Top notch my man very informative I've been working on a stalling dodge pick up for a month just found the broken ground strap after removing the intake with this knowledge i will know i have it grounded correctly i may test a speaker or 2 just because I can thanks for the knowledge and blessings to you and your family
so the higher the ohms the worse the connection, correct? I'm pretty new to this. My multimeter, when shorting the two probes, reads about 10 ohms.. It seems like that isn't right to me, but again, I'm not really sure, trying to learn here.
@@jamesbarratt593 genuinly however mine was real bad, about 145 ohm wbem running, but my alternator went bad so i swapped to new, but stil it goes to about 25 when running
Hi, what would you consider a bad reading?? I get that the lower the reading the better but at what point is the ground unacceptable?? Thanks great video.
Im no electrician, but can you please tell me what should be the reading from the multimeter if I am to find a good ground for the engine? This seems to be the issue with the Ford Fiesta.
I'm not sure you should be using the resistance measurement on a multimeter to test a live circuit. In the resistance measurement mode, the multimeter applies a small voltage to measure the resulting current, in order to calculate the resistance. This doesn't seem like a good thing to do when you are working on a live circuit. Wouldn't it be safer to just measure the voltage at a ground point, relative to battery negative terminal? But maybe you've already considered this and found no issues in practical auto troubleshooting applications? Would be interested if you have comments on this. Thanks.
yusuihang ......imo you are right....that was also my very first impression when watching the video. Assume that at the time of measurement, a current was flowing thru that particular piece of cable, and that current is 5 A.while the resistance is 0.1Ohm, the voltage drop into that part of the cable is then 0.5V. That voltage drop is fed into the meters circuitry and translaties into Ohms in accordance with the laws of that circuitry......as one could see, when the two probes were touches together, the display pointed some 0.6 Ohm, while the display gave 0.0 Ohm when a piece of live circuit was examined.....the correct display should have been pointing; 0.6+0.something >more than 0.6 Ohm.....however that was clearly not the case......At least one Side of a live circuit shall always been disconnected before resistance measurement is taken....regards
Great video. I’m getting better and better at my DIY stuff. Thanks to people like you. I just want to verify, I should never have continuity between a positive wire and ground, correct?
Between positive and negative is a power source (ie: car battery, or power supply). There is no continuity between the two. If there is, then there is a short and you will have no power.
Noticed one of my grounds from the chassis to the valve cover had surface oxidation/patina (stranded copper wire) I remember reading that surface oxidation protects the rest of the wire and the mounting points seemed clean. Tested resistance across the wire and from each end to negative of the battery and got a reading of 0 ohms. Was surprised to see this but made sense since the actual point of contact was clean and solid even though surface of the wire was oxidized
I watched all 3 videos of you about Multimeter. These all are very helpful.Video3: In last you checked continuity between Fuse (where you touched -ve clamp) and Battery (+ve terminal). I am quite new and don't know how to diagnose (+ve, -ve) terminals of the objects!I am looking for your help. Thank you
I just fixed the grounding screws on my 98 Ford Taurus yesterday. The threads were rusted, so I removed the screws and wire brushed, greased with dielectric grease and screwed back in, then covered with dielectric grease to prevent corrosion. I used voltage from the battery to check grounds and was looking for voltage drops. If no drop, I just grease. Is using the ohmmeter better? I'm not too experienced. Thanks for the great video!
I found it helpful but i still need to determine what positive side of battery to positive side of Alternator and negative of battery and negative side to alternator. What setting would that be??
My cars OEM grounds have paint on the surface but seems to be working anyways.. might have contact through the screw/bolt and the threads. A conductance battery tester told me "Cranking low" at the cranking test. Battery voltage was around 9v when lowest. Its a new battery. With the old battery the same test went to about 8v. So i dont know.. might be a bad starter or a bad engine ground. Negative post on battery are grounded on the shock tower and on the transmission. The starter are grounded on the engine. Dont know how to diagnose. Any tips or suggestions? Charging voltage are good. 14.5-14.7v on idle. Dont know about the current though.
Your result showed there is more resistance (00.6) in the meter leads than in a test ground circuit (00.0 on ground battery cable); yet you did not explain how that could be. The only explanation is that the lead to lead connection created resistance. This should have been explained so a novice like myself would understand how two combined pathways could have less resistance than part of the same circuit.
Truthfully continuity sucks to see if you’ve got corrosion or broken strands or a good connection whatsoever other than a quick open/ close in a circuit. It will show a full open l- so it’s not completely useless
An H7 bulb with Leads and T pins for back probing - you can replace the load in the circuit and use you’ve dvmm to voltage drop test to the issue in the circuit- or you can simply leave the circuit as is and back probe (while operating that circuit) to find your issue - but as with any electrical diag you need to have a quick test to point you left or right- that’s what voltage drop testing is for-
Hi there! Thank you so much for teaching us. Today I am facing an issue. I learnt to install grounding wires in my old vehicle which is said to improve the performance. I connected one from the positive terminal to the alternator. Then I connected one to the distributor and one to the car body from tbe Negative terminal. But when I tried to attach the lug to the negative terminal, it creates sparks that melts the terminal. I wonder what has happened.... What I saw them do in the video has no problem...
