YOU'RE LOSING PERFORMANCE! How to Measure Voltage Drop and Test Ground
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- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2024
- MORE Voltage means MORE Power! How can we determine where we are losing voltage in our custom car audio system? Where is the best spot to mount a ground wire for an amplifier? Let's test our ground wire to find out and measure voltage drop!
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Hey dudes! Who already knew about this test? Who didn't?
There's no shame in learning something new! What else would you like to learn?
CarAudioFabrication so when I’m playing my music with my car on and running when I hold the rpms over 2000 it keeps the amps on when it drops below it cuts them off two 300 watt amps running of off 4gauge wire each amp powers a q power 15 please help
How do you know how much your stock vehicle alternator amperage could handle including accessories + amplifier?
samuel purvis
Is your wire OFC?? Using ofc vs CCA can definitely cure this issue.
Check for corrosion at the terminal connections. At the battery, and at ground. Could be an issue. Not having a rock solid connection can be it.
I didn't know you could read voltage on the same polarity. Learn something new everyday.
Is it best to run ground to a 2nd battery or on the frame
If u don't want to buy extension leads use speaker wire and do the same thing to measure resistance it works well
How would you use speaker wire?
@@jordanlara751 wrap one end around the positive test lead of your multimeter. (Be sure to check the resistance between the speaker wire) Then stick the other end of the wire on the positive terminal of your battery. Now use the negative lead to test your ground.
Any wire you just need to minus the resistance of the wire and leads.
Thanks for this! I bought extensions and they won’t work! I was racking my brain on how to fix this issue. This helped me a lot! Now I can test
oh man how many times am i gonna say this.. you are just a HUUUUUGE source of good information and a very good teacher.. i didn't even know small things like these matter so much.. i have so much respect for you buddy.. literally the best audio system channel out here..
Really appreciate that! It's not always easy, I was up til 2 am last night editing this, but comments like these make it worth it.
Man I Appreciate your Clear speaking of words & Exact process of the issue at hand. Your videos are Top-Notch and have Evolved my car audio knowledge. Thanks
Great video Mark. Thank you for always improving the craft and helping others (all of us) along the way!
Love this. Thank you. Thank You. You speak so clearly, Not too fast, Not too slow; just perfect. Don’t add any life stories or personal things, Straight to the point. God Bless. Definitely learning car audio here. I’m not big on car audio. Ratio(Handling/Engine/Audio) Car wise is (50/40/10)..... so less is more for me. What’s a good small amp to control 2-4 speakers and maybe a small sub. Toyota MR2 (SW20) 1991 version.
This video should be required viewing for every tech touching automotive electrical components, whether handling installs, retrofits or forensics. Serious value here. Thank you!
I learn a lot from you, simple things that i thought was not a problem, thanks bro am all the way from the caribbean (GRENADA)
FLIPPING OUT!!! THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! THANKS! Subbed!
This is by far the best car audio channel on RUclips. Thanks again Mark!
Doing my best! Thanks!
Agreed
Has to be Doug in disguise
I concur with thT statement song ! 💪🏾
I dont know about the best maybe the most professional.
You The Man. Always GREAT Knowledge. THANK YOU!!!!!!
Video idea; $3 rca vs $30 rca signal cable differences . Love the videos!
Always well demonstrated!!!!!
@Mark Seven quick maths
I have a problem in my sony amplifier it is giving red 🔴light and it is not onning please 🙏 put the vedeo open this
@@abdulsajid1518 you mean you have a red light on , on your amp and your car isn’t on ? Sounds like you wired the remote to a constant current fuse
@@abdulsajid1518 amp is in protection
Great video Mark, I'm grateful that you do what you do, u take the time to explain it step by step
I've done a couple basic installs over the yrs and never thought about this. Great info.
Great video. We need this level of accurate sharing in everything! Save that money.
