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Alternator noise

G

genesis14

CEG'er
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
147
Location
Calgary Alberta
:mad: :mad: :mad: AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:



Alright I have tried ABSOLUTELY everything. I have an alternator wine coming throught the stereo. This is the set-up ....

Clarion VRX775VD
Phoenix gold RSd500.4 (0.5 farad cap attached)
Phoenix gold RSd1200.1 (1 farad cap attached)
2 Phoenix gold 12" dual voive coil (RSd series)
4 kicker 5x7's

I have grounded the rca's (only to increase the wine) I have swaped all grounds three times (all of the grounds continuity is reading 000.0 ohms)
I did do the battery swap and it is sitting in the trunk. All the power wires are seperated from the rca's from the deck. (Battery on right ... Rca's on left) The deck is grounded to chassis.

Has anybody ever dealt with alternator noise that just won't go away?
 
Identify (start testting connections and see if the noise changes)
Isolate (figure out what are or things are causing the noise)
Elminiate (fix the problem that you isolated)

Did you try using a reference ground? Do you have dual twist rca's? everything grounded in 1 spot? Power and signal cross at 90 degree angles? Try running the amps without the capacitors...? (maybe the difference in capacitance is an issue? IDK)

You can also reference this http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/I...sors_installation_guide.html?print=1&page=all
 
All the grounds are seperate from each other.
I have triple sheilded rca's.
The power cords are not crossing anywhere in the system.
I have isolated everything and I still get it coming through the amp.
I've tried grounding the rca's at the line driver,only to increase the noise.
The Caps and amps are running on a seperate system (see diagram)
 

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Well that's your problem then.... You shouldn't be grounding all your amps, caps. line driver, in different locations, that's what causes alternator whine. It occurs when the source units and amplifying units have different ground potentials, that's why it's best to ground everything in a central location if possible. Usually you don't get the chance to do that with a head unit since it's so far away from the amps, which is why some RCA's come with a wire in the middle, it's known as a reference ground, it's meant to be hooked up to the ground at the HU and the ground at the amp to sort of balance the ground potential between the two should the system have alternator whine....
 

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Yes you can, being able to run ground to battery is usually the better way of doing your system. You may have to rerun a ground wire to your radio as well if you still have noise...
 
I'm going to bring all my grounds to the battery, but I need some cables and a distribution block, so I'll have to wait until tommorrow.
 
Understandable, I hope that having a centralized ground will get rid of your noise problems..... Can we get some history on this as well? Like did this just start happening, did the system just get installed, did you swap something and it happened?
 
Well, The system is new. I did the battery along time ago and didn't have any problems (throwing cel codes). When hooked up (the headunit) with out amps, the system is fine. No problems what-so-ever. Then once I installed subs the sytem was working fine as well. I figure that if there was alternator wine the amp would have blocked them out on the sub side, or I just wouldn't have heard them. Once I Installed the 4 channel. Alternator became apparent. So I redid the Battery because the rca's were on the same side as the power. That was my fault because I wasn't thinking. Anyway alternator wine cut in half instantly (for obvious reasons). But then It just won't go away. So today I went out and bought another chunk of 4 gauge and a distributor block to centralize all the grounds. I am running 8 gauge to the amps and caps because my longest run of cable is only 3 feet. So right now I'm going to go and centralize the grounds. I'll get back to you in a bit.
 
Alright so I changed ALL the grounds to one central ground and plugged it directly on to the battery post.

It didn't do a d**n thing. The Alternator noise is still there. Any more suggestions?

What about a passthrough (rca-rca) noise filter? whould that do anything or is that the same as grounding all the rca's together (because that didn't work either) or what about a ground loop eliminator? (not that I should have one)
 
Try running a ground from the battery directly to the HU and see if that cures your issue, also make sure the RCA's aren't near any high power wires as well, just because they are not by the Main power for the amps, doesn't mean they aren't by any power wires from the car. You can add a ground loop isolator, but remember it is just a band aid, not a solution to a problem...
 
What if the rca's are going by the PCM or the ECM? Would that make a difference? I've tried running a ground from the stereo to the battery and it doesn't make a difference.

I wonder if I should change the battery main wire to car audio wire. Right now I am using welding wire 1 gauge wire to the engine bay. Or would that make a difference?
 
Only hook up the 4 channel first. See if that is where the noise is coming from.

Do a simple 1 amp install, Power, Ground, Remote, RCA. No cap.

See if that eliminates the noise.

