alternator noise - need help!

[nick_sixx]

hey guys i finally got around to wiring my front speakers to my amp instead of the head unit. anyway so i wired them up from the amp in the boot/hatch up to the speaers on their respective sides. i noticed a bit of alternator noise so i re wired it with RCA's down one side (drivers side) and speaker wires down the other (passenger side), and now the noise is even worse. i didnt get any whining at all when the speakers were running off the head unit. ive tried messing around with the gain etc but nothing has really worked so far. any suggestions would be very helpful! cheers

[arverson]

are the rca's & power wire running down the same side together??

[nick_sixx]

yeah they are, im guessing that could be a problem, but it didnt make the noise before, and ive only re wired the speakers not the amp

[solitz]

whats the grounding like on the amps?

[nick_sixx]

well i thought it was pretty good but my friend was in the car today and he could notcie the whine, so im going to sand back the paint properly ad try again tomorrow

[OMG.JAI xD]

you get noise because you run power lines with the rca.
it should be the other way around.

power lines seperated.

if you got good ground and a short ground cable. it should be alright.

just move that power cable and problemo fixo

[nick_sixx]

i moved the amp power cable from the rca side to the speaker wire side, and has pretty much halved the noise but its still there and you can hear it between songs etc. im hoping getting a better ground will solve it

[ICACHA]

you get noise because you run power lines with the rca.
it should be the other way around.

power lines seperated.

if you got good ground and a short ground cable. it should be alright.

just move that power cable and problemo fixo

Thats BS about the cable runs being the issue. If it was that then the chassis would be the biggest coulprit in the mix as it starts at the front of the car and goes to the back. 12v is DC and signal from head unit is AC, can you tell me how these 2 end up inducing noise into each other? (Scientific reply please :p)

[ICACHA]

i moved the amp power cable from the rca side to the speaker wire side, and has pretty much halved the noise but its still there and you can hear it between songs etc. im hoping getting a better ground will solve it

What amp you using and who set the gains and might they be a little high?

Has it got a "good" ground, by that I mean have you measured the ground resistance between where you grounded it to the negative of the battery to see how low or high your resistance between the 2 is?

What RCA's you using?

What head unit you using?

Is the head unit grounded at the front properly? (measure it too)

Have you run the RCA's near an ECU?

Are your crossovers (if splits) near power cables? (the coils in crossovers will also induce noise into the system)

[nick_sixx]

What amp you using and who set the gains and might they be a little high?

Has it got a "good" ground, by that I mean have you measured the ground resistance between where you grounded it to the negative of the battery to see how low or high your resistance between the 2 is?

What RCA's you using?

What head unit you using?

Is the head unit grounded at the front properly? (measure it too)

Have you run the RCA's near an ECU?

Are your crossovers (if splits) near power cables? (the coils in crossovers will also induce noise into the system)

i set the gains after i installed everything, and im guessing they could be a little high because im getting a tiny bit of white noise when the volume is turned down.

RCA's are sony 8 gauge i think

head unit is some piece of shit atlanta one, and i belive it is grounded properly at the front because i havent had any problems whatsoever until i wired my fronts to the amp.

RCAs are running down the drivers side on the opposite side of ecu

the amp has crossover(s) i think, and again, the amp is some shitty ebay Vortex one

[ICACHA]

well i can only suggest you swap deck or amp first and see which one if not both are inducing noise into your system, you know they are no name brands right?

[nick_sixx]

ive managed to fix the problem by finding a better, closer ground for the amp. yes i'm aware they are no-name brands, but they do the job pretty well. im not exactly trying to build a clarion demo car....

[theuan101]

This is what I did to fix mine... I wrapped the whole RCA cable with Aluminum Foil, about three layers. It got rid of all the whine noise. The aluminum acts as a insulator. If that don't fix the problem it is in the head unit. Hope this helps!!

[ICACHA]

so you bought ultra cheap rca's, thats what your saying? :)

[theuan101]

so you bought ultra cheap rca's, thats what your saying? :)

No, bought the expensive stuff it just worked for me!! :D

[ICACHA]

am i getting this right... you bought "expensive" RCA's and you had to wrap them in a tonne of foil to eliminate noise? you must of got the lemon ones off the chinese production line :)

[aka_NSX]

LOL.......maybe his expensive RCA needs more than triple shielded to eliminate the noise :eek:

just curious how much is your RCA cost you ?

[theuan101]

LOL.......maybe his expensive RCA needs more than triple shielded to eliminate the noise :eek:

just curious how much is your RCA cost you ?

I bought ones from JB hifi, they were the blue and silver spiral ones. I payed lots for them, I remember, don't remember how much, but yeah.

Like I said it worked for me, just thought I might share my knowledge...