Haha, I performed my car audio instalation in my backyard, so I'm not a proffessional audio installer, but I do have 14,20 V at the battery and 14.15 at the amplifier... so thanks Matt for clearing things up !
Bro you are really good at what you do I learn something new every time I watch your channel thanks so much. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Used voltage drops for years and would make one small comment on checking your grounds. The body grounds are usually much small than the power side. This one area is easily overlooked when you see a large power cable going to the engine block followed by a tiny wire going to the body. And you have a excellent series of videos didn't start using plastic until I viewed your site.
Man this video is so simple and informative thanks mark
Well you gave me somthing todo when I get home, definitely interested on the outcome of the tests
such a big help, keep on feeding our minds. again, thank you....
Awesome vid Mark!
I recently needed to test for voltage drop, the ultimate problem being with my fuse block.
Accidentally installed a washer between the fuse and block, which caused a high resistance failure point.
The fuse for the subwoofer amp began to melt during some serious hip-hop bass segment, but never went full-blown.
Won't be making that mistake ever again.
I get less than .1 volt drop after getting a new fuse block.
The factory amplifier ground points under the seats were never used, and gave me a great grounding spot!
I was aware of the resistance test but never load tested a ground point before, that's a great test!
Excellent with example - Great usable information - thanks Mark.
Excellent info! Thanks for sharing.
Great video! This may be the answer to the hiss i am hearing with my new amp
hello Mark,a huge thanks for being my mentor,i m geting toghether all the parts and tools i need to instal my sound system.i have a huge space where the spare wheel goes 60 cm x90 cm
Awesome simple content bro. Appreciate it
Great video! Learned something new again!
Thanks for this video man I always wondered how to test good grounds.
That explains alot of my voltage drop, I have 4v of drop under heavy load at specific frequencys and this helped me realize I had to small of a ground wire or cca and not ofc got it fixed now thank you so much
Your video's are so insiteful and so easy to comprehend.
Good info Mark. I like how you explained voltage drop.
Thanks for watching
Fire explanation & video thx!!!
Very true video if you do it exactly how you did it I found a tone of resistance for my amp ground the amp was getting hot and clipped now I found a better ground it definitely improved the performance and power of the amp 👍
Another great video Mark
What a great video, spot on! My builds almost done this video will allow me to sleep at night now lol
There's one thing you failed to mention in the video that I noticed Oh by the way excellent informational video, when you're describing testing the resistance the positive lead goes to check your possible ground locations the negative leave goes where to the battery or to the battery cable it's never specified where it goes. Lot of folks wouldn't know, either way excellent work thanks for the information got a good thing going keep it up
Thank you very much! I was waiting for video like this :)
glad you found it helpful!
Thank you. Great help man. 🖒
Keep up the grind my man,just dropped by to say hi buddy 😎
thanx man i have a jeep wrangler and my ground is on the cargo bolt and ive been feeling as though i have not been getting the best performance out my system glad i stumbled across this video thanx man
Subbed man, your a great teacher cheers
Very well done. I like that you took the time to explain that voltage drop measurements are to be taken while the system is UNDER LOAD. I will say that the voltage drop measurement you are taking is proportional to the current of the load. Therefore the voltage drop will be higher when you turn up the volume (Vdrop = I_load x R_wire/connections). To add further information, you are testing the voltage drop due to the electrical connections and NOT the system drawing more current than the alternator is capable of providing (therefore resulting in the voltage dropping to battery voltage). You should do a separate video explaining that the alternator can only provide the current it is designed to and that adding extra batteries is not going to solve voltage drop issues. In order to maintain 14.4V+ you need to have an alternator capable of the system demands (or multiple alternators).
kyle3420 thanks for explaining in full what should have been included in this video ... Lots of ppl including myself were confused like how are u dropping .05 volts full tilt .. now I understand better thanks
Very informative video.... Thanks... 👍🏻🤟🏻
Wow testing resistance on my ground location…I should know better. Gonna do it now. Also measuring voltage drop, too.
Great information well explained.