So say I wanted to test a ground wire that is connected to my engine block. I believe it’s the PCM ground wire. I’d set to Ohm then one probe on the negative battery terminal, then the other on the ground wire where it’s attached to the engine? Or does one probe need to go in the PCM somewhere.
I have a question about that 4 ohm speaker at the end if the video. If the coil was broken there'd be no connection between positive and negative. Isn't that the same as infinite resistance?(whatever that looks like on the meter, OL perhaps?) and doesn't 0.00 ohms indicate continuity?
If the speaker coil is broken (there is a physical cut in the coil), then the it's open and you will not measure any resistance. This can be called an infinite resistance. If you measure 0.00 ohms, then it has no resistance and you have continuity.
@@dial2fast Thanks for clarifying. So a meter reading of '1' says no connection which is the same as infinite resistance but a reading of '0' is no resistance. I think I got it. I've previously used my meter in continuity buzzer mode but some recent reading have flashed up numerics. I'm going ohms in the future.
What was the mm reading by just touching the probs. You should subtract it from the test point. IE... By it's self..say .2 and the test point is .4. After the .2 from the mm it should be .2.
In one sentence you managed to imply you're somehow smart while at the same time stand behind a silly and common error, that symbol has a name so use the correct one instead of confusing those who don't know its name...
so you put negetive lead to the negative terminal.and used positive lead to touch ground.? and if get no reading at all. then ground is bad or cutt.You put meter on continuity.?
Why the heck are they using vechicles chassis if it has all these issues fir the negative? Im trying to install a second leisure battery and im suspecting bad grounding at this point, im getting low voltage(4v) as soon as I connect a device. Everything else in the van that is running from starter battery runs fine. It is so strange.
Hey Bud,I am at a loss here.I'm wanting to get a voltage read on my speaker wires.I'm at the speaker with my meter and have the red probe on the positive wire and the black on the negative wire.Have it set to AC volts and I'm getting like a 0.2 read.Am I doing something wrong?
You don't really use a multimeter to test the audio sound on a speaker. Your setting is correct, but the response time in a regular multimeter isn't fast enough. Also the voltage is not going to be very high depending on speaker volume. If you want to check speaker, just measure the impedance to be 4, 6, or 8 ohms. If you want to measure sound, use a scope.
dial2fast What I'm going to do is add an amplifier to a stock stereo so I'll need to get a signal from the speaker wires.However,if the system is too powerful than then the amp won't be able to handle it.So I need to determine how many volts the lines are putting out.Its the same concept as setting an amplifier gain with a meter.Problem is that it doesn't work.Do you have any suggestions?
Well if you are really needing to test something like you mentioned, then you need to inject a test tone (say 1kHz) to your amp and then measure the output with a true RMS multimeter at a specified volume. If you are planning to install an aftermarket amp to a car's factory system, then you will probably be connecting the factory speaker output to the amps hi-lo input (if it has that feature), and then connect the amp's output to the factory speaker. Remember sound waves that are clipping is what fries speakers because clipping causes sine wave to behave like DC voltage and that's a no no for speaker. So I think more importantly, have a clean source and good quality amp, and your system will be fine.
Can you help with this bad ground I know you busy and wouldn't mind if you don't message back No harm done I got VW LT35 2.5TDI all position lights come on when you press on the pedal brake When you turn on the lights the back brake lights are always on... I found that when you turn on the fan in the cabin and slightly one turn the ignition key and press on the brake pedal The van finds its way to connect the power and the fan is working without having the ignition on yet Also found in this case the glow plug relay when you press on the brake pedal there is a noise like something is breaking up there I am going to check this but after checking the ground wires all looks clean and 100% How I should be looking for more bad connection Lights front back maybe the glow plug relay ect. ?? Thank you for your suggestion Arthur from Glasgow
hi, im having problem with voltage drop in my amplifer i reads around 8 to 9 v when its turned on i checked all my grounds its reads .5 on my on the amp and battery..any help will be much appreciated
I fixed this with mine. I have a high RMS power totaling about 4k. between both amps. At first I had a big voltage drop from the battery to the back of the car. 2015 VW beetle. Everything has been replaced that was factory. I got a 1f cap at first. I don't recommend a cap though. It's really just a patch on a bigger problem. Helped a touch. Still had some voltage drop off at the amps. Everything the bass hits hard, it would drop down from 12.6-8 voltage at the amp and when the bass hit hard. The voltage would drop off to 11.3-6 and then bounce right back to 12v. I had 4g for p/g wire's front to back. Plus the wire's to the amps. Recommend size. To fix my issue, I replaced the wire's from front to back with 1/0 and also did the big 3 upgrade in 1/0. I have an extra battery in the back also. I really need a high output alternator. But I have to have one special made for my car. No one mods a beetle 🤦🤦 but the lest resistance you have, the more flow you get through the wire. I don't have but just a very small amount of voltage drop now. Nothing that's going to affect the performance of the system. I hope this helps
Is that all the voltage your getting at the amp. It should be 12+v from the start. Even the trigger wire should be 12v. A simple test would be to run a new ground from a new good location and see what that does. And check the wire size and quality of it. The little $20-25 amp kit from Walmart is junk. Really. The RCA cables are cheap and junk. The wire is not the stated size. The fuse holder that comes with a cheap kit it also junk. You get what you pay for. $20 kit gets you a bunch of junk that will have to be replaced by the correct stuff. Hope this helps you
@@davidlunsford6155 I had it figured out.. gave me some trouble for a while tho it was a while back. Cant remember it well but it happened because i didnt had my paint stripped off completely from the ground must have been the clear coat i guess.. just a sloppy job lol. Iam actually running a $20 kit from amazon its running two amps for the sub and midrange and highs its running good all these years since my system is under 600 rms depends on some brands tho had one earlier with rca's fading colours with seasons. But i have my speakers cables better with some oxy free copper and good brand since i have it running on loop from headunit to amps and back to speakers. Thanks for the reply and suggestions appreciate it.
