# Is using speaker wire(12awg) as ground wire bad?



## MrSo0h0o (May 25, 2009)

hey guys ive come to the point where my ground wire is too short from the point i am grounding to and i dont have any power wire left. Would it be bad to use 12awg wire from speaker wire as my ground wire?


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

Power & ground must be the same awg.Try to keep the ground no longer than 3ft.


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## dubbreak (May 9, 2008)

What are you grounding?

If it's a deck and you are planning on replacing your short piece with and entire piece of 12gauge, sure it'll be fine.

12 gauge is pretty lean for any amp imho. I don't think I've run anything smaller than 10 gauge on even the smallest amp.

If you are attempting to finish off a length by ghetto splicing some 12gauge to 4 or 8 gauge, don't do it. Grounding is important. Do it right or you're gonna get noise or worse it will be insufficient and could fail.

Strong*I*bumpinhad a good point that they should be the same awg. But there's no harm in running a larger gauge ground (e.g. 2 gauge ground when your power lead is 4).


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## el_chupo_ (May 27, 2007)

cheap safety. Run proper wires/fusing. 12ga is not proper.


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## MrSo0h0o (May 25, 2009)

It is for my amp. The power wire is 4 gauge along with the current ground wire, but it is just not long enough(~14"). I guess I will just go pick up some larger gauge wire.


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## 89grand (Nov 23, 2006)

Get some 4 gauge, or use if you must use the 12 gauge, uses about 4 pieces together (as a last resort).


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Don't do it... 

Get proper wire man... seriously, lets not burn our car down now... I decent shop will sell you 3'.... get'er duuun...


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## dubbreak (May 9, 2008)

89grand said:


> Get some 4 gauge, or use if you must use the 12 gauge, uses about 4 pieces together (as a last resort).


As a ghetto temp solution just to make some noise.

Damn, run down to effing wallyworld and grab some proper cable or go to an over priced car audio shop and buy a 2 ft piece (or whatever you need). Even if they charge waay too much a ft it ain't gonna cost much total (<$10). 

Your ground isn't like a remote wire.. it's gotta be big and low resistance cause a lot of current is going through it. If it isn't sufficient your amp will try to find other ways to ground.. not good.


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## MrSo0h0o (May 25, 2009)

ok ok lol dont start throwing rocks at me now!

The speaker wire I have is actually 8 gauge. Either way, I plan to place another order with knukonceptz for some 4 gauge and a ground distro block. thanks for all your help guys i pretty much knew the answer just like getting confirmation.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

No throwin rocks homie, just protecting you from yourself... lol...


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## chadillac3 (Feb 3, 2006)

Ghetto superstar...come here from afar...


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## dashan (Apr 7, 2009)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> No throwin rocks homie, just protecting you from yourself... lol...


Well said.


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