Ive posted about this before but i still cant figure it out. I have a high pitched whine coming out of my speakers that rises with rpm. I checked my grounds like you guys said. When my head unit was stolen and i got a new one i thought that might fix the problem if there was something wrong with the old one but the noise still is there.

I have however figured it out a little bit. When i turn the AC on it gets louder, Or when i use anything that uses a bunch of electricity like flicking on the Brights or the sunroof motor.
My only guess is that there is something wrong with my alternator. I dont think there is a huge strain on it, i dont think i have that much of a power draw. I just have two small amps. Can anyone help me out?

 

It is your alternator. Do you have a farat cap? You need an upgraded alternator. I know Tweeter do it for a price. Or just go find one from an ambulance.

 

I had this problem, was solved by fatass grounds to any stereo equipment you have.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ItalynStylion &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ive posted about this before but i still cant figure it out. I have a high pitched whine coming out of my speakers that rises with rpm. I checked my grounds like you guys said. When my head unit was stolen and i got a new one i thought that might fix the problem if there was something wrong with the old one but the noise still is there.

I have however figured it out a little bit. When i turn the AC on it gets louder, Or when i use anything that uses a bunch of electricity like flicking on the Brights or the sunroof motor.
My only guess is that there is something wrong with my alternator. I dont think there is a huge strain on it, i dont think i have that much of a power draw. I just have two small amps. Can anyone help me out?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Grounding is possible.
Bad Spark Plugs Wires are possible too.


Since you have two amps, make sure the power cables and the speaker cables are run on opposide sides of the car.

You could also try noise blockers.

 

What is a farat cap? As for the grounds, each amp is grounded separate and each with a 4gauge wire so im pretty sure those are fine.

 

I've had this happen to people when they run their signal wires with the power wire to the amp. I run them down opposite sides of the car and it hasn't been an issue.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ItalynStylion &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What is a farat cap? As for the grounds, each amp is grounded separate and each with a 4gauge wire so im pretty sure those are fine.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Farad Cap is a capacitor to keep your stereo from starving of electricity on peak music notes.

Even if it is grounded properly, are the speaker and power wires run on opposite sides of the car?

 

Totally opposite sides of the car. The only time they are in a close proximity with eachother is when the plug into the amp.

 

bad grounds are the cause. To correct it cheaply and easily, go to a car stereo shop and ask for 2 GLI's (ground loop isolator). They hook up to your rca's btw the head unit and amp, and take out the alternator whine. They should be about $15 or so.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ItalynStylion &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">each amp is grounded separate and each with a 4gauge wire so im pretty sure those are fine.</TD></TR></TABLE>
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/

When two or more devices are connected to a common ground through different paths, a ground loop occurs. Currents flow through these multiple paths and develop voltages which can cause damage, noise or 50Hz/60Hz hum in audio or video equipment. To prevent ground loops, all signal grounds need to go to one common point and when two grounding points cannot be avoided, one side must isolate the signal and grounds from the other.

You should even have a ground strap from your head unit to the amp common. Running your signal wires away from your power/remote wires is good, but make sure you didn't run the signal wires along the side with other power wires (like for the taillights, etc.) I had the best luck running my RCA cables down the center of the car, under the console. Also, I used the little RCA ground wire to connect the headunit gnd to amp gnd.

 

As a matter of fact thats where my RCA wires are, down the center under the consol. I think you missunderstood me in my previous post though, both are grounded TO the same point but obviously with different 4gauge wires.

 

I dont know if i said that this only happens when the engine is on. If its off there is no noise at all and the music is clear as day. If it truly was a bad ground wouldnt it still make the noise when the engine was off?

 

I'm serious, get a GLI and it will solve your problem. I'm running 2 in my car right now, and one between my computer and my surround sound (anyone else ever do this and get a buzz on the bass frequency?).

 

No your alternator is not screwed up so don't worry about what Sticky said.

It is usually a case of either bad ground connection at the amps, crappy RCA's, bad RCA placement, or a combination of those. I have seen bad amps do this but it is rare.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ItalynStylion &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I dont know if i said that this only happens when the engine is on. If its off there is no noise at all and the music is clear as day. If it truly was a bad ground wouldnt it still make the noise when the engine was off?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not necessarily. A bad ground can screw up a number of things, this is just one of them.

Considering you said you ran your RCAs down the center console, that is fine as this is how I am doing it in my car too. So unless you are running power wire down the console as well then I would guess that rules out RCA placement.

Which means that you should redo your amp grounds, and if that doesn't work then try a different RCA. If the new RCA fixes the problem then replace your RCAs with better ones.

To fix your grounds, first get a nice sized bolt and nut that are just a hair smaller than whatever ring terminals you can find for your 4 gauge wires, put on the ring terminals and put both grounds and a third wire on the bolt and torque and electrical tape the heck out of it. Then find a solid spot near the unibody frame rails and sand until you see bare metal, then ground to that spot using either 3-4 self-tap screws or a bolt and nut depending on how ambitious you are. Make sure that the total length of wire from each of the amps to the grounding point is &lt; 18" max.

That is what I would try first before messing with RCA's or GLI's (I hate band-aids). It is nearly as efficient (and sometimes more efficient) than a grounding block without having to shell out extra dough and I personally use this method in all of my vehicles including my competition vehicle. (In that I'm grounding 12 amps using this method with 0 problems ever)

 

Are you running resistor spark plugs?

Most likely the diode trio taking a **** in your alternator...

If you want to know if it's your ignition system, borrow someones LASER equipped radar detector and get it as close to the engine as possible with it running....If laser goes off, then you have a problem...

 

It should be the ground, but YES get the farad cap. that will do you good things too!!!!

 

It is just down to bad earthing/grounding. check your grounding points are free from paint or rust and is on a good solid part of the car. you can also earth/ground the headunit there will be a small screw whole on the back which you can use, just attach a peice of wire from that to a part of the car (metal) behind or around the headunit. this should solve your problem. as for the farat? or farad (farad is a measurement) as they are called this will store power from the battery and when you system is under heavy load (loud bass tunes) your amps will take power from it faster then the battery can supply it and therefor give a better sound and a consistent amount of power which is also safer for your system.

 

had the exact same problem as you.

haha. my 2 amps got jacked along with head unit.

got new head unit only, no amps,
no whining noise

 

Check your RCA cables and your ground wires. If you would like to have a capacator, I have an extra one that I"m not using

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by andeh22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">got new head unit only, no amps,
no whining noise</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's because of what I said earlier. there needs to be a common ground between head unit and amps.

 

If it is not a ground, which I think it is, what type of spark plug wires do you have and what type of spark plugs are you using. IF the plugs and wire are stock, ignore this question. If they are aftermarket, than just maybe they could be part of the problem.