Engine whine and ground loop fixes... take two

So glad I found this sticky. My system has been running fine for 6+ years in two separate vehicles, then suddenly it acquired this problem last week. I had no idea what it was, but started taking notes on the causes of it. Made this account and was about to write up a huge post describing the problem.... but now theres no need to. Will try some of the fixes until i solve the issue. One thing to note is that I had a new battery installed (by someone else) last week, about the same time the problem arose. Could this have anything to do with it? The high pitched whirr is only present in the front speakers which are driven by their own amp. Rear speakers are driven by the head unit, and have no whirr.

Edit: Just to clarify, when it says to ground the RCAs to the head unit, does that imply that the head unit should in turn be grounded to the frame of the car?

 
Fixed the issue by connecting a wire from the RCA amplifier output on my clarion head unit, to the chassis of the head unit. This thread was a major help, thanks!

 
After reading this forum I understand that Pioneer radios have a little internal fused circuit called a pico fuse.

If this pico fuse is broken, does it also whine when the engine is off?

My amp only whines when the engine is running. Checked everything and no solution yet.

I also have an active subwoofer. My subwoofer and amp are both grounded to an other point, does that also matter?

(active sub is a 200 watt peak 15A, amplifier is a 760 watt peak 60A)

If it is correct that the whining stops, even when te pico fuse is blown. Then i will try the solution mentioned in the first post.

Thanks in advance!

 
Bringing this back from the grave....I have the Pioneer Deck and my whine is intermittent. Sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn't.

So far i've:

Grounded RCA's

Regrounded HU

Regrounded amp

RCA's routed on opposite side of car - only power wire is routed on one side

It still does it, but like I said, it's intermittent. With the engine off, it doesn't do it at all. Sometimes it's really bad, sometimes I can barely hear it.

 
Bringing this back from the grave....I have the Pioneer Deck and my whine is intermittent. Sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn't.
So far i've:

Grounded RCA's

Regrounded HU

Regrounded amp

RCA's routed on opposite side of car - only power wire is routed on one side

It still does it, but like I said, it's intermittent. With the engine off, it doesn't do it at all. Sometimes it's really bad, sometimes I can barely hear it.
The whining is caused only by the RCAs nothing else... Grounding your RCA to your headunit does not always fix the issue completely it only sometimes decreases its frequency.. The next thing you should try is getting an RCA ground loop. Depending on your setup you can either get a 2 or 4 channel RCA ground loop.. I'v ordered one it's still coming not 100% sure if it will fix the problem but it's cheap an worth giving a go. Another way I know of getting rid of that whine completely is using your fader (this only works if your only using 1 speaker output off your HU) this is the method I'm using right now untill that RCA ground loop arrives. Goodluck!
Sent from my MHA-L09 using Tapatalk

 
Actually, I was anxious enough to go out and look, noticed my ground wire on my amp was poking out of the terminal barely touching the car...wrapped it in electrical tape and it completely went away. Hopefully this was actually the problem and not just a coincidence!

 
Actually, I was anxious enough to go out and look, noticed my ground wire on my amp was poking out of the terminal barely touching the car...wrapped it in electrical tape and it completely went away. Hopefully this was actually the problem and not just a coincidence!
Lemme see if I understand you correctly: The ground wire came loose from the terminal of the amp and was touching the car....frame or some other metal?? Good catch btw....

I got alt whine myself it's so annoying In my Tahoe.

 
Sorry, I meant the connector at the end of the wire that is bolted to the car. There was a little wire sticking out there messing up the ground. I drove around for about 30 minutes and couldn't get the whine to come back. Fingers crossed!

I guess maybe that's why it was intermittent - as I was driving and shaking it around and what not.

 
Alrighty guys, since we no longer have access to the other ground loop fix thread, thanks to someone (you know who you are), I'm making a new thread about it.

Ground loops and engine whine cause common problems such as a high-pitched whine that varies with engine RPM's, various thumps while changing tracks, turn on/off thumps, etc.

There are various protective measures to take in order to decrease the likelihood of experiencing engine whine and ground loops.

  • Shielded RCA's
    A good pair of shielded RCA's may be the easiest way to avoid engine noise. Don't use patch cables or other el-cheap-o RCA's that are unshielded. I'm not saying you need to invest a small fortune in RCA cables, just make sure they are shielded.
  • Proper head unit ground
    This is perhaps the most common source of engine noise. Many times factory head unit grounds are poor. Relocating the ground wire or adding to the existing one will help reduce or eliminate ground loops.
  • Proper amplifier ground
    If none of the above have worked, check the ground for the amplifier. Make sure it is grounded to the frame, battery, or other substantial metal surface. Make sure the metal is good 'ol fashioned detroit iron. Many cars use metallic alloys or composites that aren't very conductive. Avoid those at all costs.
  • Wire routing
    Some claim this next fix is BS, and others swear by their grave that it works. But run your RCA's and power wires at least 18" apart. I route my RCA's on one side of the car, and power on the other. Couldn't hurt.
  • Grounding the RCA's on the head unit
    Many have had problems with Pioneer head units because of a poor internal RCA ground. To remedy this, simply wrap wire around the RCA's and screw the wire down to the head unit's chassis like so:

    PioneerFix.jpg

    Thanks to Ultimate157 for the image.
    To view his thread on this subject, click
    here.


Please note: While ground loop isolators are tempting to use as a quick fix, I generally don't advise people to use them because they simply cover up the problem instead of solving it. Only use ground loop isolators as a final resort is none of the above fixes work.

Enjoy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
If relocating the head unit ground, where should you relocate it to?
 
I grounded my deck to the floor under the carpet next to the center console on the passenger side.
I did the RCA wire wrap also and that got rid of the whining I had.
 
Hello,
just wondering does Pio still use the Pico Fuse?

I hooked my DA-160DAB (EU model) and got some whining (with even engine off), see the video.
The weird thing is it reacts to pressure (as shown) so I doubt it's a pico fuse blown.. Also, seems to react to my hand position.

I re-positioned some wires behind the HU and the whine gone away.

Two questions:

1) If I measure the RCA shield to HU chassis resistance, does it tell me whether a fuse is blown?

2) If the picofuse indeed is blown, should I RMA the unit? It's new so it's got warranty..


thanx much
 

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Another issue comes from mixing amplifier topologies in which one amp grounds the RCA shields to main ground vs the mids and highs amp not doing this and instead using a floating ground for the RCA shields. This makes the floating ground amp seek out ground through the HU to the amp whose RCAs ground to main chassis ground.

See Sam's explanation here:

 
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