Hello,
I am thinking its easiest for me to ground to the rear Hatch, You know, Theres the two rubber lines that loop off ratchet bolts on either side, so the thing has support when you let it down.

Is this a good area to ground to, Jam a gold plated connector in between one of the sides and call it a day?

I'd rather not drill a hole through the thing, When I go camping or to bush parties I sleep in the back of my truck and I don't want to create any more areas where those white swirly things can come into my truck and put me in a human cacoon like on that xfiles episode! :P Lol.

 

before ever committing to a permenant ground, always test the ground location with a DMM to know for certain if it will be a good ground or not.

 

NO!!! bad ground location. Use a seat bolt.

 

I concure. Always use a bolt that is connected to the frame of the vehicle. It is also a good idea to wire brush it as well to get any dirt/paint off of the bare metal.

Make the ground wire as short as you can muster it.

 

Hello guys, Thanks for the replies. I just wanted to say that in my previous vehicle - The Geo Metro convertible, for the first install I ever did I had a wire going from the back of the vehicle where the sub was all the way to the ground directly on the battery and it worked fine

But then again, We're talking about a tiny vehicle.


As far as the Blazer goes, I thought that the area I originally mentioned would be good, I did not mean, if it was interpreted the way that it was - That one side of the amp ground would be on rubber and one on metal, Actually there is a rivet and a washer in between that I could use in the same area.

If it tests fine on a DMM can I still use this area?

I only have about a 2 or 3 feet ground wire and I plan on having the sub run in the back someplace, I dont think I have enough wire to run it to the seat bolt as per suggestions above.

As far as the seat bolt run goes, I do agree it is a great choice but they are not easily accessible in the blazer, I did do a seat bolt ground the second time around for my Geo Metro convertible... which worked well, I shaved it and everything, used a highly conductive metal bolt.

 

General rule is to find something that attaches to the frame of the vehicle and has a good surface area.

As for testing you'll need a DMM and a long wire. Put your DMM on ohms. Touch the probes to each of the ends of the wire, and record the reading.

Then connect one end of the wire to battery -
Touch one probe to the other end of the wire, and the other probe to the spot you want to test. Record that reading, and subtract the reading you got from the wire.

If you get close to 0, you've got a good ground.

How powerful is the amp you want to use? That would determine how good the ground has to be but I would likely find a really good thick bolt somewhere.

 

1st gen.? 2nd gen? 2 door 4 door? amp link? we need info!!!!

but generally people use the seat bolt.

 

Its a 1998 Blazer, So I think thats second generation, right?

The amp is an Alpine MRU-M450.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-uaUOIg5...-MRP-M450.html

It says its a 220 Watt Amp, But It actually runs at 450 Watts RMS with the wires in Parellel on a single Alpine Type R 10" Subwoofer in a sealed enclosure of proper specifications.

I don't want to destroy my hearing, But I do appreciate a well balanced sound system. I know this may not be powerful enough to drive a blazer for the world to hear, but it will please myself and my passengers, which is what matters

 

PS:

I am running an 8 Gauge Power cable, Is it okay if I clean up the contacts, and attach it to where the main fuse box is, Where the huge and thick power cable feeds power from the battery? (Rather than running it across my engine, or across the car over the radiator.)

 

I have no experience in running off of the fuse box, but 8 gauge wire is good for your power requirements.

What I did was run the power wire through the passenger side floor panels and up through the door boot and into the engine bay. That left the drivers side for RCA's and Remote turn on wire (blue).

If you have the same setup in the engine bay and you open your front passenger door, you can kinda see what I'm talking about. The power wire will go from the battery to the passenger edge of engine bay between PCM and wall. If you get it just right, you can run it through the door boot and behind the kickpanel and under the floor panels.

That worked best for me because I didn't want to go drilling holes. A good way to check if there is clearance is to use a LED light and have a friend look through the other way.