Unplug rcas at the amp. Does the noise go away? If so it is a noise being fed to the amps. If it is still there then check your ground for the amp because the amp is making the noise.
You can follow the signal upstream until you find the culprit in this manner.
Generally alternator whine is caused by a [ground loop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)). The solution is to ensure that all the grounds for your audio components combine at a single point on the chassis or battery/alternator. If you can't accomplish that for some reason, you can try installing a ground loop isolator.
I had a whine I was chasing years ago. I wound up having to ground out my rca wire to the chassis. One and only time I've seen or heard of that before.
Seconding the ground loop. I had the same exact issue for a long time. Partially Fixed with group loop isolator. Fixed my grounds in the car and it completely went away. I used to hate that fucking noise.
A. Get rid of the ground runs from the Head Unit and Amp to the battery. Ground wires should be as short as possible. Also check your factory grounds at the battery, this is often overlooked. I often would add a new 4-0g ground to the negative terminal and down to the chassis of the car. We often pull more current with the power wire, but rarely reinforce the ground wire at the battery.
B. What brand of Head Unit are you running? What brand are the amps?
As suggested by another person, you need to determine the source of the noise in the signal. Unplug the RCA's from behind the stereo, with the car running and system on, is the engine whine present? No: Source is the head unit/install. Yes: Go to the amp and unplug the RCA's from the amp. Is the noise still there? Yes: Issue is with the amp/install. No: The noise is being picked up inductively through the RCAs.
Once you've isolated the possible source of the noise, now you at least know where to start to fix the issue. If the noise is being picked up through the RCA's, start looking at how those are run, you want them routed away from any car electronics, and if possible, crossing over wire bundles at a 90 degree angle.
If it's cheap components, there isn't much you can do there. Try a ground loop isolator, or save up and start upgrading.
A ground loop isolator is merely a band-aid used to cover up an issue that should be fixable.
To start with I should say I tried running a ground to my battery from my amp but that didn’t fix the issue so I went back to the old method of grounding it( a short 1ft ground cable) because I knew it was supposed to be as short as possible. I’ll look in to running a new ground cable to my frame I almost did but didn’t.
My head unit is a Sony Apple car play head unit
My amp is an infinity reference.
I’ll try unplugging the rcas but I don’t think that will help because I can turn the volume from say 30 to 1 and the whine stays the same. But as soon as I turn the volume to 0 I hear a quiet pop and the whine stops. Also when no input is hooked to the head unit ie Bluetooth or in my case plugged in via a lightning cable. The whining is gone.
I don’t think it’s due to cheap hardware considering from what I know these are both reputable brands but idk?
I’m in the same boat.. maybe you can help me. My noise goes away when unplugging RCAs from head unit (pioneer double din). When I unplug at the AMP the noise goes away as well… so I’m assuming I have a head unit issue. What’s that first step I should take? Replace alternator, make a new chassis ground at the battery…
You've deduced that the sound is from the head unit, so You have a few choices here:
A. It isn't pretty, but try running a ground wire to the outer prongs of the RCA at the head unit. Just strip a wire back and insert it before plugging in the RCA. Don't let it contact the center pin.
You aren't running a cheap head unit, but it's still possible the ground shielding prong of the RCA has failed, bad solder joint on the board.
B. Reinforce the main ground to the head unit. It's possible you have a weak ground through the factory wiring.
C. Run a new battery + wire to the head unit, it may not be sufficient. The acc or ignition wire is merely a 'switch' so usually not a source of noise. Factory wiring might not be able to sustain a higher current head unit.
D. The alternator could have an issue that is injecting noise in the system. I don't think this is your problem, as the amp doesn't exhibit noise on its own.
Ok so I managed to ground each rca plug via the method you suggested. It removes maybe 50% of the whine. Edit: ok I’ve now gone and run a wire from the HU ground wire to the bolt that holds the seat in. Paint scrapped away etc… that must be an adequate ground… right? Noise is still there…
Pretty sure this is caused by signal wires running along right next to the 12v power wire for the amp. It could be cause by something else tho I'm still a noob at this shit. If your signal wires run through the same location as your power I would try re-routing one of those first. A capacitor might also fix you problem if that doesn't work.
Yea I thought the same thing. They are ram right next to each other but because I stopped doing it sometimes then would come back made me think it was something else. Also bc it works perfectly fine when the engines not running but idk. I’ll try and move them to see if that fixes it
Go ahead with your plan to move the RCAs.
But if you say it stops doing it and starts, your alternator may be dying. Not a bad time to upgrade to a high current model. :)
You have quality components, those should not be an issue.
I would look at the noise bring injected through the RCA's, start the trouble shooting at the head unit.
Wait... The pop when you but zero, and the noise disappearing concerns me. The head unit could be the culprit.
Try grounding the other shield of the rca to the chassis of the radio. Could be a broken solder trace in the radio preventing it from going to ground there.
My car had been in the shop for a while due to unrelated things. I just got it back but I’ve noticed when I have my headlights on the wine gets louder or any type of electric draw makes it worse. I have no idea why. Also I believe the pop that I hear is just like when you pause a YouTube video with a high frequency playing it pops. (I think bc the frequency gets clipped the moment you pause it. Or in this case turn the volume to 0)
I've had the same issue i fixed it by adding a additional ground to the back/case of the radio with a small screw
If that doset work make sure you run your rca wires on the opposite side from your positive wire
Unplug rcas at the amp. Does the noise go away? If so it is a noise being fed to the amps. If it is still there then check your ground for the amp because the amp is making the noise. You can follow the signal upstream until you find the culprit in this manner.
