Well I finally finished upgrading my previous 4 gauge big three. Battery ground is 0 gauge to vehicle body Engine ground is 0 gauge to battery negative alternator wire is still 4 gauge (waiting to get some 0 gauge welding cable) Also I need to make a a ground for the battery to the frame still (damn body on frame chassis) After upgrading to 0 gauge grounds my idle voltage is higher....a lot higher Before it was idling at around 13.8 volts...Now with the awesome 0 gauge grounds that I did the idle voltage is around 14.3 volts...I have NEVER seen my truck idle this high...it is sweet. I grounded the alternator mounting bolt to another bolt on the other side of the engine and grounded the battery to that same bolt...basically did a daisy chain ground Installed the 500/1 that I got from Ibanez and a couple Type R 12's in a sealed box to test them out and test out my upgraded big three...I was expecting a little more voltage drop than I actually got. Full tilt with the engine running and headlights on, the voltage only drops from 14.3 volts to 14.0 volts. I am amazed as before I had 0 gauge grounds my voltage would drop really bad down to 12.6 volts with a crappy Profile HA1000 amp (1000 watts max 480 rms) and would not even charge back up until I tapped the gas...now it jumps right back up. To everyone who has not upgraded their big three...DO IT. It doesn't even matter if you don't have a big system...it only helps.
I will try to get pics up this weekend...its hard when I don't have a digi cam and have to borrow a friends. Joe Audio, This upgrade doesn't cost much at all...I had spare 0 gauge laying around...you can use welding cable which is A LOT cheaper than audio cable and works EXACTLY the same. And I use welding cable ring terminals and used a big hammer...then took the cables to my welding class and soldered them with the torch. All in all I would say the cost less than 40 bucks if using 0 guage....cost less if using 4 gauge
update....tested the voltage today with the system full tilt, headlights on, AND heater/blower on full blast lowest the voltage would drop was 12.9 volts but lowest consistently was 13 volts...pretty good to me. This would NOT be the case if I had no upgraded big three...I even remember when I had all factory wiring and 8 gauge RF wiring kit my voltage at idle would drop down to 12.6-12.8 volts with a peice of crap Jension 780 watt amp at idle and only headlights on...it was fused with two 30 amp fuses though...pull some decent current. Now with a 500/1, head lights on, and fan full blast the voltage is stable...This is a testament to the big three non believeers lol