Seems you may have to rerun the RCA's or......just unplug em from the deck-side, and wire them straight in over your center counsel or somethin to see if that helps eliminate the whine, if it does, then you know its the PCM or whatnot up front thats interfering. But its good you got a block or two, and ran your grounds to one location.

Dont double ground your equipment.

In with ground at CAP, then into AMP. In with power at CAP, then into AMP.

But for now, to eliminate the source of the noise, just install the AMPS by themselves, or one at a time, specifically, make sure you can get that 4 channel running with no WHINE, then go from there.

genesis14 said:
What if the rca's are going by the PCM or the ECM? Would that make a difference? I've tried running a ground from the stereo to the battery and it doesn't make a difference.
Click to expand...

likely, it would pick up some kind of power source you ran it by, and cross it into the amp for sure. Try to play your RADIO, and at the same time, move and wiggle your RCA's by where you think the problem MAY be in the RCA's.

Ive got my RCA's ran to the right side also, close to the glovebox, and down under the kick panel/door sill covers.

Power I got ran to the left side. But your battery is in the back in your ride. WELDING WIRE??? Ummm....Stainless steel? I dont think thats good at all dude.....I would think that would pick up something nasty compared to copper..

So ya ummm, new wire to battery.....

And try to wiggle those RCA's....
 
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I've taken the caps out of the equation a while ago, and I also ran a seperate set of RCA's straight to the amp and I still get the wine. I've got my RCA's in the same location you do as well. The battery wire runs under the car and not through the car. I may have to get a better wire anyways. And no the wire is copper. Right now the caps and the amps are connected to a 4 (8 gauge) in, 1 (4 gauge) out distibution block then straight to the battery. All power wires less than three feet. Rca's are no where neer the power.
 
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Okay I see...

Nevermind then.

Do just 4 channel install what happens?

I think you are still double grounding with the 4 wire ground....it should be 2 wire ground, IN ESSENCE to each amp.

So it has its own LINE.

AMP GROUND-----CAP GROUND-----DIST BLOCK----GROUND. Done. But spliced and doubled together at CAP.

in my scenario, youre just attaching the amp ground to the cap ground, then from cap ground to the block ground.

hence a 1 LINE ground, (in essence but there is actually 2 wires.) same should be done with power wire.

Same with power wire. POWER WIRE----- BLOCK-----CAP----AMP. But spliced and doubled together at the CAP

Do you see what Im saying?

genesis14 said:
All power wires less than three feet.
Click to expand...

Youre grounds should be the shorties, not the power, but Im sure you meant to say grounds are less than 3.

If you have it like this it is WRONG>

GROUND = AMP------DIST BLOCK
GROUND = CAP------DIST CLOCK
<--- seperately is the wrong way to do it. youre still double grounding this way.
GROUND = AMP-----DIST BLOCK
GROUND = CAP-----DIST BLOCK


IT SHOULD GO

GROUND = AMP-----CAP-----BLOCK
GROUND = AMP-----CAP-----BLOCK <----together in line Right way to do it with caps.

You should do the same with POWER WIRE.

If you dont understand Ill draw you a picture and post it lol.
 
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I would try moving the rca's around and see if moving them in the car affects the noise.... also if you can, try getting a different 4-channel and see if that does the same thing.... try different RCA's, try elminiating your line driver and run the RCA's direct..... Did you ground that with your amps to the central ground? Pretty much going to have to test and find out what and where the noise is being picked up at, a noise sniffer would help, but they are expensive... unless you know a shop that has one.... :shrug: As for the whine you were talking about your subs earlier, you shouldn't hear alernator whine in your subs because you usually only hear it at higher frequencies... I have yet to hear that coming from a clean working amp and sub, I've seen amps that have the HPF set instead of the LPF, still no whine, but ****ty none the less as you might have guessed....
 
I've tried a different set of rca's (bypassing the original rcas) going straight through the driver and passenger seat straight to the amp and it still wine the same. as for the ground's I'm a little confused. do you mean like this...(see image)
 

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ya,exactly. same with power. just so you have 1 line to ground instead of 2.
Basically, its the same idea, youre still grounding it as you should, but now just eliminating a wire on each side.

RCA's no luck huh. damn.

So if its not the RCA's, and not the ground, then Power? maybe?

Its gotta be the ground somewhere.....where do you have it grounded?

take out the caps and dont even introduce them to the setup to eliminate a couple things out of the equation right off the bat......

Are you only concentrating your efforts on the 4 channel?

Step back, breathe, and just know you can do it and it will be done sometime, someday.
 
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