Engine whine from new install - Alpine 7897 HU - 2012 Avalon

[LordX 10+ year member]

Hey guys - just read through the sticky at the top of the forum on engine whine - but it seemed geared towards pioneer hu's.

Just Had my install done by a local shop.

Head Unit: Alpine 7897 - old school unit - but it rocks.

The shop definitely ran the power and grounds on different sides of the car (saw it myself when I showed up half way through the install).

I have 2 batteries (1 stock and 1 audio) - wired in parallel because my old isolator will not work in this 2012 Avalon.

Noticed the engine whine right away.

The Alpine 7897 has the rca outputs that 'dangle' out of the back of the unit. Is the ground trick still applicable?

I saw a pic in the beginning part of the thread that looked like it.

Is this trick something to even try with an Alpine HU?

Click to read more...

 

[Dub7sonoma Premium Member]

I would try the ground trick. It has worked for me on every head unit I have had a whine out of. My brother has an older model alpine (mid 2000's model) that had a wine to it. Ground trick fixed it too. That trick is possible to do on almost any head unit. I'm not saying it will definitely fix your noise, but its worth a try

 

[LordX 10+ year member]

Update: I turned off the head unit - and pressed the button for it to flip back inside (its a flip out model) - and then I turned off the car - and turned it back on to see if the whine was still there - my thinking being that if the head unit is off - the amps are off - and the whine should be less or gone.

It wasn't. The whine was still there at the same volume as before.

So am I safe to say that the head unit is not the cause?

I am wondering now if the whine is coming from the alt and I can hear it in the car.

The stock alt is now powering two batteries - and I wasn't able to use my isolator - so I have two different types of battery (AGM Car Audio battery and reg flooded stock battery) wired in parallel.

I don't know if this poses an extra strain on the alt - perhaps I should create a new thread?

 

[thevic24 5,000+ posts]

RCA's.....are they ran away from the power/grounds? Maybe pinched or kinked?

Bad ground connection.

How are the amps mounted? I have seen where people screwed their amp through the cargo mat, into the body/metal of the car and caused a noise.

 

[thevic24 5,000+ posts]

Unplug the rca's and see if the wine goes away....

 

[UsAmpsFreak]

Unplug the rca's and see if the wine goes away....

I'd start by ruling out the amp first, disconnect the rca's coming from the radio and hook up a test signal/signal gen at the amp, if the whine is gone, disconnect the signal gen, plug the rca's back in, unplug them from the radio and connect the signal gen to them. If the whine is still not there you have a bad radio, if it is there you have an issue with your rca's.

 

[LordX 10+ year member]

Ok, the RCA's are much easier to disconnect from the exposed amps than from the radio obviously - so disconnecting the RCA's from the AMPs should suffice for this test right?

The power/grounds and rcas are run on two diff sides of the car.

Amps are mounted to the Sub Box itself - not to the car.

PS - the whine ONLY happens when the engine is started. If I have the engine off and listen to the system - it is pristine.

PPS - the whine occurs even with the head unit OFF. Doesn't this rule out the amp by default since it shouldn't power on?

 

[UsAmpsFreak]

Ok, the RCA's are much easier to disconnect from the exposed amps than from the radio obviously - so disconnecting the RCA's from the AMPs should suffice for this test right?
The power/grounds and rcas are run on two diff sides of the car.

PS - the whine ONLY happens when the engine is started. If I have the engine off and listen to the system - it is pristine.

I'd bet you have some bad rca's or they are shorted to ground somewhere, but, to know for sure you need to do the tests i said and post the results. Follow it exactly as i said.

 

[LordX 10+ year member]

I will run the tests sometime this next week.

Someone on another forum asked about the BIG-3. Which is something I plan on having done to this vehicle.

I know the BIG-3 upgrade helps the charging system - but would it have any impact on engine noise in the audio system?

 

[LordX 10+ year member]

Ok, I did the following tests:

1. Turned off head unit - then turned off the car and turned it back on again - checked to see if AMPS were powering up even when the head unit was off. Result: Amps ARE off then the head unit is off.

2. Removed RCA inputs from Amp - and (leaving the Head Unit OFF) I Started the car.

The Noise/whine is still there in both cases.

Recap - Whether the head unit and amps are on or off makes no difference in the noise - and the RCAs being plugged in or unplugged makes no difference in the noise.

Any thoughts?

 

[LordX 10+ year member]

Ok, I did the following tests:

1. Turned off head unit - then turned off the car and turned it back on again - checked to see if AMPS were powering up even when the head unit was off. Result: Amps ARE off then the head unit is off.

2. Removed RCA inputs from Amp - and (leaving the Head Unit OFF) I Started the car.

The Noise/whine is still there in both cases.

Recap - Whether the head unit and amps are on or off makes no difference in the noise - and the RCAs being plugged in or unplugged makes no difference in the noise.

Any thoughts?

 

[LordX 10+ year member]

Ok I did some further testing today. Nothing I did in the following tests stopped the noise.

1. Disconnected the power wire leading from the front car battery to the audio battery in the trunk (trying to see if this wire run through the car was causing the whine).

2. Disconnected the negative terminal from the Audio Battery in the back of the car. In case it was providing power to something even with the system off.

3. Did steps one and two at the same time - so main power wire run, and the negative terminal on the audio battery were disconnected.

So now I am stumped.

Two other suggestions were the Alternator istelf causing the noise - and/or the crossovers of the speakers being too close to something and picking up noise.

I have not yet attempted to unplug the alternator to see if that is sending the whine. It is buried on this 2012 Toyota Avalon.

So what if unplugging the alternator stops the whine? How could I be sure that it is the alt causing the noise or the difference between 12v and 14.4v? Or would that difference likely not cause any issues? With the Alt unplugged - is everything else still receiving power?

If the noise still happens with the alt unplugged - I guess I will have to assume that the noise is being caused by the crossovers picking something up... is there something I can shield the crossovers with? Like LEAD so superman cant even see em?