great video! do you have any idea about "floating ground" ? i've watched a few vids and as far as i understand this - any acc wire is ground, until the switch power is on.. is that right ?
+evyasafe Floating ground is when one ground is good and another ground on that same conductor is not very good. You actually have a voltage difference on that bad ground which can cause all kinds of electrical problems. When Acc is off, that wire might test like it's a ground, but don't use it for ground. The ignition wire may come off a relay or the BCM (body control module).
+dial2fast. actually its great for my purpose. I'd like to install one of those. dummy alarm blinking LED . I'm going to use a constant 12v power for the positive, and the ignition power to the negative. so when the car is on the LED will shut off, and turn on when the the switch power is off. thanks !
+evyasafe I see what you trying to do. If your intent is to use the flashing LED to deter theft, don't waste your time using that. If your neighborhood is unsafe, get an alarm installed. I am not trying to give you grief on your project. I was a car alarm installer for 7 years and have seen all kinds of car breakins. A blinking LED will not deter a thief.
Think your talking about Ford's "Pulsed" ground fella. The accessory gets a constant 12V(think fuel pump) and it's duty cycle is controlled by removing power to the pump periodically. Since it's a "switch grounded" pump that's how it works. Way more complicated than it really needs to be, but we can all thank Ford for that mess.
Great video! I have a 2003 Dodge RAM 1500 Crew Cab any advice on finding a good grounding point for both a 4 channel and sub amps? Any advice would be great. I have a Tekpower TP2844R True RMS Auto-ranging Digital Multimeter any thoughts on this Multimeter?
+Paul Cruz Not familiar with the meter, but for good ground on amp, you can look around for a factory grounding bolt. Usually there will be these grounding bolts by the fuse area. If you mounting amp under seat or in second row, keep the ground short so you avoid grounding loop, so you can maybe tap your own screw anywhere around the bolts holding the seat down on the floor pan. If there is paint, sand it down first. Those location usually is good ground. Of course test it with your meter for good conductivity back to the battery ground.
so to test i would take a long wire like 14 awg speaker wire and run that all the way to the neg of battery. touch positive lead to that and probe around bolts under seat with neg lead. best spot is closest to 0.0 and scratch the paint to get better results. i hear close ground for amp is best and thick awg wire back to the neg of batter is best for power inverter. if i already have 4 awg wire near location for inverter would it best to just ground amp to the neg wire with a distribution block. or does separate ground to bolt stop ground loop better? sorry for all the questions. been looking at this work van project for 2 weekends and just started scouring the net for solid advice. thanks.
To initially accurately test and check your meter’s calibration for Zero Ohms, simply just place Both leads onto the Negative Battery Terminal. ( Without surface interference from your fingers!).
Hi, thank you for the video! In your testing here, you showed varying resistance between battery earth, engine earth and chassis earth. Some of your chassis earths are over 1ohm resistance. Would you consider this acceptable? My battery earth to chassis earth direct is 0.7ohms on a zero gauge wire. Would that be acceptable? I was under the assumption that 1 foot of zero gauge wire should not have any resistance whatsoever. I then removed the battery and the negative wire going from battery to the chassis earth mount and also battery to the engine earth mount. I took them all out of the car and they still showed about 0.5ohms resistance. Does this mean that maybe I should be replacing the main battery earth to chassis and engine wires?
It depends how long that wire is running. If you are talking about running the wire from neg terminal of battery at front of vehicle all the way to the back of the vehicle, I would expect you might see 0.5 ohms. 0.7ohm seem a bit higher for a 0 gauge at 1 foot. If you are doing this as part of an amplifier install, assuming the neg post of the battery has a good connection to the chassis, then at the amplifier, just run a short heavy gauge wire from amp to a near by ground spot on the chassis. You will need to grind down the metal and test the resistance of that bare metal first to make sure it's a good ground.
