Another alternator whine thread

[pilyin 10+ year member]

I know this has been beaten to death but I need some ideas.

My power wire is running down the far left side of the car. My RCA's and speaker wire are on the far right side of the car. My remote wire is running down the middle of the car.

My amps are grounded directly to my battery. I tried grounding my radio directly to the battery and the rca'a also.

I tried getting an expensive set of RCA's and going directly over the seats to the amp.

And I still get alternator whine!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/verymad.gif.3f39c5c2fd57527b671fad3efdfac756.gif I already don't know what to try. If you have any ideas, let me know.

I tried plugging an iPod directly into the amp and didn't hear any whine, but that was into the rear speakers. I'm going to try the fronts right now.

The equipment I'm running is: Amp - Diamond Audio D600.4

Deck: Alpine 9855

Speakers: Diamond Audio S600s comps

Infinity Kappa 6.5's

I especially hear it in the comps (front). It's barely audible in the rear.

I just don't know what to try already.

I need some ideas.

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[pilyin 10+ year member]

Plugged the iPod directly into the amp front speakers in's. No whine. With radio output plugged in. Whine.

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

Just tried a different stereo. Still there. I'm beginning to think that the signal coming into the stereo is not clean. It's before the amps (no whine when my iPod plays directly into the RCA inputs on the amp). I think it might even be before the RCA's as changing to an expensive RCA and running it over the seats didn't work.

At this point, would a ground loop isolator help? I just don't know what else to try.

The only thing left is maybe another non-Alpine stereo, but I really don't feel like cutting all the wires again.

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

OK so the ground in a 2000 nissan Sentra is actually in the antenna. So now I've grounded the radio to the chassis, the antenna to the chassis. The Amps are grounded to the battery. The wires are run in the right locations. I've eliminated almost all of the whine. There is still a bit left. Not very loud and you can't hear it in when the musics playing. Maybe a little when the musics off. I haven't connected the drivers door speaker yet so I'm hoping that the whine coming from there is not more than the others. The tweeters are the loudest culprit.

I've tried a ground loop isolator. No help at all. If the whine stays at the level it is now, I'll be able to live with it. Still hate it.

Any other ideas, please let me know.

 

[csnut18 10+ year member]

Run a 12 gauge wire from the location at which you have the amps grounded to your head units ground wire so that every single component in your system is grounded at the same spot. Also keep in mind that you are using a stereo with 2v pre outs. This is normally not a problem but in noisy vehicles it can become one. With these 3v preouts, the gain needs to be turned up and during quiet parts of a song etc.., the whine can be all you hear. A higher voltage head unit will help.

 

[GAM3OVR 5,000+ posts]

throw away your alternator, who needs an alternator anyways

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

Run a 12 gauge wire from the location at which you have the amps grounded to your head units ground wire so that every single component in your system is grounded at the same spot. Also keep in mind that you are using a stereo with 2v pre outs. This is normally not a problem but in noisy vehicles it can become one. With these 3v preouts, the gain needs to be turned up and during quiet parts of a song etc.., the whine can be all you hear. A higher voltage head unit will help.

amps gournded to battery?

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Do as csnut mentioned. I would remove your chassis ground at the HU and run dedicated POWER and GROUND for the HU with 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire directly to the rear blocks your amps are connected to. I would not run the HU power to the battey under the hood. The noise you are getting is a ground loop, that is caused by a difference in voltage from the HU to the amps and the RCA's are the connecting path. If you unplug the RCA's at the HU your noise will dissapear. That is a sign that the noise is not being "absorbed" by the RCA into your signal, but rather starts upstream (your HU)

RCA cables use anywhere from 18-28 gauge wire, apparently this direct signal ground is of lesser resistance then the HU's negative chassis ground. By providing a path of lesser resistance then the RCA (your 12V + and - Speaker wire) this in theory should remove that interferance.

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

Do as csnut mentioned. I would remove your chassis ground at the HU and run dedicated POWER and GROUND for the HU with 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire directly to the rear blocks your amps are connected to. I would not run the HU power to the battey under the hood. The noise you are getting is a ground loop, that is caused by a difference in voltage from the HU to the amps and the RCA's are the connecting path. If you unplug the RCA's at the HU your noise will dissapear. That is a sign that the noise is not being "absorbed" by the RCA into your signal, but rather starts upstream (your HU)
RCA cables use anywhere from 18-28 gauge wire, apparently this direct signal ground is of lesser resistance then the HU's negative chassis ground. By providing a path of lesser resistance then the RCA (your 12V + and - Speaker wire) this in theory should remove that interferance.

I'm not sure I'm completely getting what you're saying. You mean run the direct (not switched) power for my HU from the distribution block that is in line with the power cable for my amps and run a direct ground to my battery (amps are grounded to the battery)?

What about the switched power line? Leave it where it's at?

At this point I'm not really getting alternator whine, rather whine when I turn the interior fan (not necessarily AC, just the fan) on. The higher I turn the fan up, the louder the whine. With it off, no whine.

 

[dumple 5,000+ posts]

could a rpm whine be caused by running the rcas next to the remote turn on lead

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

Run a 12 gauge wire from the location at which you have the amps grounded to your head units ground wire so that every single component in your system is grounded at the same spot. Also keep in mind that you are using a stereo with 2v pre outs. This is normally not a problem but in noisy vehicles it can become one. With these 3v preouts, the gain needs to be turned up and during quiet parts of a song etc.., the whine can be all you hear. A higher voltage head unit will help.

Thanks, also it has 4v pre-outs.

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

could a rpm whine be caused by running the rcas next to the remote turn on lead

I've heard it can so I ran it down the middle of the car and the RCA on the far right side just to be safe.

 

[dumple 5,000+ posts]

hmph well ill have a few spots to check my car camestock with teh battery in the trunk so i think i may have inadvertently ran the rca next to the power wire for the car

 

[pilyin 10+ year member]

Do as csnut mentioned. I would remove your chassis ground at the HU and run dedicated POWER and GROUND for the HU with 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire directly to the rear blocks your amps are connected to. I would not run the HU power to the battey under the hood. The noise you are getting is a ground loop, that is caused by a difference in voltage from the HU to the amps and the RCA's are the connecting path. If you unplug the RCA's at the HU your noise will dissapear. That is a sign that the noise is not being "absorbed" by the RCA into your signal, but rather starts upstream (your HU)
RCA cables use anywhere from 18-28 gauge wire, apparently this direct signal ground is of lesser resistance then the HU's negative chassis ground. By providing a path of lesser resistance then the RCA (your 12V + and - Speaker wire) this in theory should remove that interferance.

I tried running my power (main - yellow) wire from the same source as the amps and grounded the head unit to the same place. I still have whine when I turn on my interior fan. I going to try re-wiring the fan tomorrow or something. I'm just at a loss at this point.

 

[dumple 5,000+ posts]

i am as well sorry for thread share but if people hate these threads then they would not like me posting another i got my rca cables away from the battery cable that runs to the trunk and it sounds like it only made it worse. Next thing i will try is grounding the headunit better my radio harness has a ground wire in it so i figured id use that and be fine but i guess not we will see i gotta find somewere to ground the deck to then