DIY: Big 3 Ground Upgrade.

[iamshayan]

Hey guys, I was experiencing some dimming of my lights from my music and with the use of my window switches. Decided I'd upgrade the grounds as this is a common problem across most platforms when you upgrade stereos. I remember someone asking for pictures so I just decided to make a quick DIY.. Hope it helps!

I assume no responsibility whatsoever for damages that
an end user may inflict upon their vehicles or themselves
using information contained herein. Proceed with caution and care
when performing modifications to your vehicle. Be advised
that making modifications to your vehicle may void your manufacturer's warranty

What we're going to do is upgrade the

• A (-)Chassis - Battery,
• B (-)Chassis - Engine block
• C (+)Alternator - Battery

Sorry I stole this pic off the internet because my engine bays too dirty to take any useful pictures.

it gives you an idea of where the wires have to go.

So I picked up some 4ga car audio power wire and some ring terminals.

• 7.5' Feet of 4ga wire
• 5 Ring connectors
• FUSE FOR ALT TO BATTERY + POWER

THE FIRST STEP IS TO DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY.

The next step is to cut the wire to appropriate lengths.

I chose to cut

• A- 12"
• B- 18"
• C- 60"

YOU MAY WANT TO CUT DIFFERENTLY.

Getting started

C- Alternator to + battrery

run a POSITIVE (+) wire from the POSITIVE sided of you battery to the nut located on the alternator. The nut is visible between the 1st and 2nd runner of the intake manifold.
Here is a picture looking through that runner.

Then you can run it through the grommet located under the the battery and above the transmission.
Remember to put this to POSITIVE. You can not remove the original wire there because it runs to your starter also.

EDIT: BE SURE TO FUSE THIS WIRE TO AVOID OF ENGINE FIRE, SEE COMMENTS.

B- Engine to Chassis.

this is located on your passenger side frame rail. Right next to your motor mount. Its easiest to access from underneath. Here is a picture for reference sorry that there is so much going on in the picture focus on the brown wire.



again here I ran the wire next to the original one.

A- Battery to Chassis.

last step, pretty simple. Connect wire to negative side of battery and to chassis. You can either replace your original or run another one next to it.

[jubei4769]

helps if you can clean those contact points up with a wire brush to.

[agart]

Great write-up, I would strongly suggest fusing the power line though. I made the mistake of not doing so and my engine bay caught fire from the wire slipping and shorting out. I lucked out and put the fire out before there was much damage.

[AudiA4_20T]

Great write-up, I would strongly suggest fusing the power line though. I made the mistake of not doing so and my engine bay caught fire from the wire slipping and shorting out. I lucked out and put the fire out before there was much damage.

Did the same, except mine caused a lot of damage

[iamshayan]

Did the same, except mine caused a lot of damage

the power wire from the alternator?

[agart]

the power wire from the alternator?

Yea, unless the wire falls off directly at the battery with no way of swinging to hit the frame then you leave the potential for shorting. Also if anything were to happen in the engine bay and the insulation melted off the wire you would have the same result.

I've never been so scared about the future of my car as I was when this happened. Electrical wires do not go out with regular fire extinguishers because it keeps going until the battery drains entirely.

[daihashi]

Yea, unless the wire falls off directly at the battery with no way of swinging to hit the frame then you leave the potential for shorting. Also if anything were to happen in the engine bay and the insulation melted off the wire you would have the same result.

I've never been so scared about the future of my car as I was when this happened. Electrical wires do not go out with regular fire extinguishers because it keeps going until the battery drains entirely.

Regarding the insulation.. that's one of the main reasons I tell people to just go with 0ga weld wire. It's super flexible and is made to withstand a crazy amount of heat, more than what radiates throughout the engine bay.

What size fuse are you running? I actually ran a breaker on mine for a while before giving it to a friend. It was similar to this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Stereo-Amplifi...dio+breaker+0g

[agart]

Regarding the insulation.. that's one of the main reasons I tell people to just go with 0ga weld wire. It's super flexible and is made to withstand a crazy amount of heat, more than what radiates throughout the engine bay.

What size fuse are you running? I actually ran a breaker on mine for a while before giving it to a friend. It was similar to this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Stereo-Amplifi...dio+breaker+0g

Just a basic ANL fuse, I believe it is a 150 amp but it's possible it's a 200. I do have a breaker on my amp wire for ease though. I find myself disconnecting(breaking I guess?) that one somewhat often, looks exactly like the one you posted.

I never thought about weld wire to be honest, I just had some 0ga sitting around from my stereo install and decided I'd put it to use.

[maxiz1]

Which location did you put the fuse? At battery or alternator post? Or both?

[Spike00513]

Why add extra ground wires instead of replacing the stock old ones with fresh new ones, and bigger gauge? (to keep the engine bay simple)

[RDA990]

Have to add this to the list of things I need to do before winter comes for the 2 B6's. One of them wouldn't turn on because the connection from the battery to alternator at the starter was corroded. Cleaned it up a bit and it works fine now, but I'm sure 14 year old battery cables won't be realiable for long.

Is 0AWG weld cable overkill or worth it? Going to be doing all the ground cables and alternator to starter to battery positive cable.

[EuroxS4]

the power wire from the alternator?

You do realize now that you have upgraded the wires.Depending on your needs of the sound system and other various electronics in the car the lights will now DIM even more??If you have a pretty good system.Just saying something grounds arent enough.Different alternator might be a better solution.

[walky_talky20]

Which location did you put the fuse? At battery or alternator post? Or both?

You always want the fuse as close as possible to the source. In this case, the battery. You could say the alternator is also a "source", but only when the engine is running.

[maxiz1]

Yeah.. thats the whole confusion is all about