Main problem I had was with chassis earth I think. When I put in some gauges, I tapped into the chassis earth and was getting bottomed out gauge readings when using the headlights or brakes. I then moved the gauge earths to the engine and it was fine as the senders were earthing through the engine as well. It seemed that my engine and chassis earths were not in sync. So I figured why not test and/or replace the battery to chassis earth wire. The battery negative has 2 wires going from it which are connected together. One goes to the engine and one goes to the chassis. Something weird is going on with the chassis earth and I was thinking/hoping maybe that it would just be something as simple as the battery to chassis earth wire. It is only about 50cms long. The battery earth to engine is about 60cms long.
0.6 is acceptable. At 2.3 ohm, the connecting metal might be joined by some welds which has some resistance. Depending on what electronics you are powering, you want the least resistance to ground if it draws a lot of current.
I keep getting a reading of 6 ohms on scraped metal in multiple places in my car. Does that mean my whole is not grounded. I haven't had a 0 reading anywhere but the battery.
6 ohm should be fine as long as you use a heavy gauge wire. The problem steel is not the best conductor (compare to copper) so over a long distance you will have some resistance.
Good video however, when you touched the two probes together with your fingers you got a little higher reading because you touched the two probes with your fingers and this put some resistance into the reading, so it could have been even less. The body can add about an unknown amount of resistance.
So my speaker tested fine although there is a tear in the screen if that's what you want to call it and when I installed speaker it sounds all the sorted like crackling popping that kind of thing so how can that be going on if the speaker tested fine could it be my wiring
Popping or scratching is to do with the coil rubbing on the magnet. The coil is still giving you an impedance reading on the multimeter, but the speaker is physically damaged.
You better know how to do stuff when you own a Nissan Quest very challenging vehicle if it wasn't for his videos I be in big trouble with my quest thank you for taking the time to do them.
Thank you for the free info!! People in the comments, so what if he has an intro??? He's giving you lessons for free so your broke asses don't have too scrounge for change and actually go to school.
Hello and thanks for a great video, it helped a lot. I still have one specific question on the test for continuity. On my VW T25 Bus all the electric fuses and relays are in the front of the bus. The battery is in the back seat. When you showed the test you put the positive on the positive battery terminal and the negative on the fuse. Where would I have to put the positive prong of the multimeter? Thanks
Wow, finally, someone is explaining this clearly! Thank you!
Video starts at 3:30 you're welcome.
You da real MVP.
Hahahahaha. Thx man. I dunno why people like to make these super long boring intros. Great vid by the way
ThanK u
Top notch my man very informative I've been working on a stalling dodge pick up for a month just found the broken ground strap after removing the intake with this knowledge i will know i have it grounded correctly i may test a speaker or 2 just because I can thanks for the knowledge and blessings to you and your family
Your video's regarding the multimeter functions are very clear and really easy to understand. Thanks for taking the time to make them.
You are most welcome!
Q@QQQ0ll
This was great man, thank you so much for making the video!
I watched all three videos and found them very helpful. You effectively unravelled my confusion. Thank you so much!
I found my perfect ground thanks to your video👍
Thank you so much that was the best tutorial for grounding I've ever watched thank you again
The emphasis on the ground taking his time to fully explain shows how VERY important the grounding is.
Video starts at 3:55.
Thank you. Sheeze
Finally someone that knows how to explain things fantastic video ! . Will be subscribing
Man 👍your a great teacher! Thx so much I learned a ton! Keep it up🫶
so the higher the ohms the worse the connection, correct? I'm pretty new to this. My multimeter, when shorting the two probes, reads about 10 ohms.. It seems like that isn't right to me, but again, I'm not really sure, trying to learn here.
It seems like you would be an excellent teacher sir. Thank you for posting excellent videos
Great tuition right there on testing ground strength, many thanks!
wouldn't the voltage difference on a live circut disturb the continuity/OHM readings?
Fluke say in the 88v manual that you should never ohm wires with current flowing through them. Just to mention this.
Why is this, im panicking. I had good resistance figures between negative pole and various grounds, but soon as i start the engine they go high???
@@opelcambo cars got coronavirus.
@@jamesbarratt593 ha i think it may be cos of the 5g receiver i installed in it lol
@@jamesbarratt593 genuinly however mine was real bad, about 145 ohm wbem running, but my alternator went bad so i swapped to new, but stil it goes to about 25 when running
New subscriber 🔥🔥🔥
Hi, what would you consider a bad reading?? I get that the lower the reading the better but at what point is the ground unacceptable?? Thanks great video.
I have the same question, above what value we should consider there's problem ?
@@MooCreation wires are looked upon as bad when you get 1 ohm or more of resistance.
@@jamesbarratt593 interesting. Thank you.
I hate these videos where I need to watch 8 minutes of content for just 5 seconds of instructions that I need
Great video, very straight forward and answered my questions. Thank You!
I am fascinated with your videos cause I am learning so much, thanks to you.
Im no electrician, but can you please tell me what should be the reading from the multimeter if I am to find a good ground for the engine? This seems to be the issue with the Ford Fiesta.
What is considered a large amount of resistance?
