EK4 Engine noise/hum problem

[sifoo]

Hi all,

Ive tried everything from:

1) separating the RCAs and the speaker wires/power wires as far as possible
2) wrapping the speaker wires with aluminium foil
3) buying a noise suppressor from jaycar

How the hell do I fix this annoying sound?? The noise suppressor only toned it down a bit .. but driving at night with the a/c on and the headlights on is really bad

anyone else have this problem? any remedies?

Cheers

[SPL77Civic]

redo your earth for the amp.

[ekhybrid]

i hadf the same prob. it ended up being faulty rca outputs on the deck it self and i got it fixed on warranty

[ICACHA]

what deck? is it a pioneer?

[ekhybrid]

nah kenwood mp6029, the rca's had a dry track so they resolded it.

[ICACHA]

cool bananas :)

[marte]

it sounds more like earth wiring atm but at the same could be your rca's. but if its really bad when your a/c is on & when your head lights are on then probally your earths. try a thicker earth cable...

[sifoo]

Currently I have an earth from my amp (under my seat) to the metal bit where the bolts of the seat go through

Where is better? Should I earth as far away from the RCAs as possible?

Thanks

[sifoo]

and yes I have a pioneer head deck

Also .. does a shit amp have anything to do with engine noise? The ex-owner had a jaycar amp in there ..

[marte]

how thicks ur earth cable ive got mine near the spare tyre, so distance doesnt really matter. by the way when u say u wrapped ur speaker cabels with foil did u say u wrapped the whoel cable from h/u to speakers? what amp have you got btw?

[ICACHA]

and yes I have a pioneer head deck

Also .. does a shit amp have anything to do with engine noise? The ex-owner had a jaycar amp in there ..

new model pioneer decks have a 3amp fuse on the rca section of the board (trust me when i say you wont find it, its small) if you happen to be unlucky and ground out your speaker cable or rcas while running the system you will pop the fuse and engine noise will be apparent.

[gumbel]

try to reconnect your negative terminal(-) on the battery, or clean the terminal and sand it a bit.

check all your ground wire from battery.

[sifoo]

cool thanks guys ill try getting a thicker ground cable

its pretty pindick cable prob about two sizes down from a standard 8gauge

does the power cable thickness have anything to do with it?

[eKKy]

Ground cable should be at least as thick as your power cable.

This applies to all power connections, in your case - battery, deck and amp.

Also, what gauge wiring are you using?

[sifoo]

guys it still doesnt work

I bought 8gauge ground wire and it didnt make a difference!

The previous owner has 10gauge power cable

Also, is it ok to have the power cable alongside the speaker cables?

I have only separated/distanced the speaker and RCAs at the moment

Where have I gone wrong?!

[sifoo]

it is currently grounded under the seat where the seat bolts go in

[sifoo]

and yes I have bought beefier RCA's (OFC)

[marte]

as gumbel said abt ur batt did u try that? and can u get a foto of how u've wired everythign behind ur deck...

[sifoo]

nah it wont have anything to do with my negative terminal .. i always take it on and off when working on the car and its pretty clean ..

the best way to explain my layout to the amp under my pass. seat

1) power cable is fed through a grommet to the cabin and runs left to passenger side
2) new speaker wire from passenger door comes into cabin and runs alongside the power cable to the amp
3) new speaker wire from driver's side door comes into cabin under the dash, along the firewall (while keeping to the edges) to the amp
4) RCAs run from the headunit along the transmission tunnel to the shift linkage then to the amp (while keeping it as far away from the speaker wires as possible)

I dont have a pic so sorry I cant be more graphical

Thanks for your help guys

[eKKy]

Power and signal cables should NOT be mixed together. Signal leads like speaker cables and RCAs generally are OK together.

[bungsai]

yeah thats where the problemo is, no speaker wire should go near the power cable, especially since it wont be as well shielded as the rca's.

put the speaker wire on the other side of the car.

[ICACHA]

guys, what some of you are talking is something youve heard from installers that got no idea and just pass on information pretty much like chinese wispers..

the power cable next to other wires is only theory, in the real world (depending on vehicle) that theory gets thrown out the window. ive seen many a car that all the cables are run together and not an ounce of noise through the system.

its either, faulty rca's, bad ground or faulty equipment anything else is not worth talking about.

sifoo, get yourself an rca plug (anything that you can get your hands on that you dont need) and short the 2 wires on the rca plug and plug it into the amp making sure you have disconnected the other rcas coming from the deck, if you still get noise then try another amp, if not them you have to look at the rca's from the deck or the deck itself.

hope this makes people aware that not all the sh!t that an installer tells you is true, its probably crap theyve heard along the way from someone pretending they are knowledgable or think they know car audio...

[czy_sol87]

ive got the same problem, dont know what to do now, power on right side, rcas on left and speaker wires in the middle, i've already regrounded my amp to the battery and is still making the sound!!!!!!! could it be the alternator (too old??, too small??) anyone noe how much to get a larger alternator fitted cost?

[marte]

alternator wouldnt have anything to do with it

[uetecu]

paul i have all my cables running along each other and no humming noises.
its the worst setup possible but it sounds fine? thats sound master installation for you..

if you want to try another amplifier call aaron. :)

[czy_sol87]

why wouldnt it???, it powers everything electronical in the car

[sifoo]

hey ian .. thanks for the offer .. might give him a call sometime ... :)

hmm i hope its a faulty amp .. i really cant be stuffed doing the wiring again