grounding, chassis vs battery

Hey,

I'm about to do another install and I'm wondering if its better to ground to the Chassis or straight to the Battery?

It best to ground to a location where there is minimal resistance. The battery is often not a great ground. The battery is almost like an electrical filter, so I avoid using it.

Is this a vehicle with the battery in the boot?

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nah, just a ford falcon, the battery is in the front.

its just i was running wires in insulation under the car (found here) and i was debating running ground through there 2, or just to ground it in the boot.

A bit extreme on the conduit. A properly sized fuse 12 inches from the battery is manditory after that a grommet going into the vehicle. What happens in the middle is up to you. I use welding cable spec. Carol Super Vu-tron. The jacket is tough enough and heat restant enough not to need any outer covering.

I have had to go straight to the battery on boat installs and have had no problems. That vehicle has alot of steel for grounding. Upgrade the Big3.

Ground it to the chassis. Cheaper and easier. Why not make life a whole lot simpler and run your power cable on the INSIDE?

coppellstereo wrote:

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Ground it to the chassis. Cheaper and easier. Why not make life a whole lot simpler and run your power cable on the INSIDE?

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well for one its faster to do it in conduit under the car, and two it prevents the small lumps in the carpet, 3 seems its not going in the car and straight to the boot, it seems pointless to run a 4 maybe 2 gauge power cable down the inside of the car when it has no reason being there

plus if mounted right that conduit is pretty neat, safe and flush under the car.

guess i'll mount to the chassis, thanks for your replys

What year is the car?

96 off the top of my head, its not my car, so can't remember the exacts, but pretty sure its a 96

I worked on an old falcon, and it was rough. Newer cars should have a way to squeeze some power wire inside the car.

... to each their own?

yeh true, im just itching to try sum thing new i guess

No one mentioned that the true ground in a vehicle is not the battery negative but the Alternator negative - which in most cases is the alternator case.  The return path for your amplifiers is through the vehicle's chassis, the engine grounding strap, the engine block, to the alternator case where it mounts to the engine.  This is why the chassis is the best place to ground your system - plus big pieces of metal will simply carry more current than cables.  (The exception of course would be a system designed to be used with stand-alone batteries and the engine off.)

I am not a fan of running power cable outside a vehicle, even in conduit, as there are just too many things that can go wrong and the cable can be damaged.  I say run it through the firewall and through the interior of the vehicle.

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Ok thanks, i'll have a think about it when i get the vehicle and take a look.