Black Betty Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I've had this issue forever. Basic setup. 4 channel amp for rear deck and front 5 1/4's 600W HU powers rear door speakers 2 channel amp for sub woofer 400W cross overs for each front and rear deck componets. battery in trunk next to sub/amp combo. I have terrible alternator whine to the point that I've pulled the fuse for the 4 channel amp and run with just the rear door speakers. I've moved the RCA cables to the other side as the +b from starter to battery. Moved battery ground and amps/sub ground to seperate locations. What I noticed is that when I was moving the grounds the car somehow found another ground (all interior lights were on and the cluster would light up) this ground wasn't enough to support cranking or much power though. I suspect this unknown ground is causing my interference and I want to eliminate or improve this ground. The only ground I can think of is the ground for the HU but I checked that and moving the ground did not change anything. My boss suggested a capacitor but I don't see how that will help unless the alternator had a severe draw causing the rectifiers not to function 100%. A friend suggested a larger alternator but again i can't conceptually understand how this would improve the issue. I'm also wondering if having the battery and subwoofer so close ~4" is causing this. the 4 channel amp has the RCA outputs on the other side of the box from the + and never crosses or comes within 12" of the + though. Does anyone have any help/hints? Its been a PIA project understanding what the PO did and then rectifying anything I could. (stripping paint from grounds, moving RCA wires, securing battery and sub woofer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
--Aaron-- Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Try a ground loop isolator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEJinFBK Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Real good chance it's a ground loop. For a good, logical troubleshooting guide to really fix it, blow a couple bucks and buy this: Here: http://www.davidnavone.com/ This guy seriously knows what he's talking about. Spend some time reading up and it'll all make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb5 Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I used these ground loop isolators from David Navone on my 5 channel amp,completely eliminated all alternator whine. They're pretty cheap too, especially for the results delivered. They couple directly in-line between the RCA inputs and the amp, install took less than 2 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owned Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Capacitors can remove noise from the line as they 'smooth' waves passing through them. I would do a GLI first, capacitor second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEJinFBK Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 What you can learn from Dave and Richard is how to install a system that won't need bandaids like GLI's and caps. They had a really good video on ground paths in a car body, but I can't find it anywhere. It was a great illustration for GL's. They set up a big plate of steel to replicate a car that was a single, flat plane and installed all kinds of things like fans, wipers, blinkers and other noisy stuff. Then demo'd how chohosing ground locations can make all the difference. I wish they had it available online. Most of what they covered in that video is in the CD. If I ever find my VHS copy, I'll see if Dave minds if I YouTube it. The point is, this problem can usually be solved without any extra stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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