Grounding on Head Unit

[badboy]

Ok bit of a silly question but im new to all this.........

Bought this head unit today from a shop..Picture

Installed it ok after a brief look over the notes, but i never used the ground wire is it essential? I have the head unit running the components up front and a pair of 6x9's in the back, no problems with sound quality...

By the way I have a MK1 55 S Punto

 

[Luke]

Ok bit of a silly question but im new to all this.........

Bought this head unit today from a shop..Picture

Installed it ok after a brief look over the notes, but i never used the ground wire is it essential? I have the head unit running the components up front and a pair of 6x9's in the back, no problems with sound quality...

By the way I have a MK1 55 S Punto

You'll probably find its grounding through your areal. Its best to have the ground wire wired in even if it works without

 

[badboy]

You'll probably find its grounding through your areal. Its best to have the ground wire wired in even if it works without

Could you just explain why? and wheres the best place to ground it as the ground wire is quite short!

 

[Luke]

Could you just explain why? and wheres the best place to ground it as the ground wire is quite short!

Becuase if current is flowing through the areal, the radio reception wont be as great as it could be, and the efficiency of the headunit probably wont be as good as its got a long grounding route.

As for grounding, any connection to the bodywork would suffice as long as theres direct contact (ie paint removed), or you could extend the ground wire by soldering it or using chocolate block connectors from a place like maplins

 

[dazzdog]

did you connect it using an iso plug? if so then i would have thought the earth would have been connected in that. are you sure the wire is an earth?

 

[Alex]

Luke, how does it ground through the aerial? Ideally the aerial shoud never touch the metal of the car..?

 

[Luke]

Luke, how does it ground through the aerial? Ideally the aerial shoud never touch the metal of the car..?

I dont personally know, and would have shrugged off anyone that suggested that it would ground through the areal, until from personal experience i found that it can ground through the areal I running the headunit for ages without a ground wire as i broke it without knowing. It continued to work until i disconnected the areal.

Weather my new headunit will or not, i have no idea, but my last one ran ok just with crap radio reception

 

[badboy]

did you connect it using an iso plug? if so then i would have thought the earth would have been connected in that. are you sure the wire is an earth?

I thought about this is as well could it be ground through the iso? is there any risks by not having it grounded? i have no feedback on the speakers and the radio is clear.

 

[Alex]

Most head units will have a hole in the back or a screw type affair with the letters GND written or stamped above it, you should be able to ground the headunit there bu screwing a small electrical screw into it with the wire attached.

The head unit can work without being grounded. The black wires comming from the ISO plug will be 0V lines, going back to the battery... The ground is also connected to the 0V (marked -) battery terminal via the body of the car.

As mentioned earlier the headunit shouldn't be grounded by the aerial because then the radio wouldn't get any reception. If the aerial were grounded the current induced by the radio signal would bypass the headunit, because that is the path of more resistance to the 'ground'.

 

[dazzdog]

the earth on the iso will be a black wire,if you pull your stereo out and that wire is connected to the loom coming from the car then it is earthed,the stereo wouldn't work if it wasn't earthed.

 

[Luke]

If its not grounding through the areal (what i put it down to) it must be grounding somewhere. It wont work without a ground in it somewhere - Basic rule of electronics

 

[Alex]

If its not grounding through the areal (what i put it down to) it must be grounding somewhere. It wont work without a ground in it somewhere - Basic rule of electronics

Correct, but as an aside: it will work without being grounded so long as the potential difference between the +ve and 0V is 12V (or whatever) . But thats by-the-by.

 

[badboy]

I've had no problems and it its a quality head unit! wondering if any1 els has this head unit?

 

[AppleSei]

I have an MP3 player but to be honest i am not a big fan of pioneer, bits fall off, not well made, this was a couple of years ago so things might have changed,i wanna be proved wrong, and u will prove me wrong badboy