Need wiring help

[StevesCarAudio 10+ year member]

Ok so I just wired up a new battery and feel like an idiot for asking as I have never had issues before in any other vehicle. And I usually ground to the body or strut tower in the trunk, but was told it was better to run all the way to the front to ground to the same ground as my starter battery.

So I have a NSB-180FT battery in the trunk. I ran 1/0 up to the front to my postive terminal for power and grounded it to the frame ground that my starter battery grounds to in the engine bay.

I have some alternator whine coming through the speakers. Is this because the audio battery ground is grounded on the same ground as the alternator/and all other engine components.

Would it be better if I grounded it somewhere in the trunk? where would you recommend in the trunk of a 1999 Buick park avenue.

I think that it would be better to ground in the trunk, but was told by a couple of the guys I work with in the shop that I needed to ground to the same ground as my starter battery.

Click to read more...

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

start by grounding the head unit to the chassis floor (and not the vehicle harness). alt whine is a result of a difference in ground potential (resistance) between HU and amplifier "signal ground" points. signal ground may differ slightly from chassis ground.

battery grounds are an unlikely suspect. if the noise started when you changed the battery ground, then you have introduced some extra resistance in your signal grounds.

DC current "flows" from negative to positive.

 

[StevesCarAudio 10+ year member]

I added an additional 1/0 ground off my front battery and the noise seemed to start then. I'm going to spend sometime tomorrow grounding my secondary battery to the frame in the trunk so its not 15ft away from the ground and check the HU ground. thanks for your help

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

I've never had a system powerful enough to warrant a second battery... where'd you run those big cables? I had to go underneath the car with just a meager 8 gage.

The Park Ave has factory ground points all over. There's some behind the trunk liner on the rear fenders. I elected to make my own in the sheet metal but then again I have only 8 gage.

The front speakers are a major problem. You'll see...