Alternator Whine... Help Please

[krakerkid]

Ok i have a 2004 yukon with all 1/0 wire a shuriken bt-120 in the back and am running an american bass sq 475. i have re grounded the battery amps and head unit in about 8 diff configurations, checked all of the speaker wire to make sure nothing is touching the frame, bought high quality rcas. and still i have a shitload of annoying alternator whine. everything that i have read has said 99.9% of the time it is not the amp. could i be that .1%? I have also read something about touching the ground to the body of the amp, not the terminal, while you have the positive cable plugged in it can fry some part in the amp. any suggestions will be LOVED ive been dealing with this for over a month anything is appreciated.

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[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Get a ground loop isolator for each set of RCAs you're running to your amp(s). If you have a Pioneer HU, you may have blown the pico fuse in there and that will require you to ground the RCAs to the rear of the HU. There are plenty of threads about that on here so a search will suit you well if that's your issue. I had some alternator whine in my Jeep with my Alpine HU and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I tried different grounding points and whatnot, but the whine would not cease. I went to Best Buy and picked up a Fierce Audio ground loop isolator. I got that because that's where I work so it was super cheap for me. It worked perfectly. I didn't lose any audio quality either. It was a few dollars well invested.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

What HU do you have?

 

[krakerkid]

the ground loop isolator was a fail it muffled the sound but that was about it. the problem isnt just whine tho i dont think because with the car off there is still a single continuous noise about 130hz with crackling in and out. so im thinking either the headunit or the amp is the problem. The headunit is a kenwood KDC-BT838U and the amp is an american bass sq 475. Fyi it isnt a subtle noise it is LOUD. i have to have my volume on 30 out of 35 to drown it out.

 

[krakerkid]

the ground loop isolator was a fail it muffled the sound but that was about it. the problem isnt just whine tho i dont think because with the car off there is still a single continuous noise about 130hz with crackling in and out. so im thinking either the headunit or the amp is the problem. The headunit is a kenwood KDC-BT838U and the amp is an american bass sq 475. Fyi it isnt a subtle noise it is LOUD. i have to have my volume on 30 out of 35 to drown it out. Thankyou

 

[CleanPrix 10+ year member]

First you need to figure out what is causing it. Cheap troubleshooting. Get anything that has audio out on it via RCA. Something that can bypass the head-unit. An ipod with an rca adapter works well but have it turned down. Plug it straight to the amp and see if it makes the same noise. If the whining stops, then it eliminates your amp/sub as a culprit. If it is still heard then it is from your amp to your subs. 9/10 times its your head-unit. Do you have the head-unit power going straight to the battery or is it running from your harness? If you troubleshoot and you find it IS the head-unit, run a positive and negative to the battery as a means of troubleshooting. Don't hide the wires, just make sure you are not going to short anything out. Hook it up to your head-unit. If you have the battery and ground running to it and you still have the whining, troubleshoot it completely out of the car. I used an 110ac to 14VDC converter, but a battery works fine too. If it makes the sound out of your car then the head-unit has the defect and there is little you personally can do to fix. Hope this helps. If you need me to go into a little more detail or explain it further, PM me.

 

[ChevyRidinLow]

ground your rcas then wrap them up in foil. attach a wire and ground it. (from the head unit to where they come out from behind the dash)then wrap the foil in electrical tape.