Hello,

I am going to start my home made grounding kit.

I was just wondering how much wire is usually required to do a proper ground installation.

I have been looking at both of these guides/how too's
and neither really suggested how much wire they used.

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/3r...st_ground.html
and i have looked at the damian on too...

So is like 8 feet or enough or do i need more like 12feet?

 

I got 20 feet for my install

 

Is it necesary to get 4gauge wire?
that stuff is kinda expensive...

Could i go for a little cheaper wire and still have good results?

 

as long as its a decent sized wire, it will help. But the 4 gauge wire will help out more than 8 or something.

 

how much is it for 4 gauge wire

 

its about 50cents a foot shipped on ebay for nice stinger xpert series wire IIRC

 

Unless you're replacing the ground that goes from the battery to the chassis, I wouldn't use anything thicker than 10-12AWG wire for this. The "ground mod" is just to ensure that all the sensor ground points are at the same voltage: I'd be very surprised if there is more than 0.5A of current flowing through any of your new ground wires. You could get away with 20AWG wire from an electrical standpoint, but it might not look as cool.


For the main battery-to-chassis ground wire, I'd use 4-8AWG. 4AWG if you've got a big stereo, and 8AWG is you're trying to keep your car light-weight.

-s-

 

sorry scotty i dont understand you awg and meanings... talk to me like im a child

 

AWG = gauge.

 

AWG stands for American Wire Gauge. I've seen that acronym quite a few times, sorry I just I assume everyone else knows it too.

The only reason to use a big thick wire is if there is a lot of power that needs to be delivered: for instance most 300-watt stereo amplifiers will recommend that you install 10 AWG wire or thicker (just like shotgun gauges, an 8 gauge wire will be thicker than a 10 gauge wire, and capable of handling more power safely). If you use a wire that is too small (for instance, a 20AWG wire for a 300W stereo amplifier), the wire will heat up and the insulation can actually catch on fire.


Since your additional grounds are just providing a backup for the original ground wires (most of them are 16-18AWG), they won't be much power flowing through them, so there is no good reason to use a big thick wire such as 12AWG or thicker.

Hope this helps,
-s-