wiring help please

trigx5 · Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 21 City: atlanta, ga

Heres the situation: I am putting 2 amps in the front of my boat (mtx801d and mtx 432) but the battery, which I am told is the best place to ground, is all the way in the back.(approx. 20ft run.) Question is...would it work if I used an optima deep cycle battery standing alone as the ground. It wouldnt be connected to the charging system of the boat at all. It would just be sitting near the amps out of sight. If this would work as a good ground about how often would I need to recharge the optima? Thanks for the help guys!

Wake upPp · Soul Rider Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 338 City: NOR-CAL

no it won't. only way it will work is if u wire the new battery in parrallel with the other battery.

Hyperryd · Addict Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 604 City: Central Cali

You could run the system off of a stand alone battery, but you would have to hook up the power and ground to the battery. You would also need to hook up the deck to this battery so the amp turn on lead from the deck would work. Or you could add a switch to turn on the amps. The problem is with those two amps you would probably have to charge the battery every time you took the boat out and once the battery goes dead you are done for the day musically. The second battery is a good idea, but I would run the long wires and hook it up to your charging system.

trigx5 · Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 21 City: atlanta, ga

Hyperryd,

Is it possible to use the tower as a ground. Seems like a long shot but ground between a couple of washers one of the mounting bolts.

Hyperryd · Addict Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 604 City: Central Cali

Boats and cars are way different. The body on a car is metal and is grounded in the engine compartment which will travel though the whole body. Boats are fiberglass which doesn't conduct electricity. The tower is metal, but it isn't grounded.
Think about it this way. Power is always trying to make a loop back to ground. Everything that goes out of the posative terminal of a battery has to come back to the negative terminal of the same battery. If more than one battery is used they need to be wired to eachother so the circuit (aka loop) can be made. I know it seems like a pain to run long wires, but you will regret shortcuts down the road. Also with a run that long you should run a 4ga power and ground, then distribute down to two 8ga near the amps. Now you know why boat are a whole lot harder than cars when it come to stereo systems.

trigx5 · Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 21 City: atlanta, ga

Hyperryd,
Why would you distribute down to 8ga near the amps? Is that what the amps will require most likely for terminal connections. Sorry for the remedial questions, just not real familiar with car/boat audio.

Geoff Standish · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 843 City: Calgary

Think of your power wiring like a water hose. The bigger the hose the more water (Power) it can flow. If you were to run 8ga from the battery to the amps when you tee it off you are will be losing flow. Like if you were to T off your water hose into two each line would have half the flow.

If you T off a bigger hose into two smaller hoses you will be flowing the max amount of water (Power) to each hose.

Be sure to get good quality wires. Don't cheap out here.

Good Luck...

Geoff Standish · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 843 City: Calgary

Ohhh yeah, and make sure you get yourself a power distribution block.