help, static and alt whine.

[bbaudi382 10+ year member]

i have alot of alternator whine and static in my system. static is always present and whine when the car is on. i've switched amps, same thing. i've switched rcas, same thing. i dont have an extra head unit to test. i tested a cd player with line outs, same thing. i rechecked all my connections at the head unit.

the only thing that seems to work is grounding the rca.

the static's volume is determined by the gain on the amp. if the gain is up the static goes up.

anybody give me some pointers? to where to look? i'm about to check my speaker wires, although i dont know why. i'm kind of lost.

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[ExS 10+ year member]

Did you check the HU ground spot? The same thing happened to me, and the problems lies in the HU ground spot.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

man, if you didnt tell me the amp had been been swapped, I would have said it is the amp. Although I still think that might be the problem. Try this. unplug the RCA's from the amp.. is the static still there? If it is the problem lies with the amp some where. either with the ground on it, or the amp itself is bad.

If you unplug the RCA's and the static goes away the problem is with the HU. The alt whine is definetly the HU, you need to reground that thing to start off. Like i said if the static goes away and the reground doesn't fix it, the HU is probably bad.

 

[ANeonRider 10+ year member]

Could also be crappy alternator and battery grounds. If there is a difference in potential between the HU or amp and the battery or alternator, you will get noise.

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

you'r basically killing your alt. You'll need a new one or re wire/wrap the alternator. Do the big three, and maybe get a new Alternator. I would recommend the Excessive Amperage HO alts.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

man, if you didnt tell me the amp had been been swapped, I would have said it is the amp. Although I still think that might be the problem. Try this. unplug the RCA's from the amp.. is the static still there? If it is the problem lies with the amp some where. either with the ground on it, or the amp itself is bad.
If you unplug the RCA's and the static goes away the problem is with the HU. The alt whine is definetly the HU, you need to reground that thing to start off. Like i said if the static goes away and the reground doesn't fix it, the HU is probably bad.

isnt that backwards? if sound goes away, its amp, if stays its HU?

 

[ANeonRider 10+ year member]

ya, that is backwards

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

isnt that backwards? if sound goes away, its amp, if stays its HU?

how is that backwards? If you kill the signal going from the HU to the Amp and the noise is still there, then its the amp. If you do the same thing and it goes away then its the HU thats sending a bad signal to the amp.

Duh.

 

[ANeonRider 10+ year member]

Ok, I think it was the wording you used, lol. That's right, if the RCA's aren't connected to the amp, and you still have noise, then it is an issue with the amp.

 

[bbaudi382 10+ year member]

its definately the headunit somewhere. i was just hoping somebody could point me in the right direction.

it is NOT the amp, amp grounds, amp power. i plugged in my ipod with line outs and there is no noise, perfectly clear. i've tried 3 different amps and they're all the same. i've put amps in different cars and they work perfectly.

i checked my head unit power and grounds, rcas, and speaker cables. it is not any of those. it is not a component its a connection somewhere. i really dont think i need a new alternator as the car is only 1.5 years old.

maybe its the head unit?

 

[ANeonRider 10+ year member]

What HU? And did you clean up the battery and alternator grounds? Have a DMM? Measure the ground resistance of the deck.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

It is the HU, youve done all the testing that you need to do. Its time to start looking for a new HU.

 

[bbaudi382 10+ year member]

im running a pioneer premier p860. i really want to find another head unit first to test before i go out and get another head unit.

 

[ANeonRider 10+ year member]

OO, Pioneer's are notorious for bad ground planes. Good luck.

 

[bbaudi382 10+ year member]

**** it. this just started a couple weeks ago ugh.