Where is the best place to ground in the hatch floor area?

[spdkills83]

I think I am having ground issues and am wondering where everyone is grounding in the hatch area? Preferably on the driver side? I have an area on the floor where I ground it off to make it shine. I am thinking it may not be adequate enough as my sub keeps cutting out at high volume say around 21 on the stock HU.

From what I have read it points towards a grounding issue. I have the proper gauge wire for the setup and everything seems to check out otherwise, just curious if there is a better spot.

Without pics my ground is just to the left of the spare wheel and tire on the floor of the hatch, not far enough to be behind the liner though.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[STjake]

Can we get some more info on your set up? How did you set your gain? Are you clipping the sub? What brand specifically of amp/sub/wiring? Not all wiring is created equal.

 

[spdkills83]

Setup is a Kicker Substation PES10C Powered enclosure with 450 Watt built in Class D Amp. I have had it for several years and just recently decided to put it back into service. Has been in storage for over 2 years in the house. Worked fine before I put it up. Used the Scosche® 680 Watt 8 Gauge install kit as per the manual suggested to use 8 gauge wire for power and ground.

Here is a link to the specs of the powered sub. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/697725/Kicker-Pes10c.html?page=2#manual

Gain is set to 0 currently ran it up all the way no change in performance. X over frequency is also set to 0 ran it up also speaker gets louder, but still will not go past 20-21 on the volume. Bass boost on sub turned down as well. Has a manual bass knob that I can adjust have it setting on about 3 currently can run it up as well bass hits harder still volume goes to 20-21 and it cuts out.


Amp does not go into protect during the cut out, light stays blue and does not flash any colors at all. Also using Hi Level inputs vs Low.

Really has me scratching my head as everything I have read points to grounding issues.

I have also attached a picture for reference where I put the ground. It is the highlighted portion of the picture.



Thanks for looking.

 

[STjake]

Being that I believe our facotory units have a, albeit small, amplifier you could just be over driving the high level inputs. I like using seat bolts to ground things as they’re always mounted to a solid part of the vehicle.

 

[spdkills83]

Good deal I will try to get to a better ground location and see if that helps. If not, not a big deal I was just wanting to use the sub instead of it just kind of sitting around collecting dust haha.

Also FWIW the door speakers still play past 20-21 only the Sub drops out past that level. I can take the factory HU to 30 with no issues on all other speakers in the car.

Thanks for the help.

 

[spdkills83]

FWIW

VDC at Battery with car running and got 14.90 VDC
VDC at amp terminals on box with stereo on "19" before sub usually cuts out and got 14.88 VDC
VDC at amp terminals on box with stereo on "23" after sub cut out and with amp still showing to be on and got 14.86 VDC

I think it is safe to say it is not a grounding issue anyway.

On the line with Kicker support currently and they think it may have something to do with newer cars cutting bass out after a certain volume, but are unsure and are checking into it.

Thanks for looking.

 

[chicagoslick]

Sounds like the factory system cutting the low frequency at higher volumes to protect the factory speakers. You should invest in an Audio Control LC2i. This restores the low frequency being cut by the factory system. I always recommend this unit for those just installing a subwoofer.

http://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/lc2i/

 

[spdkills83]

Thanks Chicago, is this issue common? I honestly never knew that was a thing haha.

Kicker support said the same thing as what you said above.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Intuit]

Use voltage drop testing at maximum loads to determine whether your grounding is adequate. This will eliminate the guessing. You can use test tone frequencies to help sustain those "maximum" load sounds for adequate periods. https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhsZJDCN8kMMiDf9kJnvNbn4YZeE