How to fix the Pioneer RCA alternator whine

[Ballistic89]

I have a pioneer DEH-X3500UI and its got the famous engine noise, and im wondering the best way to fix it, i want to do the one where you take it apart and add a resistor or just solder it with no fuse, but was wondering what resistor i would use or where on the board the pico fuse is?

Basically any info to help me is much appreciated, i know its the deck every test i have done points to the deck, even tried grounding the RCAs and it helped the noise but was still there, spent all this money on my stereo and it pisses me off i get that ****** noise..

About ready to jump ships to an alpine deck..

Thanks!

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[CSCStang]

I have a pioneer DEH-X3500UI and its got the famous engine noise, and im wondering the best way to fix it, i want to do the one where you take it apart and add a resistor or just solder it with no fuse, but was wondering what resistor i would use or where on the board the pico fuse is?
Basically any info to help me is much appreciated, i know its the deck every test i have done points to the deck, even tried grounding the RCAs and it helped the noise but was still there, spent all this money on my stereo and it pisses me off i get that ****** noise..

About ready to jump ships to an alpine deck..

Thanks!

Open the deck and look for the ! in a triangle, that's where the Pico fuses are located (yes there are more than one on some models). I just used a strip of bell wire and jumped all of them. Is yours whining with the engine off too?

 

[Ballistic89]

Open the deck and look for the ! in a triangle, that's where the Pico fuses are located (yes there are more than one on some models). I just used a strip of bell wire and jumped all of them. Is yours whining with the engine off too?

Is bell wire like the cable in Cat 5/6? And no if the car is off and just using the battery for stereo its perfect and no noise.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Sell it and get an Alpine.

 

[Ballistic89]

Took it apart and found the ! is it the fuse with P on it with P251 next to it? or can you circle what one?

Couldnt i just solder from point to point with a tiny bit of solder?

 

[CSCStang]

If it's alt whine, it's not the Pico man. When a Pico goes it will whine or buzz even with the car not running.

 

[Ballistic89]

If it's alt whine, it's not the Pico man. When a Pico goes it will whine or buzz even with the car not running.

I have tried 3 differnt RCAs running them over the seats running them outside of the trunk and back in the door.

Tested the amps by plugging in a rca to 3.5mm cord to my iphone and with the car running no noise, everything points to the deck though..

Here is a video of triple shielded RCAs over my seats, new cable:


If i put in a ground loop isolator it gets better but still annoying as hell.

 

[What was that? 10+ year member]

Factory grounds are not always good. Try running a ground wire directly from hu to the battery. If the the noise is gone then install a new permanent ground somewhere close to the hu. Make sure it's sanded to bare metal and nothing else is grounded to that area. Sometimes you even have to ground the aftermarket hu as the factory designed the original mounting clips as secondary grounds.

 

[Ballistic89]

Factory grounds are not always good. Try running a ground wire directly from hu to the battery. If the the noise is gone then install a new permanent ground somewhere close to the hu. Make sure it's sanded to bare metal and nothing else is grounded to that area. Sometimes you even have to ground the aftermarket hu as the factory designed the original mounting clips as secondary grounds.

I think i tried that, i know i put a 2nd ground off the harness to another ground point but ill try running one to my battery.

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

did you try this^^^???

my ken wood had that and i did just as the video shows and voila no more noise! i didn't even ground it i simply stuck speaker wire into the rca and that did it for me

 

[Ballistic89]

He was getting that noise with the car off and just using battery power, i only get it when the car is running..

Im gonna try grounding the deck to the Negative battery terminal one more time and if doesn't fix it im gonna get a alpine..

 

[C1500martin 10+ year member]

He was getting that noise with the car off and just using battery power, i only get it when the car is running..
Im gonna try grounding the deck to the Negative battery terminal one more time and if doesn't fix it im gonna get a alpine..

it worked for me and i had an alt whine. that means with the car on. but i guess.

 

[Ballistic89]

it worked for me and i had an alt whine. that means with the car on. but i guess.

Ill give it a shot and play more with grounding, i did tap a ground wire to the rcas once and it made it better so maybe it could work.

Thanks

 

[Snapper_Slapper 10+ year member]

You can just solder across the pico(the little one with the P). You can also just solder a ground to the RCA ground trace. In the pic you posted, where the RCA's go through the board are the pos+ part of the plug. Turn the board over and you'll see where those lugs come through the back side. Right beside those will be either 2 or 4 more lugs just like the pos+ lugs soldered on a common trace for the neg- side of the RCA plug. All you have to do is find a close ground point and solder just about any small wire from the ground point to a ground lug. It's easier than trying to carefully bridge that tiny pico. I just fixed mine that way. I had the exact same problem you have and now my head has 0 noise issues.

 

[Ballistic89]

You can just solder across the pico(the little one with the P). You can also just solder a ground to the RCA ground trace. In the pic you posted, where the RCA's go through the board are the pos+ part of the plug. Turn the board over and you'll see where those lugs come through the back side. Right beside those will be either 2 or 4 more lugs just like the pos+ lugs soldered on a common trace for the neg- side of the RCA plug. All you have to do is find a close ground point and solder just about any small wire from the ground point to a ground lug. It's easier than trying to carefully bridge that tiny pico. I just fixed mine that way. I had the exact same problem you have and now my head has 0 noise issues.

Im confused on the grounding the lugs or whatever, If i soldered the Pico though it would do the same repair?