HELP ME! Where is your amp grounded?!

[87DXHatch]

I have been having some trouble lately with my amp(s). If you read the Phoenix Gold post then you know I prolly blew that one. Well my other one has blown two fuses today without playing a single note, so I am almost 110% sure it's my ground at this point.

Could you PLEASE tell me where you guys grounded your amps (The spot to drill the hole) and, even better, take a picture of where it is grounded?

I have mine in the way back and left, a little under the carpet, right by where the plastic starts to bulge out... so about a foot and a half from the back. I think somebody told me it might be right above a channel of some sort? In the frame of the car, I think.

THANKS! Me needy bass :)

[87DXHatch]

Hatchback! Please take note of that!

[Jdub07]

Mine is grounded in the faaar back left under the carpet, sort of in the spare tire area...drilled a small hole, scraped the paint away and screw right intot he metal. Works fine for me. Yet I don't have a spare tire or jack and shit like that under there....AAA card is much lighter.

[RobT5580]

Mine is now grounded to the battery but usually i would look for a bolt that is a main body point. I breifly read you other post and i dont think it is your ground because your amp would either be on or off because of a poor ground. I would suggest talking to bob that is on this board because if i am correct he does or did work for PG as a repair tech.......I could be wrong as i skimmed through the post quickly

[87DXHatch]

I learned a enormous amount about car audio over the summer, spending countless hours researching it. I have found that the ground is pretty much the single most important connection of all the connections. If you get it wrong, all sorts of crazy crap can and will happen.

But then again it might not be the ground. It's just weird that two amps would have the same sort of responses to the same wiring.

[87DXHatch]

And there aren't any bolts that I have found, and I have looked. It's pretty much drill-and-screw for grounding in the trunk area.

[1989se-i]

:( mines "Grounded" on the nut that holds the rear 6x9's in......

[RobT5580]

The only problems you should see with ground is ground noise or hum if its not a good ground. It sounds like a short of some sort to fry an amp. I have an electrical background so i do understand how circuits work. I dont know what the deal is with two amps the only thing i could think is that your reversing the positive and negative connections?

[staticpat]

mines under the rear seats, im pretty sure its held to a bolt. just make sure to scrape off all the paint too.

[87DXHatch]

I would have to be pretty retarded to mess up the + and - on an amp. I am 100% sure I didn't do that. I think today I will try switching the ground, and if that doesn't work, I am going to check every connection on my 0-guage flow of power.

[Thorny88Lx]

Originally posted by 1989se-i
:( mines "Grounded" on the nut that holds the rear 6x9's in......

mine used to be, now I have pulled up the carpet and drilled a hole to hold it in place with a bolt

[Neuspeed87lx]

mine is grounded by one of the blots holding the tail lights in ..works fine for me

[accordracerlx-i]

i grounded mine to one of the bolts holding the trunk hinge to the trunk lid just give it some extra wire so when u open the trunk u dont pull it out of the amp.

[wazzupmang]

What Model Phoenix gold amps? I used to have a pair of PG amps and had nothing but problems with them .....had to send them back to factory three times , Finally said screw this and bought a pair of Fosgate amps "power 300 & 500" Love them!!
have never had a problem with them...rock solid amps !! I have a hatchback as well ...... But your ground will not pop fuses.....what will blow fuses are: ( your power supply grounding out ) or bad internals in your amp... Only thing that will happen if amp is not grounded well enough , Is your amp will not turn on.....that's it.


Question? what fuse are you blowing? Internal fuse on amp? or Inline fuse off power supply?

[Bobs89LXi]

I am the ex-PG tech of whom you speak. In answer to your first question: NO, the ti 475 does not have a fuse. That is why the first thing stated in the installation instructions, in bold letters is a warning stating that a 50 amp inline fuse or circuit breaker must be installed on the positive battery line. In answer to your second question. It sounds like you have a ground on one of your speaker lines. There is no other way you can blow the amp unless you swapped the power leads. Positive is "HOT", negative is ground. So, if you have black on positive and red on negative, it is wired backward. Whether it was due to that, or a short in one of your speaker lines, you've probably fried the power supply FETs, and possibly the output drivers as well. In either case, it was a very expensive boo-boo. PG's warranty will not cover damage due to negligence

[87DXHatch]

Well it turns out that it wasn't the ground, after all. Apparently my second amp is messed up as well. I installed an Alpine 5-channel amp with the same ground and it works just fine with all the same wiring as the other amps.

Thanks for the help folks

[POS carb]

A bad ground won't cause a blown fuses, it'sa problem with the outputs, either a short or you fried the transistors inside with a bad input signal (happened to me a couple times, 1 Sony fried 6 amps)

[hondadna]

I've grounded my amp to the bolt that holds the trunk latch works great because by law the trunk must be attched to a main body part which means good ground! I have a 4 door so I dont know if yours is in a good spot to hide wires hope it works good for you

[Low Tek]

mine is where the spare tired used to be.. I don't have a spare tire, just an amp, 2 subs and the huge box that everything is in but goin to sell them and get something lighter