Just reposting what I said because some people don't seem to understand the theory...

 

Think about it... how does it matter if you use a larger ground wire than the power wire?? Once it gets to the chassis, its just one huge ground anyway...

NOT LIKE HE CARES OR NEEDED TO KNOW! The ground wire, and size had nothing to do with any of his questions. The ground wire alpine provides in the harness is sufficent...

 

thanks for the replies, this is my setup: i got a 10 gauge lead from the battery with an inline 20a fuse. i used the factory ground wire from the alpine harness...........Its wierd as i was wiring everything the deck turned on before i was able to ground it (the decks works without being grounded). did i do something wrond or is this possible?...........Everything at this point works fine except for the problem with my clock. it still is very dim and it dims and then brightens with the blinker. also there is a little static and some noise. any suggestions and fixes would be great. thanks guys !!!

vin

 

as far as the deck working before grounding the ground wire... Im guessing you had the antenna wire connected. There is a ground in the antenna wire as well... that would be why it worked without the ground wire attached.

The static... are you using amps with the deck? or just using the deck amp? What kind of static and noise are you getting?? with the radio? or CD's too?

 

yup i did have the power antenna wire connected. no amp, just the internal amp. i get the static with both the cd and radio. it sounds like a low hum, or like a hiss. its not vary noticecable and is only really noticeable when the volume is way up. any ideas? thanks !!!

 

If you really want to nitpick, the power wire is sufficient as well. I wired one of these decks like any other deck and ran it for a week, then upgraded the power wire...no difference. Why you ask? The radio can only pull as much current as the wire will allow. Now if hte radio wire is skinnier than the aftermarket wire you wired to it, how is the HU pulling more power? Plus, ground wire DOES matter. It's like running a river into a pond, then only allowing a creek go out. Don't you think the pond will overflow? Yup... But that's ok, I'm wrong as always right? What do I know? hahahahaha Whew, I'm impressed by the advice given on some sites...

 

About the ground wire, if I wanted to upgrade the ground wire comming out of the HU, how would I do that because it seems to be 18 gau or 20 gau comming out, I just cant stick a 10gau ground in....and wouldn't connecting the smaller ground wire to a bigger one be like the river to a stream thing?

 

Did I ever say anything about using a smaller ground?? no... learn how to read you frickin idiot.

The Dude: the easiest way to acomplish something like you are saying, would be to ground the chassis as well... I dont really see a point, as the factory supplied 14g is plenty. But, If you do run a seperate ground, just be sure to ground both wires to the same point on the car.

 

I just got this today for my truck, and the guy told me don't bother running the 10 gau wire, he said that if you experience music cutting out do it, but untill then its a waste of time.

 

Do it, otherwise the amp will be straining to produce its power and probably destroy itself after a while. Alpine recomends it for a reason.