probable power problem?

I just had some complete morons at a stereo shop run the wiring for my system, I have one amp (eclipse 34230 and a 2 farad tsunami cap (and please hold the crapacitor comments, read the thread noted, but do tell me if that is what is f-ing up the system)) and they are hooked up to two pioneer TS-SW1241D. The rest on my 07 Tundra is stock. The cap has the positive running to it from the battery and the negative is just floating around! I am almost 100% sure this isn't right but its still working (granted it seems to go on and off but the amp still runs at times....that negative cable should be grounded right? if so why is the cap working when it isn't?? The problem with the cap/system behaving strangely happened after I had it cranked up pretty loud, the subs cut-out, so I turned the radio off right away. Looked at the cap it was reading 8v and I know mine is set to shut off below 10v. I figured that was the problem but then as the cap was re-charging (i thought that was the problem) then it shuts off completely...leaving the truck running and revving some etc had no effect...turned off and on, no effect. The the LED's on it come on but no LCD display on the cap. At this point I am wized don't know what the problem is and say f it for now. I come back after about 30 minutes, same thing LED's are on making clicking noises but no LCD, when I start the truck the clicking gets faster and then is pretty much quiet. So I start to take out the back seat to see if some the of the amp fuses are blown or something (I have no idea what im doing at this point, even after doing some reading on here). Of course as soon as I get the last bolt out the f-ing cap LEDs and LCD come back on reading 13v like nothing ever happened! I put it all back in and by the time i get the box back in place and the seat the cap cuts out again. then comes back on about 5 minutes later....then back on when I turn off the truck and turn it back on...start playing some music the cap LEDs and LCD go off again but the subs are still playing now. I think, actually I know this post is probably way to verbose (sorry about that) but I couldn't figure out how to get this one any shorter. Haemphyst this question is a follow up to that PM, switching the amp to mono as you suggested wouldn't affect this right? If any more info is needed (yeah right!) please let me know. Thanks a million for anyone that takes the time to read this and throw me a bone!

Two pioneer subs that are 4 ohms each run parallel bridged to mono? If your amp is 2 ohm mono stable it is fine but if not, you could fry your amp outputs or even the whole amp. The cap is supposed to be grounded on one side and positive direct to battery on the other along with the positive to the amp. Is it a 2 terminal or does it have built in distribution blocks on top? If so use input and output according to gauge wire. The thickest to battery and smaller to the amp. Did you charge the cap with a resistor or is it a new smart cap that does that for you?

The amp is two channels at 4 ohms and the subs are wired to each channel...not series or parallel (unless I am even more retarded with electrical than I thought). The amp is rated 370x2 RMS and the subs are 350 RMS each...so I don't think that is an issue... The cap has a distribution block on top with room for one more set of wires out. The ground, can I just screw/bolt/affix it to the metal floor of the cab? or is there a better typical location? I keep hearing about getting a good ground. I am assuming the retarded audio shop charged the cap because it didn't drain my battery or anything when it was started up (and prior to the above described incident the system was working fine for about 18 hours). But I don't honestly know if it was charged, I asked that question but got a difficult to interpret response (part language barrier and I suspect part installers not giving f-). Thanks for the input!

Ok so the amp is being run stereo. The ground point has to be solid which means as little resistance as possible to get good current. If you own or have access to a DMM (digital multi meter) you can reference the ground resistance back to the ground on the vehicle negative battery terminal to see what the resistance across them show. The lower the number the better.If there is a bolt in the floor or a screw that exists already behind seat, check with dmm. Use the other connection points on top to hook to amp. ground cap and amp at the same point. Use power cable ample enough for current and the same gauge wire for ground.

Ok so the ground probably is the weak point here? If so why will it run when the ground isn't even touching metal? The amp negative terminal runs to the cap should it run to a different point? Any other possible diagnoses for this intermittent problem? Thanks techman

The amp ground terminal and the negative on cap need to be grounded at same point. The chassis of amp screwed to floor is where the amp was receiving it's ground point possibly.

makes sense but I still don't see how the cap/amp can be working when the cap isn't grounded? Anyone? Thanks

Are there two wires attached to the amplifier's ground terminal? If so, then this is where the cap is getting it's ground, and it's OK to do it that way. If not, then the cap isn't working. Period. A capacitor of ANY sort must be referenced to ground in order to charge. Sounds to me like the screws into the chassis were the ground. If so, then this is where the cap's ground is... the amp chassis. While not ideal, it's functional. You can fix the issue, quite easily. Just run a solid ground cable from the negative terminal of the cap to the chassis, this should fix it, unless other issues are present.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."