Alt whine / ground loop from hell...

[Ground_Pounder 10+ year member]

He is right, if its not a ground it's usually the head unit or EQ if you use one. Really cheap RCA's can pick up noise too.

 

[mmouse57 10+ year member]

its the radio i had 2 $1000 avn726e hu's both did that my replacements did not

and my comment about the sony radio was so you would see its the radio not to keep it the $399 eclipse hu m8 thats your prob //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Qbenjamin 10+ year member]

I have the same problem going on in my Civic. The alt whine is awful, and I have tried everything as far as my wiring and cables. I know better than to use cheap wires, as every aftermarket wire in the car is made by Monster Cables. I am about to pick up another H/U and test it out with the current wiring. I have gone and tested two different amps, and I still get the alt whine. As one of the previous posters said, we may have to take everything out and narrow down what the problem could be.

Also, the trick with the RCA jacks don't work for every H/U, as some have an external harness that plugs into the unit for inputs.

 

[mmouse57 10+ year member]

if the engine is off

and you turn the key up so the radio comes on 'dont start the engine' if you hear any kind or noise radiating through the rca cables its the radio.

if you swap rca cables 'say run one from the radio over the seats to the amp' and still whines its more likely the radio.

many fail ot bel its the radio and try all you did thats a waste of time specaiy when you try another amp and by pass the eq and crossovers ad the noise is still there

 

[clouduz 10+ year member]

okay, not trying to thread jack but i have the same problem. Turn on hids noise is more noticeable. I wrote down everyone's suggestions to try but it's raining tonight so i'll have to wait until tomorrow. Thing is, I have NO noise until i start the car. I can play noise FREE with it just in the on position.

Now I do have a lot of work to do b/c all my wires are ran down one side. I also just changed amps tonight...kicker 650.4 to alpine pdx 4.100. It's more noticeable with the alpine I'm guessing since it's a class D.

I do think I have a culprit though, My remote turn on is coming from the fuse for my radio. the fuse box inside the car not behind the radio. Big 3 done in 1/0 of course. I'll do some test tomorrow and hopefully I can fix mine and maybe help others who are in our predicament.

Oh and last thing, rcas are zipped tied kinda next to my remote start car alarm box under the dash. Using knu rca's and fleks wire.

 

[jdmferio13 10+ year member]

weird im having issues with my alt.Can someone describe the alt whine mine actually sounds like I have a blower under my hood.I think mines the alt and not the hu cause it did it right when i installed my alt.I think i need to get a smaller belt.

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

check for differences in voltage between system components. Check voltage at the battery first then with the system running check the voltage across positive and segative at each of the components. Ive seen differences as much as .10v cause serious noise.

 

[mmouse57 10+ year member]

remote wire cant casue grounding issuse guys

If you bel it cna then run remote ot the 12v in the back and try //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

the op im sure its the radio to some of you other guys it could be something diff

 

[clouduz 10+ year member]

okay, i tried grounding straight to the battery,(radio, pac adapter,etc) still noise what WORKED for me was a scosche ground loop adapter, not sure if they make different ones, but it's the square one. I installed it right at the amp. It didn't get rid of all the noise but about 80%. You can only hear it when music is basically paused or volume 0. Temporary fix until I can find out what is really causing it.

Oh, i also tried about 3 other RCA's still noise, and they were routed on top the seats away from power wires. I think it's my amp, started pouring so didn't have time to install my old one. I HAD noise with the other one, just not as loud so never bothered with the ground loop isolator.

 

[Ground_Pounder 10+ year member]

Ever think the problem may be the alt itself? Could be going bad. When my alt starts going bad I get that **** whinning again until I replace it.

 

[jdmferio13 10+ year member]

Ever think the problem may be the alt itself? Could be going bad. When my alt starts going bad I get that **** whinning again until I replace it.

thats what I think mine is.does it sound like a blower not super loud but louder then alt whine

 

[Ground_Pounder 10+ year member]

thats what I think mine is.does it sound like a blower not super loud but louder then alt whine

Well mine doesnt sound like a blower but I drive an old car too (1978).

 

[Effidasus 10+ year member]

The ground loop solving first part went well.

You found the isolator that solved the problem.

It is nothing new that sales people on the shops do not know ground loops or all the devices they sell...

Then to my surprise when I turned the computer off a worse hum showed up that wasnt there before I added the ground loop. And this hum is only on the red side of the speaker wire. Its only there when the computer turns off it is not there when on. The only way to get rid of it is to unplug the jack from the soundcard. I cant figure this out it seems very strange to me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

update...sorry i just put up with this whine for the longest time and now i need to fix it...

with the car in the on position, but not running there is no noise.

again the noise gets worse when i turn on my headlights (aftermarket HIDs) and then if i flick them off and on again sometimes the noise is gone sometimes not.

so far thats all i got.

 

[dvrmstrng 5,000+ posts]

bump for what to do next....guessing that means the source of the noise is not the HU