Mobile Grounding & Amp Install

[Scooter]

Greetings. I've got a 148gtl and a cobra xl450 in a Ford Five Hundred. I have some rfi coming in through the antenna, not too much, but enough to compel me to keep proper grounding and power an ongoing project. The radio is hooked to battery pos and neg with 12ga wire, with fuse and 50 amp noise suppressor inline. The amp is hooked to battery pos and neg with 8ga wire, 50 amp fuse at battery. Both the radio case and amp case are grounded to the same bolt that mounts the seat to the frame. Is this a proper power and grounding setup for these components?

I am in the process of grounding the body panels and exhaust. I have run a new 6ga ground from the battery neg to the frame (it was to fender before). I am working on a new ground for the alternator. The alternator on this car is on the bottom right of the engine, and I can only get to it with my fingertips after laying under the car and snaking my arm through various suspension, steering, and exhaust components. Im trying to get a wing-nut on the neg stud. The factory alternator ground is a wimpy aluminum flat braid strap about 2 feet long going to the fender. Im thinking that running a 6ga to the frame for an alternator ground can only help.

Your thoughts? Thanks!

 

[panama]

my thoughts

my thoughts are maybe make amp ground short as possible and maybe try diff coax or route it differently as to try and control your stray rf or what ever they are calling it these days lol any how good luck

 

[AMPOWER]

Use the flat gnd strap 1" wide is plenty(thats the big stuff) ....not power wire for ground connections.
the gnd on ur alt seems fine..ground the engine block to frame
and u should be good...

u dont need to ground the case of the radio or the case of the amp...its grounded through the power cables...

AM POWER

 

[FL Native]

Use the flat gnd strap 1" wide is plenty(thats the big stuff) ....not power wire for ground connections.
the gnd on ur alt seems fine..ground the engine block to frame
and u should be good...

u dont need to ground the case of the radio or the case of the amp...its grounded through the power cables...

AM POWER

i would also put back that ground to the fender along with that ground to frame. then do like fender to firewall on both sides, hood, rear fender's to frame ect.......

 

[Scooter]

Thanks for the info. It looks like I'm upgrading (again), but I will use this info in my next install.

 

[Switch Kit]

Good Ole Antenna noise )-: ground ground ground and more ground )-: what a pain in the dairy air !! Cap this and cap that !! tear a damned gas tank out to get to the goodie in there that causes havick to them there radios !! Damn it !! Won't catch myself doing that in the near future. The things that people do totally amaze me from time to time when it comes to antenna noise !! But I do understand all the same )-: .....well folks ,all's I have to say to that is thanks for those radios out there that have good anl's and NB's on them !! because after playing the overly grounding game over the years with very little results , I ain't wasting my time on that crap no more !!! It's either a decent radio that will filter the noise or I just ain't talk'in or receiving no more !! antenna noise is enough to have me personally put away in a nut house !!My brain just won't tolerate the noise !! Some cars and trucks are just better suited for radios and antennas !! Cobra 148s/Grant XLs have fairly good noise blankers in them along with the 29s 76s 78s and 25s .....The 25s work best in my car copared to the others I mentioned , even though I do sacrafice having SSB (but with those radios , SSB is a much cleaner and quiter situation where antenna noise is a problem) In my car ,29's and 148 type radio noise blankers work but they tend to act like RF gains on each click up ,meaning nb and anl/nb ,they also tend to make the incoming sound scratchy so to speak. I run a 1981 Cobra 25 LTD now , as far as IM concerned ,one of the best AM noise blanking radios I've ever used to date..as long as I have the car IM driving at this time , The 25's work best for me. I only ever had one car in my life 20 years in this hobby that didn't have any antenna noise what so ever , it was a 1981 Jeep 4x4 Station Wagon !! What a pleasure it was to run radios in that car !! I never had to use the NB's on any radio !! Now that's AWESOME !!! (-: Good luck to you Scooter , Peace

 

[Scooter]

Switchkit, I hear ya. I just picked up a 48T under the premise of "testing" to see if the setup generates any less rfi that is picked up through the antenna. I'm thinking that with less long power and ground connections laying around there will be less rfi for the antenna to pickup. Maybe if I mount the amp in the engine compartment and run a remote control on/off switch to the dashboard... But then there's more coax to pick up stray rfi from the engine electronics, etc. I have a Magnum S3 in which the nb/anl works very well, but it only puts out about 40 watts, which is pretty respectable, but in my somewhat unreasonable quest for power is totally insufficient.