Adam Franke Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 So here's my problem. My subwoofer is picking up engine noise (as you may have guessed from the title) and I don't know how to fix it. I checked over all of the RCA cable and none of it is stripped. The RCA and the Remote are run down the right side of the car together and the power is run down the left. I looked at the connections for the power and the ground, and for some reason I think the ground may be causing the problem, but I don't know how to fix it. I also noticed that when the engine is off, there is a very quiet hum coming from the sub. As soon as the engine turns over, it turns into a roar and then the roar is variable with the engine speed. Any help would be greatly appreciated, although I won't be able to work on it until Thanksgiving after 7PM tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh_S70GLT Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 You most likely need a ground loop isolator, which you can get off ebay or at your local RadioShack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PyROZen Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 try moving your ground to a different spot. if that doesn't work, maybe try a ground loop isolator, or maybe your RCA outputs on the HU are bad. just my 2 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potroast Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 try unplugging the rca's with the engine running. Can you determine whether the noise is introduced from the power wire, or the signal wire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Franke Posted October 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 Yeah, there are 2 RCA and 1 Subwoofer outputs on the back and it makes the sound no matter which set they're in. Where would I put the isolator? Between the head and the RCA, or the RCA and the amp? I'll probobly go out and buy one in a few minutes here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potroast Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 If it makes noise even when not connected to the RCAs then an isolator will not do anything.If this is the case, the noise is being introduced on the power-side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Franke Posted October 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 I bought an isolator, put it in between the head and the RCA cables and it got rid of the noise, however it greatly reduced the bass. There's almost none now. I'd rather have the bass with the hum because when the bass is going, you can't hear the buzz anyways. Any way to get around this? Do I need to tune the HU or the amp to fix this, or is it a problem inherent with all GLI's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 if your ground is twd the front of the car, change it twd the back...i put my ground under the back seat which lifts up.....thw whole car is grounded, so putting it on any unpainted metal could do it....far away from the engine bay may help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Franke Posted October 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 If you mean the ground on the amp then it's already in the trunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenW Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 you may have a shitty ground on the head unit. I ran a wire from the HU ground to the HU chassis and it shut my engine noise up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bing_0 Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 if you are hearing a humm coming from the subs even whent the engine is off, it usually means your amp is staying ON even when the car is off, where do you have the remtoe wire hooked up?though your engine whine may be a different problem all togehter, basically, my rules against engine noise is:quality ampsground wire as short as possible and of the same guage as the power wire, gorunded solidly to a structural part of the car and wher eht epaint was saned awaypower cable and signal cable as far apart as possible.b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Franke Posted October 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 if you are hearing a humm coming from the subs even whent the engine is off, it usually means your amp is staying ON even when the car is off, where do you have the remtoe wire hooked up?though your engine whine may be a different problem all togehter, basically, my rules against engine noise is:quality ampsground wire as short as possible and of the same guage as the power wire, gorunded solidly to a structural part of the car and wher eht epaint was saned awaypower cable and signal cable as far apart as possible.b←The remote runs from the head unit down the passenger side with the RCA cables to the amp. The amp isn't exactly crap, it's a brand new Alpine amp, the ground could be shorter (I'll do that asap) and it is connected to a part that was sanded away. The power cable runs down the drivers side, so it's about as far away as it can get. But yeah, there is a hum when the engine is off, but the key is in position II, and then it gets real loud when the engine is turned on. When the car is completely off, there is no hum at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bing_0 Posted October 5, 2004 Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 so as soon as the ignition is turned on, there is a hum? and this is the hum that gets louder when the engine is on? i have heard that before, and it was a bad inpiut section on an amp, al;pine is a quality piece for sure, but did you try perhaps swapping in another amp real quick to see?b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Franke Posted October 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2004 Another amp or head unit? I had a suspicion that the RCAs were bad because they seem to cut out randomly at times. Any way to replace that? Just gimmie part names and numbers and I can get it done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogelo Posted October 6, 2004 Report Share Posted October 6, 2004 2 possibilities:1. You get bad ground.2. Your input/output signal cables are near/intefering with power cables.5 Solutions:1. Always solder your ground for best grounding (the closer is the grounding to the battery, the better). Also don't share the ground with anything else.2. Separate the input/output cables (such as: RCA cables, speaker cables) with the power cables (don't let them run together in line).3. buy twisted-pair RCA cables(try monster cable Interlink® 301XLN)4. buy special "balanced" input cables from your amp' manufacturer, if any (I know that zapco and phoenix gold have these special cables to protect the input signals from any interference)Usually if you fixed all of the above you don't need the following (if you still have problems, check your amplifier or your car's electrical):5. buy a ground-loop isolator but I don't think you'll get good sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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