I'm not sure you should be using the resistance measurement on a multimeter to test a live circuit. In the resistance measurement mode, the multimeter applies a small voltage to measure the resulting current, in order to calculate the resistance. This doesn't seem like a good thing to do when you are working on a live circuit. Wouldn't it be safer to just measure the voltage at a ground point, relative to battery negative terminal? But maybe you've already considered this and found no issues in practical auto troubleshooting applications? Would be interested if you have comments on this. Thanks.
yusuihang ......imo you are right....that was also my very first impression when watching the video. Assume that at the time of measurement, a current was flowing thru that particular piece of cable, and that current is 5 A.while the resistance is 0.1Ohm, the voltage drop into that part of the cable is then 0.5V. That voltage drop is fed into the meters circuitry and translaties into Ohms in accordance with the laws of that circuitry......as one could see, when the two probes were touches together, the display pointed some 0.6 Ohm, while the display gave 0.0 Ohm when a piece of live circuit was examined.....the correct display should have been pointing; 0.6+0.something >more than 0.6 Ohm.....however that was clearly not the case......At least one Side of a live circuit shall always been disconnected before resistance measurement is taken....regards
The circuit he tested was a dead circuit, the ignition was off.
You are stupid don't reply to people unless you want to look stupid. Stupid
This is really well thought, clear and succinct video. I found it very helpful. Great Job!
+Darkand Curious Thanks for your comment!
That's some a dem 3 dollar words...lol... but indeed it is.
Finally a good video 🇺🇲👍
Great video. I’m getting better and better at my DIY stuff. Thanks to people like you. I just want to verify, I should never have continuity between a positive wire and ground, correct?
Between positive and negative is a power source (ie: car battery, or power supply). There is no continuity between the two. If there is, then there is a short and you will have no power.
Exactly what I was looking for. Well explain too. Thanks a million.
Excellent one of the best explanations I have thank you
Thank you. Very helpful. I will be troubleshooting some grounds on my car audio system tomorrow.
Noticed one of my grounds from the chassis to the valve cover had surface oxidation/patina (stranded copper wire) I remember reading that surface oxidation protects the rest of the wire and the mounting points seemed clean. Tested resistance across the wire and from each end to negative of the battery and got a reading of 0 ohms. Was surprised to see this but made sense since the actual point of contact was clean and solid even though surface of the wire was oxidized
Great info! Thank you for taking the time to make these tutorials!
Fantastic practical training and tutorial.
I watched all 3 videos of you about Multimeter. These all are very helpful.Video3: In last you checked continuity between Fuse (where you touched -ve clamp) and Battery (+ve terminal). I am quite new and don't know how to diagnose (+ve, -ve) terminals of the objects!I am looking for your help. Thank you
I just fixed the grounding screws on my 98 Ford Taurus yesterday. The threads were rusted, so I removed the screws and wire brushed, greased with dielectric grease and screwed back in, then covered with dielectric grease to prevent corrosion. I used voltage from the battery to check grounds and was looking for voltage drops. If no drop, I just grease. Is using the ohmmeter better? I'm not too experienced. Thanks for the great video!
+Dennis Johnson Everything you did is correct. Looking for voltage drop can be a good test. Checking for resistance between two points will also work.
Should I test with the negative terminal from the battery or should I disconnect the negative terminal from the battery in order to test for ground?
You should test the ground with the negative terminal connected to the battery because you are checking the continuity back to the battery's (-).
Very detailed video. Thank you for this information.
This was a great video! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Nice🖖🏾👍🏽 Where's the video on hooking up the sound system bro?
Here you go th-cam.com/video/fdUaBzgzs50/w-d-xo.html
Well done. Very helpful video, keep on going brother. May God Bless You always.
hnomorales Thanks for your comment!
Can I jumper cables as a extension when connecting from the negative terminal of the battery all the way to where I want it for the multimeter?
Yes you can.
I found it helpful but i still need to determine what positive side of battery to positive side of Alternator and negative of battery and negative side to alternator. What setting would that be??
My cars OEM grounds have paint on the surface but seems to be working anyways.. might have contact through the screw/bolt and the threads.
A conductance battery tester told me "Cranking low" at the cranking test. Battery voltage was around 9v when lowest. Its a new battery. With the old battery the same test went to about 8v.
So i dont know.. might be a bad starter or a bad engine ground. Negative post on battery are grounded on the shock tower and on the transmission. The starter are grounded on the engine.
Dont know how to diagnose. Any tips or suggestions? Charging voltage are good. 14.5-14.7v on idle. Dont know about the current though.
How do you test a ground to say a headlight or foglight? One probe in the battery ground and the other on the ground wire of the light??
Thank you, as your video is a blessing!
Your result showed there is more resistance (00.6) in the meter leads than in a test ground circuit (00.0 on ground battery cable); yet you did not explain how that could be. The only explanation is that the lead to lead connection created resistance. This should have been explained so a novice like myself would understand how two combined pathways could have less resistance than part of the same circuit.