Love your content, thank you for the informative videos. Would you be able to do a video on how to work around the smart alternators in the newer cars these days? Thank you.
i got all my installation equipment ready to get intalled, glad i saw this beforehand. thnx for the vid. would like to know more about installing multiple amps
Running multiple amps, i run seperate grounds and positives or a large enough one into a distribution block(1 positive and 1 negative)
Make sure your sub amps grounds are as short as possible. No longer than 18 inches..shorter is better on the negative side
Great content ❤
Good info dude. Thanks!
Great pro tips! I never check my grounds for resistance, but I will now... You’ve shamed me into it 😂
hell yes alot of people need this!
Man... Great Content! I subscribe👍🏿👍🏿
Great video. I was always told its better to make yr own ground instead of using existing ground screws or bolts. I've had success with both. Depending on location & voltage. What do you think? Thanks
Nice video i dint know that mode of the tester 👍🏻
I just noticed that bro thanks keep up the good work
Have you ever done parasitic loss? If not, id love to see you cover that as well.
This is the only real audio channel on here. Period.
Is a highlighted pinned comment a good thing I just know you make great videos Mark keep up the great work man Thumbs Up
I don't usually thank ppl on here, but thanks. Learned a ton in a short span of time. Hoping I don't forget it all.
Very good video
Awesome video would you use the same principles for testing the voltage drop for the speaker and sub woofers wiring to test speaker wiring is Adequate?
I didn't have any voltage drop when I checked the other day but I rewired some speakers and now I have a ton of noise weird things going on I'm going to redo them and check my grounds. Thanks for the video
Great video
I used jumper cable wire to power my amp, and run both power and ground from my battery.
i am putting a 600 rms system i was goin to go with a orion 4 gauge amp kit but after watching your vid i aid the extra $4 and got the knukoncepts ampkit and am so glad i did thanks CAF!!
Great vid!!!!
Well taught.
this was interesting, i just tried all these. My audio battery and car battery are in the trunk. rest voltage was 12.7 volt across anywhere i tried .. resistance from all my wiring was 0.00 including my earth points (rear folding centre seat mounts) i'm using 2/0 ofc for everything..
The engine bay fuse/relay box has 2 positives one from the alternator both show 12.67volts (i realized after my interior lights were on if that makes much difference) the only thing i couldn't test was the resistance from fuse/relay box positive to my trunk glad i found this it helped alot since i am adding a 8k rms amp soon and i am pretty positive now my electrical is looking healthy... only thing i have to do is beef up my 140amp alternator
i have that exact amp kit in my car and it is a damn good kit
Thank you sir
Great Info!!
Thanks Douglas!
Great amplifier wiring kit. I have the 4 gauge kit in one of my vehicles.
Very nice 👍
Good stuff
i used my seatbelt bolt in the back, sanded the heck out of it and put washers on both sides with a locking screw and it’s worked better than grounding to my battery
I learned back in the 80s using an opened box for subs allows woofers to travel as though they are in a lot huger box. Then on one woofer reversing polarity each woofer no longer cancels each other out. Using seas foreign 13 inch woofers sounds great. Music used to test Patrick O’hear David Helping examples shows the highs and lows better than like rap 60 db bass. Give me comments what you think. I love learning.
Hey mark. Thanks for all your videos. I realize this one is a bit old. I I'm looking for a good ground on the same vehicle. I assume you drilled into the body for that location?
I also used that cargo hold down is a ground on my previous amp which died after a year in this vehicle. I don't know if it was because of a bad ground or because it was 20 plus years old 😢.
Thanks again!
Your explanations are great and easy to follow..
Thanks mate !
Do you have a video on how to set up a power switch for an amp if we aren't using the remote turn on line. Like a stereo rocker switch style turn on.
Excellent info.
Thank you!
