You’re going on a boating trip and you’d like to play some tunes to pass the time. You have the perfect amplifier and speaker setup since you were an audiophile during your high school years yet now that you have everything, you realize that you have no idea where to ground an amp on a pontoon boat.
So where should you start? I assume that you already have an amp, a speaker, a fully functioning boat, and everything else that you may need, however you don’t have enough knowledge to implement the concept of grounding an amp on a pontoon boat.
That is exactly what this guide is for!
Where to Ground an Amp on a Pontoon Boat
The simplest answer is to ground the amp on the negative terminal of your battery.
If you have multiple accessories or the like attached to a bus bar that is connected to the negative terminal of your battery, then grounding the amp on the bus bar works as well.
How to Ground an Amp on a Pontoon Boat
As mentioned in the previous section, you should always without a doubt, attach the ground of an amp to the negative terminal of the battery on your pontoon boat.
However, you need to make sure that the gauge of the wire that you’ll be using is appropriate for the amount of current that the amp draws, otherwise you might burn some wires or cause damage to the battery which will result in a fire.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer, this guide is not in any way intended for professional use and is merely a simplified method of allowing you to make your own amplifier setup on a pontoon boat and should only be used as a reference.
Just because it worked for our setup does not mean that it will work for yours.
We do not hold any responsibility for any damages or issues that may occur should you follow this guide to the letter.
Just to make things clear, we don’t have any intention of dealing damage to your pontoon boat, or any device that may be related to this setup, however, each and every person is different and the same logic applies to pontoon boats. Therefore, do take this guide into consideration but not be reliant on it alone.
Safety Precautions
Basic safety precautions involve the use of insulating materials during installation such as rubber gloves and boots. Please make sure that your body does not make contact to any metallic element regardless of orientation or position. We will not be held responsible for any damage or injury that this guide may cause.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, you should always ground the amp to the negative terminal of the battery or to the bus bar attached to the negative terminal of the battery.
Also, you should always remember to use the appropriate gauge of wire when grounding the amp, as you have to take into account the amount of current that the amp draws to ensure that it doesn’t burn or cause damage to the wires and/or battery.
With all this, I hope that this guide helped you to understand where to ground an amp on a pontoon boat.