Truthfully continuity sucks to see if you’ve got corrosion or broken strands or a good connection whatsoever other than a quick open/ close in a circuit. It will show a full open l- so it’s not completely useless
An H7 bulb with Leads and T pins for back probing - you can replace the load in the circuit and use you’ve dvmm to voltage drop test to the issue in the circuit- or you can simply leave the circuit as is and back probe (while operating that circuit) to find your issue - but as with any electrical diag you need to have a quick test to point you left or right- that’s what voltage drop testing is for-
Wouldnt that be because the human body isnt a resister but to some extent is
Hi it is probably the resistance of the battery inside the multimeter. Or the nominal resistance of the miltimeter.
Which is of right reading ???
Hi there! Thank you so much for teaching us. Today I am facing an issue. I learnt to install grounding wires in my old vehicle which is said to improve the performance. I connected one from the positive terminal to the alternator. Then I connected one to the distributor and one to the car body from tbe Negative terminal. But when I tried to attach the lug to the negative terminal, it creates sparks that melts the terminal. I wonder what has happened.... What I saw them do in the video has no problem...
Very helpful video. Right to the point. I will try it.
Is there a reason you wouldnt use the continuity setting instead?
Because when measuring how good a ground is, you really should see the ohm measurement to know how much resistance it has.
Extremely helpful video.Thank you!
Thanks for your comment!
So say I wanted to test a ground wire that is connected to my engine block. I believe it’s the PCM ground wire. I’d set to Ohm then one probe on the negative battery terminal, then the other on the ground wire where it’s attached to the engine? Or does one probe need to go in the PCM somewhere.
I have a question about that 4 ohm speaker at the end if the video. If the coil was broken there'd be no connection between positive and negative. Isn't that the same as infinite resistance?(whatever that looks like on the meter, OL perhaps?) and doesn't 0.00 ohms indicate continuity?
If the speaker coil is broken (there is a physical cut in the coil), then the it's open and you will not measure any resistance. This can be called an infinite resistance. If you measure 0.00 ohms, then it has no resistance and you have continuity.
@@dial2fast Thanks for clarifying. So a meter reading of '1' says no connection which is the same as infinite resistance but a reading of '0' is no resistance. I think I got it. I've previously used my meter in continuity buzzer mode but some recent reading have flashed up numerics. I'm going ohms in the future.
Dude, this is a clear and amazing video! Thank you!
thanks for the video, just installing a sub in my car and this helped!
What was the mm reading by just touching the probs. You should subtract it from the test point. IE... By it's self..say .2 and the test point is .4. After the .2 from the mm it should be .2.
Can u do a video w/ the harbor freight centec meter on how to find a good earth ground.
Amazing work
Thank you friend
Why would some fuses have zero power? Battery ground? Already replaced megafuse
If you have a wire on the 12v batterie ,can you use that for 1 probe and use the other probe to look for a good ground?
So if zero oms no ground rite?
The symbol you keep referring to as "Ohm" is actually named "Omega".
Ohm is the unit of the measured force.
In one sentence you managed to imply you're somehow smart while at the same time stand behind a silly and common error, that symbol has a name so use the correct one instead of confusing those who don't know its name...
Verify with a voltage drop test. You can have low resistance with a poor connection.
so you put negetive lead to the negative terminal.and used positive lead to touch ground.? and if get no reading at all. then ground is bad or cutt.You put meter on continuity.?
Yes to all your questions.
I got a multimeter like that red one.
Cheap and good.
Great video👍
This is a Great Learning Video!!!
Hi how do you test a ground point say in the rear of the car with the meter and your leads are not long enough to get back to the battery terminal ?
Use a piece of wire to extend the test lead.
Good idea what a dum dum I am lol
@@treecutter1806 May be stupid suggestion, but couldn't you just disconnect the battery since the circuit doesnt have to be live to test resistance?
Why the heck are they using vechicles chassis if it has all these issues fir the negative? Im trying to install a second leisure battery and im suspecting bad grounding at this point, im getting low voltage(4v) as soon as I connect a device. Everything else in the van that is running from starter battery runs fine. It is so strange.
Hey Bud,I am at a loss here.I'm wanting to get a voltage read on my speaker wires.I'm at the speaker with my meter and have the red probe on the positive wire and the black on the negative wire.Have it set to AC volts and I'm getting like a 0.2 read.Am I doing something wrong?
You don't really use a multimeter to test the audio sound on a speaker. Your setting is correct, but the response time in a regular multimeter isn't fast enough. Also the voltage is not going to be very high depending on speaker volume. If you want to check speaker, just measure the impedance to be 4, 6, or 8 ohms. If you want to measure sound, use a scope.
dial2fast What I'm going to do is add an amplifier to a stock stereo so I'll need to get a signal from the speaker wires.However,if the system is too powerful than then the amp won't be able to handle it.So I need to determine how many volts the lines are putting out.Its the same concept as setting an amplifier gain with a meter.Problem is that it doesn't work.Do you have any suggestions?
Well if you are really needing to test something like you mentioned, then you need to inject a test tone (say 1kHz) to your amp and then measure the output with a true RMS multimeter at a specified volume. If you are planning to install an aftermarket amp to a car's factory system, then you will probably be connecting the factory speaker output to the amps hi-lo input (if it has that feature), and then connect the amp's output to the factory speaker. Remember sound waves that are clipping is what fries speakers because clipping causes sine wave to behave like DC voltage and that's a no no for speaker. So I think more importantly, have a clean source and good quality amp, and your system will be fine.
