2/3/2016

Whatisaproperground?

METHODOFVERIFYING'GOODELECTRICALSYSTEMGROUND'#878139(04/07/1987)
VEHICLESAFFECTED:ALLMODELS
Whendiagnosingelectronicsystemsforincorrectoperation,itisoftennecessarytoverifythatgroundcircuitsaregood.
Thisarticleisintendedtoclarifywhatismeantbytheterm"goodground"andthepreferredtoolsandmethodsfor
verifyingit.
A"goodground"isagroundcircuitthathasaresistanceofzeroOHMS.
GroundcircuitresistancecanbemeasuredinOHMSusingadigitalvoltOHMmeter(DVOM).WhenusingaDVOM,it
mustbesetonthe200OHMscaletoobtainanaccuratemeasureofthecircuitresistance.Manymetershavebotha200
OHMscaleanda200Kscale.The200KscalewillnotmeasurezeroOHMSaccurately.Ifyouarenotsurehowthemeter
istobesetforthe200OHMscale,refertothemeteroperatinginstructionsforpropersettings.Ifthemeterisan
autorangingorselfscalingmeter,readthemetercarefullytobesurewhichscaleitissettingitselfto.
Beforemeasuringresistanceinanycircuit,theresistanceofthemetershouldbemeasuredbytouchingtheleads
together.Ameterwithagoodbatteryandleadsingoodconditionwillreadlessthan.2OHMSusuallyzero.Iftheleads
measureanythingmore,anaccuratemeasureofthecircuitresistancemaynotbepossible.
Alwaysrememberresistancecannotbemeasuredaccuratelyona"live"circuit,Allcurrentflowthroughacircuitmustbe
stoppedbydisconnectingitspowersourcebeforemeasuringresistance.
GroundcircuitresistancecanalsobecheckedbymeasuringthevoltagedropacrossthecircuitwithaDVOMseton,the2
voltscale.Thevoltagedropwillbezeroacrossa"goodground"circuit.
Remember,fullyunderstandameter'sfunctionsbeforeusingit!
Toaddtothis,agoodgroundforcaraudioapplicationswillhaveareturnresistancereadingof1/2ohmorless.Ihaveyet
tohaveareturnreadingof0ohms.Ifagroundreturnreadingcannotbemadetogetbelow1/2ohmbymeansofthe"BIG
3",thenitisadviseabletogrounddirecttothebattery.Electricityisanalgebraequation,whatyoudotoonesideyoumust
dototheother.Payasmuchattentiontothegroundwireasyoudothepowerwire.
TheBIG3isagreatplacetostartforagoodground,howeveritistheassumedpropermethodofgrounding.Whatweare
talkingabouthereistheolderandwiser4thbrothertotheBIG3(theBIG4).
Soapropergroundwirewillbeasfollows.
cleanofresidueandpaint.
secure.
havearesistancereturnof1/2ohmorless.
beofadequateguagetocarrythereturnascomparedtothepowerwire.
Tosimplifythemeasuringofthereturn,useyourmeterasdescribed.Disconnectthebatteryterminalanddisconnectthe
groundwirefromyouamp.Ifyourdmmprobesarenotlongenough,youwillneedtocreateajumperextensionoutof
someprimarywireorwhateverwireyouhavehandy.Measurethiswireforanyresistancereadingandsubtractitfromthe
total.
Manyinstallersarenotawareofthisnorpracticethismethod.Ittakestimeandtime=$sodon'tgetallpissyifyouhada
professionalinstalldoneandthiswasnotchecked.Apoorgroundconnectionorhighresistancereadingmayseemtrivial
undernoload,butonceyouarepoundingyournicenewampanditisdrawinglargeamountsofcurrent,thislittlereading
hasbecomeamonsterreadingthathascausedmanyanamptofailfornoapparentreason.Itmaybenoticeableasa
extremelyhotrunningamplifierinashorttimeperiod,pooroutputlevelsordiminishinglevelsandofcourseablown
powersupplyoroutputsectionintheamplifier.
Whiletheoriginalarticlewaswrittenfortheyearsgoneby,itstillisapplicabletothenewergenerationofvehicles.Agood
groundisnotabouttheamountorsizeofthemetalinthereturntothebatterybutabouttheresistancethroughit.Todays
vehiclesareacombinationofmetals,spotwelds,gluedtogetherunibodypanelsandisolatedchassiscomponents.The
returnthroughthesecomponentsiswheretheresistancereadingcomesintoquestionandthisiswhatweneedpeopleto
understand,whytheBIG4needstobedoneiftheBIG3doesnotsolvetheproblem.

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=49445

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