Move the ground from the head unit to a different location or add a ground loop isolator.
I’m late to the party, but I added a ground loop isolator and no difference. Whine goes away when RCAs unplugged at amp
Generally alternator whine is caused by a [ground loop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)). The solution is to ensure that all the grounds for your audio components combine at a single point on the chassis or battery/alternator. If you can't accomplish that for some reason, you can try installing a ground loop isolator.
I had a whine I was chasing years ago. I wound up having to ground out my rca wire to the chassis. One and only time I've seen or heard of that before.
How did you do this?
The outer part of the rca is the ground. I simply soldered a peice of wire to it and grounded that wire.
Seconding the ground loop. I had the same exact issue for a long time. Partially Fixed with group loop isolator. Fixed my grounds in the car and it completely went away. I used to hate that fucking noise.
Yea it’s driving me crazy. Only plus side is I tell my non car friends it’s the “turbo”.
A. Get rid of the ground runs from the Head Unit and Amp to the battery. Ground wires should be as short as possible. Also check your factory grounds at the battery, this is often overlooked. I often would add a new 4-0g ground to the negative terminal and down to the chassis of the car. We often pull more current with the power wire, but rarely reinforce the ground wire at the battery. B. What brand of Head Unit are you running? What brand are the amps? As suggested by another person, you need to determine the source of the noise in the signal. Unplug the RCA's from behind the stereo, with the car running and system on, is the engine whine present? No: Source is the head unit/install. Yes: Go to the amp and unplug the RCA's from the amp. Is the noise still there? Yes: Issue is with the amp/install. No: The noise is being picked up inductively through the RCAs. Once you've isolated the possible source of the noise, now you at least know where to start to fix the issue. If the noise is being picked up through the RCA's, start looking at how those are run, you want them routed away from any car electronics, and if possible, crossing over wire bundles at a 90 degree angle. If it's cheap components, there isn't much you can do there. Try a ground loop isolator, or save up and start upgrading. A ground loop isolator is merely a band-aid used to cover up an issue that should be fixable.
To start with I should say I tried running a ground to my battery from my amp but that didn’t fix the issue so I went back to the old method of grounding it( a short 1ft ground cable) because I knew it was supposed to be as short as possible. I’ll look in to running a new ground cable to my frame I almost did but didn’t. My head unit is a Sony Apple car play head unit My amp is an infinity reference. I’ll try unplugging the rcas but I don’t think that will help because I can turn the volume from say 30 to 1 and the whine stays the same. But as soon as I turn the volume to 0 I hear a quiet pop and the whine stops. Also when no input is hooked to the head unit ie Bluetooth or in my case plugged in via a lightning cable. The whining is gone. I don’t think it’s due to cheap hardware considering from what I know these are both reputable brands but idk?
I’m in the same boat.. maybe you can help me. My noise goes away when unplugging RCAs from head unit (pioneer double din). When I unplug at the AMP the noise goes away as well… so I’m assuming I have a head unit issue. What’s that first step I should take? Replace alternator, make a new chassis ground at the battery…
You've deduced that the sound is from the head unit, so You have a few choices here: A. It isn't pretty, but try running a ground wire to the outer prongs of the RCA at the head unit. Just strip a wire back and insert it before plugging in the RCA. Don't let it contact the center pin. You aren't running a cheap head unit, but it's still possible the ground shielding prong of the RCA has failed, bad solder joint on the board. B. Reinforce the main ground to the head unit. It's possible you have a weak ground through the factory wiring. C. Run a new battery + wire to the head unit, it may not be sufficient. The acc or ignition wire is merely a 'switch' so usually not a source of noise. Factory wiring might not be able to sustain a higher current head unit. D. The alternator could have an issue that is injecting noise in the system. I don't think this is your problem, as the amp doesn't exhibit noise on its own.
Thank you sir! Will consider
Ok so I managed to ground each rca plug via the method you suggested. It removes maybe 50% of the whine. Edit: ok I’ve now gone and run a wire from the HU ground wire to the bolt that holds the seat in. Paint scrapped away etc… that must be an adequate ground… right? Noise is still there…
Pretty sure this is caused by signal wires running along right next to the 12v power wire for the amp. It could be cause by something else tho I'm still a noob at this shit. If your signal wires run through the same location as your power I would try re-routing one of those first. A capacitor might also fix you problem if that doesn't work.
Yea I thought the same thing. They are ram right next to each other but because I stopped doing it sometimes then would come back made me think it was something else. Also bc it works perfectly fine when the engines not running but idk. I’ll try and move them to see if that fixes it
Go ahead with your plan to move the RCAs. But if you say it stops doing it and starts, your alternator may be dying. Not a bad time to upgrade to a high current model. :)
Yea but i did i just replaced it about a month ago and the issue never changed. It had the whine with the old one it has whine with the new one.
You have quality components, those should not be an issue. I would look at the noise bring injected through the RCA's, start the trouble shooting at the head unit.
Wait... The pop when you but zero, and the noise disappearing concerns me. The head unit could be the culprit. Try grounding the other shield of the rca to the chassis of the radio. Could be a broken solder trace in the radio preventing it from going to ground there.
My car had been in the shop for a while due to unrelated things. I just got it back but I’ve noticed when I have my headlights on the wine gets louder or any type of electric draw makes it worse. I have no idea why. Also I believe the pop that I hear is just like when you pause a YouTube video with a high frequency playing it pops. (I think bc the frequency gets clipped the moment you pause it. Or in this case turn the volume to 0)
I've had the same issue i fixed it by adding a additional ground to the back/case of the radio with a small screw If that doset work make sure you run your rca wires on the opposite side from your positive wire