Can you help with this bad ground I know you busy and wouldn't mind if you don't message back No harm done I got VW LT35 2.5TDI all position lights come on when you press on the pedal brake When you turn on the lights the back brake lights are always on...
I found that when you turn on the fan in the cabin and slightly one turn the ignition key and press on the brake pedal The van finds its way to connect the power and the fan is working without having the ignition on yet
Also found in this case the glow plug relay when you press on the brake pedal there is a noise like something is breaking up there I am going to check this but after checking the ground wires all looks clean and 100%
How I should be looking for more bad connection Lights front back maybe the glow plug relay ect. ?? Thank you for your suggestion Arthur from Glasgow
hi, im having problem with voltage drop in my amplifer i reads around 8 to 9 v when its turned on i checked all my grounds its reads .5 on my on the amp and battery..any help will be much appreciated
I fixed this with mine. I have a high RMS power totaling about 4k. between both amps. At first I had a big voltage drop from the battery to the back of the car. 2015 VW beetle. Everything has been replaced that was factory. I got a 1f cap at first. I don't recommend a cap though. It's really just a patch on a bigger problem. Helped a touch. Still had some voltage drop off at the amps. Everything the bass hits hard, it would drop down from 12.6-8 voltage at the amp and when the bass hit hard. The voltage would drop off to 11.3-6 and then bounce right back to 12v. I had 4g for p/g wire's front to back. Plus the wire's to the amps. Recommend size. To fix my issue, I replaced the wire's from front to back with 1/0 and also did the big 3 upgrade in 1/0. I have an extra battery in the back also. I really need a high output alternator. But I have to have one special made for my car. No one mods a beetle 🤦🤦 but the lest resistance you have, the more flow you get through the wire. I don't have but just a very small amount of voltage drop now. Nothing that's going to affect the performance of the system. I hope this helps
Is that all the voltage your getting at the amp. It should be 12+v from the start. Even the trigger wire should be 12v. A simple test would be to run a new ground from a new good location and see what that does. And check the wire size and quality of it. The little $20-25 amp kit from Walmart is junk. Really. The RCA cables are cheap and junk. The wire is not the stated size. The fuse holder that comes with a cheap kit it also junk. You get what you pay for. $20 kit gets you a bunch of junk that will have to be replaced by the correct stuff. Hope this helps you
@@davidlunsford6155 I had it figured out.. gave me some trouble for a while tho it was a while back. Cant remember it well but it happened because i didnt had my paint stripped off completely from the ground must have been the clear coat i guess.. just a sloppy job lol. Iam actually running a $20 kit from amazon its running two amps for the sub and midrange and highs its running good all these years since my system is under 600 rms depends on some brands tho had one earlier with rca's fading colours with seasons. But i have my speakers cables better with some oxy free copper and good brand since i have it running on loop from headunit to amps and back to speakers. Thanks for the reply and suggestions appreciate it.
great video! do you have any idea about "floating ground" ? i've watched a few vids and as far as i understand this - any acc wire is ground, until the switch power is on.. is that right ?
+evyasafe Floating ground is when one ground is good and another ground on that same conductor is not very good. You actually have a voltage difference on that bad ground which can cause all kinds of electrical problems. When Acc is off, that wire might test like it's a ground, but don't use it for ground. The ignition wire may come off a relay or the BCM (body control module).
+dial2fast. actually its great for my purpose. I'd like to install one of those. dummy alarm blinking LED . I'm going to use a constant 12v power for the positive, and the ignition power to the negative. so when the car is on the LED will shut off, and turn on when the the switch power is off. thanks !
+evyasafe I see what you trying to do. If your intent is to use the flashing LED to deter theft, don't waste your time using that. If your neighborhood is unsafe, get an alarm installed. I am not trying to give you grief on your project. I was a car alarm installer for 7 years and have seen all kinds of car breakins. A blinking LED will not deter a thief.
+dial2fast my neighborhood is safe, its just an extra precaution
Think your talking about Ford's "Pulsed" ground fella. The accessory gets a constant 12V(think fuel pump) and it's duty cycle is controlled by removing power to the pump periodically. Since it's a "switch grounded" pump that's how it works. Way more complicated than it really needs to be, but we can all thank Ford for that mess.
Great video!
I have a 2003 Dodge RAM 1500 Crew Cab any advice on finding a good grounding point for both a 4 channel and sub amps? Any advice would be great. I have a Tekpower TP2844R True RMS Auto-ranging Digital Multimeter any thoughts on this Multimeter?
