Bah!! So frustrating!!

[Bossman150]

So I get to my shop at about 1pm today. They had everything done (changed amp wiring from 4ga to 0ga, swapped out the w1 for the w6, swapped my JL and Soundstream amps for my new VFL 100.1 & 150.4. They used the same grounds, RCA's are run on the opposite side of the car as the power, and these didn't change anyway. Getting bad alternator noise from all 4 speakers! They tried a ground loop, changing grounds, adding an extra ground, grounding from the distribution block and straight to the car, sanding to bare metal every time. Nothing works and they run out of time. I only paid for 2 hours labor and they spent 3 hours more after that troubleshooting. I am going to go back tomorrow or Thursday and they are going to try switching the soundstream amp back in to see if its the new AB 150.4 causing the issue.

First off, my salesman immediately said he thought it was the amp, before we even started troubleshooting(probably because I didn't buy my amps through them) and I thought here we go, they won't even try to fix it, they will just blame the piece I didn't buy there. But the installer said right off that he highly doubted it was the amp, he said he knows AB amps well and he knows they are solid amps. So we spent 3 hours trying everything and we are down to the amp now. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

How likely is it the amp causing the alternator whine? If they swap out the amps and the noise is eliminated then is it for sure the amp? There was no noise with the SS amp at all before the install.

When I crank it past the point I can't hear the whine it sounds pretty **** good! The power is MUCH more obvious with the 150.4 over the SS and so is the sound quality. The 100.1 powers the w6 very well even with the gains set very low for the break in period, double the sound of the w1 even set that low and set low in the HU as well. Can't wait to really hear it crank once its broken in.

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[MrFoca]

I'm surprised cause most shop be like. Well you didn't buy that here so kick rocks. They changed the 4 gauge original grounds ?

 

[Bossman150]

I'm surprised cause most shop be like. Well you didn't buy that here so kick rocks. They changed the 4 gauge original grounds ?

They used 4ga grounds to the 150.4, not sure if it would take 0ga. They used 0ga ground for the 100.1 though. And yeah this installer is awesome, really lucky I found him. He is OCD like me so this bugged the sh*t out of him too.

 

[quakerroatmeal 10+ year member]

Could be a bad ground on the head-unit as well, have you tried to mess with that?

 

[Bossman150]

No, the head unit has not been touched with this round of installs, so I don't think so. However if we swap out the amps and still have the noise then I will make sure they check that as well.

 

[The Camry]

I feel like it doesnt matter how many hours you paid them to do it. You paid them to do a job, They gave you an estimate and you agreed. Hours+material=hard bid of what the price is gonna be.

Them taking longer or problems like this arising is on them.

 

[Bossman150]

I feel like it doesnt matter how many hours you paid them to do it. You paid them to do a job, They gave you an estimate and you agreed. Hours+material=hard bid of what the price is gonna be.
Them taking longer or problems like this arising is on them.

Agreed and so do they, I just mean we ran out of time for today, they were closing. If its something they can fix I'm sure they will.

 

[Joseph7195 10+ year member]

If the power wire wasn't removed from your headunit before the rca's were switched out, it could have caused a problem. I seriously doubt that a reputable shop would forget to disconnect all power before doing an install.

I also had a problem once when switching power wires from small gauge to a large gauge. I ended up running the new larger wire under my vehicle to completely remove it from being anywhere close to other signal wires, and that worked.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

even though HU might not of been touched they might have hot swapped the rcas. pulll the hu out and simply touch the rca with a speaker wire. chances are its that.

 

[Bossman150]

even though HU might not of been touched they might have hot swapped the rcas. pulll the hu out and simply touch the rca with a speaker wire. chances are its that.

What will touching the RCA with a speaker wire do? If they hot swapped the RCA's, which I would highly doubt, this guy knows his sh*t, that could cause the whine?

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

What will touching the RCA with a speaker wire do? If they hot swapped the RCA's, which I would highly doubt, this guy knows his sh*t, that could cause the whine?

touching a speaker wire to the rca will show you if its that or not. i the noise goes away it was that. just because he knows his **** doesnt mean he didnt do something wrong on purpose to get more money out of you. yes that could be the culprit of the alt whine. thats what it was in mt truck. i just ended up getting a new HU all in all lol but you can just ground your rcas and thatll be that.

 

[Bossman150]

touching a speaker wire to the rca will show you if its that or not. i the noise goes away it was that. just because he knows his **** doesnt mean he didnt do something wrong on purpose to get more money out of you. yes that could be the culprit of the alt whine. thats what it was in mt truck. i just ended up getting a new HU all in all lol but you can just ground your rcas and thatll be that.

Can I ground them at the amp end? I don't know how to pull the HU out.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

Can I ground them at the amp end? I don't know how to pull the HU out.

do you have an aftermarket HU?

no its the hu end that you have to ground.

 

[Bossman150]

do you have an aftermarket HU? no its the hu end that you have to ground.

Yes AVH4000

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

do you have the car with you or is it at the shop? is it the maxima in you avatar pic?