@CAF - I just installed a coustom box in my sons 2008 Infinity G-37S and the only way I could built it to get his 2 Duel 2 ohm Skar Audio DDX12’s and Skar 2,000 watt amp in the SMALL trunk was to put the subs facing up with them mounted on top of the box. My question is.., why does it hit harder when the trunk is open? 🤔 I always had my subs facing to the front or back in my younger days of systems. Lol. I feel like I’m not getting the full effect out of the subs. 🤔🤷🏼♂️ Thanks!
Hi great video but a 2.46 what are you connecting the black cable too? Is that the negative from the battery.
Your the best dude
What I did is add an extra battery to the rear of my 08 Durango and just did a run of 1/0 power and ground strait to the alt. Eliminated all of those pesky grounding problems.
"Next Level"
For car testing, is the fluke 107 multimeter all I need, or do I need like the more advanced models like fluke 117 in your video?
Do you have any experience with Infinite Baffle installs? If so do you think you can make a video about one. I recently done my first one in hopes to save space and want to hear your thoughts on them.
I know your a super busy guy and all but do you you have plans for your T-line sub enclouser you built using the ultimax 10??? I searched your website but did not find anything on it.
This right here!!!!!
I saw when finding the grounding points one side of the lead coming from the multimeter was used to find the ground points but the other was connected to the battery negative ground. Is there another way to test, like connecting the negative to a seperate ground block then testing. The issue I have I am trying to find a long cable that twill go from the front to trunk for ground points. By the way, excellent video!!!
Great video. Thanks Mark. I knew there should be a way to test for ground connection
all videos are so helpful where can i download the 40 hz test tone
Sir,my car amplifier has ground pin in high level input. Total 5 pins connection type. What to do with that ground pin?
Great video. You can also test out what spot of your alternator casing is the best ground when your doing the big 3. I ran a 2/0 gauge wire from the front battery to the rear frame under the car to get better ground in my trunk space but this is great info I will check my resistance soon and go from there
What RMS system are you running bro?
@@shubhamparashar1852 only 900rms at the moment (not clamped) I haven't tested my system I've been just doing my own thing. Currently this is my smallest setup. Taking it easy
How did you go about extending the test leads from the battery terminal to the back of the vehicle?
So how do you test for ground when you connected a secondary battery positive to positive and negative to negative from the primary battery which is in the front stock location?
Ty for the video.....how much performance loss cam someone expect from a weak ground? Ie 10%...20%??
With that being said had you used the original ground point would there be much noticeable difference?
the ground that you tested in the bottom with the 0.03, is that a frame bolt installed? i do not have this bolt in my jeep. Just wanting to know about the install of this ground bolt.
This is why I say car audio is mathematical people don't believe it 14.4 volt with 1 volt drop can lose 100 watts out put... 14.4 volts ×100 amp= 1.440 watts 1 volt drop 13.4 × 100amps =1.340 watts. Then have resistance of The Wire that alone can cost you up to one volt depending on the length of the wire and size ? Just say. Good vid mark keep it real
Most of it is simple math, but it can make a big difference in the performance of the system!
You can treat wire as resistor and calculate power on it, for your example you have 1v on it when 100A is passing through it, that makes it 1V/100A=0.01Ohm (10miliohm), also power can be calculated 1V*100A=100W. Since wire is in series with load (using kirchoffs law) you have to get total power by adding power on wire/resistor and amplifier on this example, so 1440W=1340+100W
Also your amplifier will most likely produce more power at 14.4V than it would at 13.4V so most likely you are gonna get more than 100W just by upgrading wire.
Cekpi7 Measure the voltage with the car on and the system playing at whatever volume you normally play. When the bass hits your gonna see the voltage decrease. The best bet to get all the voltage you can is upgrade the alternator, run over sized quality wire, and add batteries. That’s the biggest problem when people add systems to their cars they don’t think of upgrading the electrical. Stock alternators only have a little head room and can’t keep up the the demand of a big amplifier.
great video - very helpful.... I didn't know about measuring the voltage drop in that way with the DMM! :) Thank you