+Paul Cruz Not familiar with the meter, but for good ground on amp, you can look around for a factory grounding bolt. Usually there will be these grounding bolts by the fuse area. If you mounting amp under seat or in second row, keep the ground short so you avoid grounding loop, so you can maybe tap your own screw anywhere around the bolts holding the seat down on the floor pan. If there is paint, sand it down first. Those location usually is good ground. Of course test it with your meter for good conductivity back to the battery ground.
so to test i would take a long wire like 14 awg speaker wire and run that all the way to the neg of battery. touch positive lead to that and probe around bolts under seat with neg lead. best spot is closest to 0.0 and scratch the paint to get better results. i hear close ground for amp is best and thick awg wire back to the neg of batter is best for power inverter. if i already have 4 awg wire near location for inverter would it best to just ground amp to the neg wire with a distribution block. or does separate ground to bolt stop ground loop better? sorry for all the questions. been looking at this work van project for 2 weekends and just started scouring the net for solid advice. thanks.
Great video!
Would you notice a difference in output of an amp with a resistance of 0.02-0.05 or 0.00
No, not with that resistance.
To initially accurately test and check your meter’s calibration for Zero Ohms, simply just place Both leads onto the Negative Battery Terminal. ( Without surface interference from your fingers!).
Hey what kind of sound in this video between 7:30 to 7:45..... Like a ghost
Hi, thank you for the video! In your testing here, you showed varying resistance between battery earth, engine earth and chassis earth. Some of your chassis earths are over 1ohm resistance. Would you consider this acceptable? My battery earth to chassis earth direct is 0.7ohms on a zero gauge wire. Would that be acceptable? I was under the assumption that 1 foot of zero gauge wire should not have any resistance whatsoever. I then removed the battery and the negative wire going from battery to the chassis earth mount and also battery to the engine earth mount. I took them all out of the car and they still showed about 0.5ohms resistance. Does this mean that maybe I should be replacing the main battery earth to chassis and engine wires?
It depends how long that wire is running. If you are talking about running the wire from neg terminal of battery at front of vehicle all the way to the back of the vehicle, I would expect you might see 0.5 ohms. 0.7ohm seem a bit higher for a 0 gauge at 1 foot. If you are doing this as part of an amplifier install, assuming the neg post of the battery has a good connection to the chassis, then at the amplifier, just run a short heavy gauge wire from amp to a near by ground spot on the chassis. You will need to grind down the metal and test the resistance of that bare metal first to make sure it's a good ground.
Main problem I had was with chassis earth I think. When I put in some gauges, I tapped into the chassis earth and was getting bottomed out gauge readings when using the headlights or brakes. I then moved the gauge earths to the engine and it was fine as the senders were earthing through the engine as well. It seemed that my engine and chassis earths were not in sync. So I figured why not test and/or replace the battery to chassis earth wire. The battery negative has 2 wires going from it which are connected together. One goes to the engine and one goes to the chassis. Something weird is going on with the chassis earth and I was thinking/hoping maybe that it would just be something as simple as the battery to chassis earth wire. It is only about 50cms long. The battery earth to engine is about 60cms long.
So what is acceptable? .6 2.3
0.6 is acceptable. At 2.3 ohm, the connecting metal might be joined by some welds which has some resistance. Depending on what electronics you are powering, you want the least resistance to ground if it draws a lot of current.
I keep getting a reading of 6 ohms on scraped metal in multiple places in my car. Does that mean my whole is not grounded. I haven't had a 0 reading anywhere but the battery.
6 ohm should be fine as long as you use a heavy gauge wire. The problem steel is not the best conductor (compare to copper) so over a long distance you will have some resistance.
What if the ground reads in the negative?
Good video however, when you touched the two probes together with your fingers you got a little higher reading because you touched the two probes with your fingers and this put some resistance into the reading, so it could have been even less. The body can add about an unknown amount of resistance.
So my speaker tested fine although there is a tear in the screen if that's what you want to call it and when I installed speaker it sounds all the sorted like crackling popping that kind of thing so how can that be going on if the speaker tested fine could it be my wiring
Popping or scratching is to do with the coil rubbing on the magnet. The coil is still giving you an impedance reading on the multimeter, but the speaker is physically damaged.
If nothing shows on the multimeter what does that mean
Then the 2 points you are testing are not connected to the same ground.
THANX
Thanks a lot man 🤟
You better know how to do stuff when you own a Nissan Quest very challenging vehicle if it wasn't for his videos I be in big trouble with my quest thank you for taking the time to do them.
Excellent layman's term video, thank you!
Excellent information.
Talk you. How much is to much resistance before you say it's not a good ground or what range is acceptable.
I think a good ground in a car shouldn't be more than 5 ohms.
@@dial2fast Thank you.
Thank you! Great videos, very descriptive.
Great video
great video. Thanks for the tip
Thank you for the free info!! People in the comments, so what if he has an intro??? He's giving you lessons for free so your broke asses don't have too scrounge for change and actually go to school.
Great info.thanks!
Cheers!
Hello and thanks for a great video, it helped a lot. I still have one specific question on the test for continuity.
On my VW T25 Bus all the electric fuses and relays are in the front of the bus.
The battery is in the back seat. When you showed the test you put the positive on the positive battery terminal and the negative on the fuse.
Where would I have to put the positive prong of the multimeter? Thanks
You can always run a wire from your battery to the front of the car and connect it to the multimeter.
Thanks 😊
Thank you for good work