Grounding amp..., trying to ground my amp Options

[6gsillyca]

I posted a while back with problems i was having with my subs, they were sounding wierd and realllllllly distorted. anyways, i got it fixed. it was a bad ground, the friend that was helping me wire up my system used a U-terminal, instead of a ring, and just screwed it in there. i went back and rewired it to a 4G stinger ring terminal (with the rubber condom on end), drilled a new hole and sanded down and screwed in.

now...problem

it started acting up again last week, so i had a look at the ground and to my amazement it looked like sh!t. the rubber around the ring terminal was all melted, the 1" foam under the carpet had a hole burnt up to the carpet, and the metal i sanded down was all black. i tried to clean the metal and re-screw it down only to find the hole was stripping...

-why is my ground get like this? do i need to get 0/1G wiring for ground?
-is it normal for the rubber thing to melt?
-how can i get the screw to stay in, without stripping, but still getting it nice and tight?

system is 1200W amp and (2) 500W rms/900W peak subs

thanks

[cheeco]

in addition to the poor ground, awg 4 is too small for 1200watts (peak i assume?)
amps = watts/volts, 1200w/12v = 100Amps at peak output. awg 4 is good for about
60 amps. go with some awg 1 or 0

[AudioFreak]

in addition to the poor ground, awg 4 is too small for 1200watts (peak i assume?)
amps = watts/volts, 1200w/12v = 100Amps at peak output. awg 4 is good for about
60 amps. go with some awg 1 or 0

4ga is good up to 150 amps and you can go over this slightly if you keep the runs short. The ground cable should be more than a few feet at most... 4ga will work fine.

If the amp is 1200 watts peak it won't be pulling anywhere near 150 amps. 1200 rms is pushing 4ga. A short ground it will work but a bigger power cable is needed.

The burning you found is most likely from the ground being loose. The resistance goes up and causes the current to go up as well which overloaded the cable. Just clean up the surfaces and put a nut and bolt in there and make it tight.