New sound system. Where to ground amp if battery is too far away?

[kyleboedeker]

Hi all. I'm upgrading my sound system in my new-to-me 88 GL1500A. So far i've installed a new stereo. It already has aftermarket 4" pioneer (look to be pretty cheapo) speakers in all 4 corners, but I'm upgrading the front speakers to Sony 4x6 inchers, I'm adding a 600w amp and running all new speaker wiring. I'm mounting the amp in the trunk. I bought an amp install kit with a 12g power wire and a very short 12g grounding wire. It's way too short to reach the battery. I've also heard the ground wire shouldn't be more than like 2 feet long? So where do I ground the amp then with a 16 inch ground wire? The tail lights? Can I drill through it and try to find the frame somewhere under the trunk? Or, I will probably have several feet of power wire leftover, do I just use that to go straight to the neg battery terminal, even though it's a little longer stretch? Also, I won't need a new alternator with this little amp, right?

[DenverWinger]

The four bolts holding the trunk to the frame should be a good ground.

I have 400 watt Kenwood amp on mine, I recommend a High Output alternator.... I show good charging voltage even at idle with the stereo moderately loud. I think if you put any volume on a high power stereo, your voltage will be sagging to the discharge side with a stock alternator, especially in stop-go traffic with cooling fans running.....

Remember, an alternator can only put out it's rated current at high revs, at idle revs the maximum it can put out will only be a fraction of it's max rating.

[AZgl1800]

were it me, I would add an additional ground wire from the amp's ground terminal to the battery. a brand new 6 or 8ga copper wire with many fine strands, to reduce the voltage drop to a minimum.

this can only do good things for everything on the bike anyway.

[kyleboedeker]

Ok. That's what I will do then. Thank you!

[AZgl1800]

Ok. That's what I will do then. Thank you!

automotive audio stores have that kind of wire I am speaking of, the electrical hardware stores don't, theirs is the 7 strand, rigid stuff you don't want. to hard to work with.

[kyleboedeker]

Ok. That's what I will do then. Thank you!

automotive audio stores have that kind of wire I am speaking of, the electrical hardware stores don't, theirs is the 7 strand, rigid stuff you don't want. to hard to work with.

I had a lot of extra power wire left over, so I just used a piece of that and wrapped it in black electrical tape and connected it right to the battery. Seems to work. Thanks!