 

You want to ground the amp to the frame, and the cap to the frame. Seperate or together matters not, but I'd ground them at the same spot to remove the chance for ground loop.

This may help (RF has them grounded at seperate points, but you get the point).