Gunz:

I have not done any testing as of yet but will start by pulling the head unit and eliminating things like the crossover to see if that helps.

I could do this mod as well which seems to be the same as buying those ground loop things that Addiction linked to.

 

Guys:

Does anyone know where i can get an antenna cable extender? Mine barley reaches the right side of the radio and i would like to get an extender to make sure its seating correctly.

Edit i suck lol:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12044EC...enna+extension

 

you can also get one from autozone

 

Unplug the RCA's from the head unit and turn the amps on.

Is the whine gone? If so, it's likely a ground loop and/or the head unit.

Like Gunz said, if it's a Pioneer it's a common issue. With the HU on and RCA's connected, try touching a piece of wire from a ground to the outside conductors of the RCA's and see if the whine goes away.

 

Yeah im def going to try these methods ot this weekend as long as its not raining on me.

I hear you on the pioneer thing but ive had this head unit when i had my old setup but didn't have this issue. I guess it could have went while i was testing and stuff cause i did unplug the RCA's with the radio on, volume on 0, but still on.

Ill try to rule out each part oneat a time and go from there, Addiction thanks for the auto zone tip, hopefully they have them when i go this weekend cause i really need one of these and forgot about it when i gathered up all of my stereo stuff.

 

I'm an Electrical Engineer, I'm a certified installation technician, and I used to build competition (IASCA)car stereos back in the early to mid 90's when I was in college, and after I did it for friends.

#1 Running adequate power cable AND ground cable to the rear of the vehicle. In most cases #4 AWG for both power and ground will suffice. In much higher power applications - 2000+ Watts you need to size this according to your current draw. Current = Watts / Volts (I=P/E) once you know your current you can select the proper conductor. In many cases the addition of capacitors is necessary for peak current draw in high power systems.

#4 = 75 amps
1/0 = 150 amps

When you run your ground you land it in the rear of the vehicle, grind off the paint and use a 1/4-20 bolt and bolt the ground back here. Run a equal size conductor from this point to a ground distribution block (GDB) - the same way you distribute your power you need to distribute your ground. I can't tell you how important grounding your system is, this is the #1 mistake both amateurs and even installers make.

#2 You run your power and ground down the same side of the vehicle your battery is on. You run your speaker wires and RCA's down the OPPOSITE side of the car. NOT an option, you absolutely, positvely, need to do it this way.

Every component in your system has a current draw that is in the tech spec's... ensure you are grounding all of these components to your GDB with the same size conductor that powers the unit.

#3 run a seperate 14AWG ground wire down the same side of the vehicle with your power and ground from the head unit. This ensures a common ground and a solid ground - avoiding ground loops.

Doing all these steps you should not have ground noise on any system.

 

Gregg08_CES:

Nice break down man, here is what i have done and not:

#1: 4AWG for both power and ground. Ground is bolted in and area around ground sanded to bare metal before bolted back into place.

#2: Not done correctly, power and RCA's and Speaker wires all on right side. Power and ground wires do match though as both amps have 8AWG cables and the Crossover has i think 20AWG, not really sure but its the same exact cable for power, ground and Remote so its def a match.

#3: Not done, Head unit Grounded up front using a self tapping screw in the bare metal frame of the radio and front dash

Im going to start with the simple stuff like making sure my radio antenna is plugged in well and there are no loose connections.

If this doesn't work ill need to redo some wiring which will really not be fun at all but if it needs to be done ill go ahead and do it.

Weather is not looking good for this weekend but im hoping to spend some time working on it on Sunday if i can, if not next weekend will be when i have a chance to look at it.

Thanks for the advice guys, i hope i can get this fixed soon as its really annoying lol..

 

Just exactly how much current has to be flowing through the power wire to induce noise into the RCAs? What happens when the power/ground happen to cross the RCAs near the amplifier connections? Honestly, I would like to know how much current it would take to introduce noise into RCAs that are generally shielded, twisted, set of wires. Also, since music is dynamic in nature, what are the possibilities of power induced noise at lower volume levels?

The reason I am asking is due to the fact that I have had systems "professionally" installed in the past where the "professional" loomed and zip tied my RCAs with the power cable when running the wire. Guess what, no noise! Granted, there were two runs from the battery to the amps... One going to a 250 watt RMS amp for my subs and one going to the 4 channel, 240 watt rms amp for my mids/highs.

Fast forward to now.... I do my own installs and usually try to keep the RCAs and power cable as far apart as the vehicle/install will allow, but sometimes there is no choice but to run them close together.

 

First of all there are probably 10 bad "professional" installers for every 1 good one. That being said, word of mouth is important. Find out which shops near you have cars that have actually competed and won, this is a good starting point. I can't tell you how many spaghetti messes came into my shop that I had to repair from "professional" installations.

Next, you never, never, never, ever run power wire with signal wires. Did I say never? I meant to say NEVER. This is simply put, a basic practice which has been around as long as electronics with communication have been around.

In either electrical circuits, power creates a magnetic field around its conductors, this field wrecks havoc on signal wires which are low voltage/low current signals. The result is noise, whether you hear it through an amplifier or see it on an oscilloscope.

If you have to cross power wires you try to do it at right angles or perpendicular to the power, never in parallel to the power. If you have no choice you simply try to limit this distance of contact as much as possible.

Obviously the more current you draw, the magnetic field increases and the affects are greater in terms of noise. Additional factors play into how much of an affect this field has or its tendancy to exist in the frst place. Amplifiers running power from copper conductors continuously changine there RMS current are the most susceptible. A great example of this is your amp running your subs, if you watched your current demand to your amp, every time you try to play 40Hz, you would see the current increase, then decrese again and keep going back and forth.

This is a target rich environment for eddy currents to be created which result in the magnetic field which distorts your signal. IE: Signal to noise ratio... (I'm sure you have heard of this.) There is no answer to "how much current causes this noise". There are certainly other variables to consider, like shielded RCA cables being one of them which certainly help, as opposed to $5 radio shack cables.

Hope this helps.

To the OP, if your speakers and RCA are ran right along side your power I'd bet my left nut that this is your problem, it sure won't be the antenna connection...

 

I still bet he popped the Pico fuse in his HU

ETA: Next on my "to buy" list is to get a handheld oscilloscope. I am tired of dragging out an 80s era Sencore to the car every time I want to test something.