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Best Way To Ground The Electrical System?

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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 05:51 PM
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Best Way To Ground The Electrical System?

I am tired of every time I press my brake at night, my lights dim a little. Every time I roll up a power window, my lights dim a little. I tried this once, and almost fried my electrical system. I need what gauge wire to use, where to attatch it, and how many to attatch. Thanks in advance!!
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 06:05 PM
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I'm also interested my car does the same thing...
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 06:10 PM
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I would think that the bigger the ground wire the better.. find the biggest wire you can find and clamp that sucker down.
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 06:22 PM
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Any other ideas?
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 06:32 PM
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Well you could try cleaning the factory grounds and making sure they are tight.Just follow the ground from the battery---first to the frame by the driver side strut tower,then onto the gearbox.Works good for me.
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 07:16 PM
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^
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 07:23 PM
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Run an additional 10 gauge wire from battery negative to the chassis.
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 07:25 PM
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Thanks!
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 07:34 PM
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Also from the firewall to one of the bolts on the bell housing right behind the oil filter and sensor. There should already be one there, so you might wanna check with a flashlight and see if it's all gunked up.

- JB
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 07:49 PM
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My grounds are clean, I added additional grounds and my alt is only a year old but yet when I give it gas, the lights brighten up and when i let off they get dimmer. I am thinking these reman alts suck. I got rid of the same problem on my gsl-se by addtional grounds but my 2nd gen remains stubborn. Any ideas???
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 08:05 PM
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The alternators SUCK!&nbsp Nothing you can do unless you manage to upgrade the alternator.

The brakes lights are especially nasty, cause they are close to 10A of current when you step on the brakes!


-Ted
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 08:11 PM
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you take a grinder and shave the bolt till you see shiny metal and then you grind down the surface until you see shiny metal. also try monster cable it has a lower resistance level than most wires cause they use gold to make the core.
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 08:20 PM
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Originally posted by rotaryninja
you take a grinder and shave the bolt till you see shiny metal and then you grind down the surface until you see shiny metal. also try monster cable it has a lower resistance level than most wires cause they use gold to make the core.
Gold to make their core?&nbsp Man, you're smoking too much crack...



-Ted
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 08:39 PM
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Im running a 4 guage from the batter to the strut tower and then from there to the alternator bracket. And guess what my dome light still dims... I think its in that particular circuit in the cars wiring. Doing this mod tho, I no longer had dimming headlights on bass notes
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 09:07 PM
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You might consider using 1/2" braided strap material. It has huge conductivity because of the skin effect. It's rea;;y cheap too. Get it at hardware of electrical parts store.

db
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 09:45 PM
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Originally posted by RETed
The alternators SUCK!&nbsp Nothing you can do unless you manage to upgrade the alternator.

The brakes lights are especially nasty, cause they are close to 10A of current when you step on the brakes!


-Ted
I think this is the answer, deal with it thats what im going to do, and it kinda makes sense that it would get bright when u step on the gas, the alternator is spinning faster, u let off bam goes down, maybe and FD alternator? anyone still have this problem w/ one of these?
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Old Mar 17, 2002 | 10:00 PM
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I have a gazillion grounds... and my windows are still slow when both of them are going at the same time.... It's the small gauge wiring at the fuse box.... I'll supplement it later.
I do get a lot higher voltage now though- and my idiot lights don't glow on at high RPMs anymore

My grounds, and additional wires:

Batt - to chassis
Batt+ to alternator output (NOT THE MOUNTING NUT ON THE ALTERNATOR!!!! THE POWER OUTPUT!!!)
Engine to firewall (2)

These fixed my S-AFC problem:
MAF sensor, presssure sensor together, and to chassis. (brown wires with black stripes) I actually ran a wire and grounded these to the firewall, where the engine ground is, to eliminate any chance of ground looping (slightly different ground points give very slightly different voltages- why stereo equipment should alll share a common ground)

ECU ground wire that the S-AFC grounds on to random kick panel nut.

Last edited by Bambam7; Mar 17, 2002 at 10:03 PM.
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