Help with Alternator Whine!!

Hey,
I’m getting super loud alternator whine from my tweeters. I had the problem before, I spent forever trying to find the bad ground but I never could, so I bought ground loop isolators which solved the problem. But now several months later the whine is back and louder than ever. I haven’t done or touched anything, it just randomly came back. Anyone know what I can do? Thanks

 

do you have rca cables running close to a power wire?

 

from the audio guru's on here that has been a proven myth.

 

re-routing mine fixed engine wine I was getting in my prelude, and that was all I did so I know it was the rcas, but then I can't say it was because they were next to a power cable.
make sure that there isn't anywhere on your rcas that is starting to wear through, that was the other thing I noticed when I did mine

 

several months ago i did re-route the RCAs, which did not solve the problem. I'll re-check the RCAs again though. Any other suggestions? the only thing i never checked before was each individual speaker wire coming from the amp. could there be a problem within those?

 

You can confirm/eliminate the signal cables to your amp as a "cause" by running some free air temporary ones and testing to see if you still have noise. I took a quick look on Google to see if there were any other bright ideas and the consensus pretty much points to a ground that is not doing its job but there can be other causes:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-bKvhmKXPXdc/tech/kb348.html

Give that a quick read and you may find something you have not checked.

 

i had the same problem and tried everything, new rca's moving cables, amps etc. turns out that my rca's on my head unit were blown they had a fuse inside the unit . sent it to same day auto repair.
here is a link :

http://cgi.ebay.com/PIONEER-AVIC-D3...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588543879e

 

Yes, pioneer headunits have what is called a Pico fuse inside. If you plug in an RCA while it's live/powered it will blow the fuse and give you the whine.

 

ok, i've tried everything once again. I took my HU in to have the pico fuse checked and it wasn't blown. do you think my ground loop isolators might have stopped working? but both of them at the same time??? idk what else to do, but just re-wire absolutely everything.. the repair man said maybe my HU's wire harness's ground might be loose.

 

doesn't matter, as has been stated. Yes, the pico fuse can be an issue, though that tends to be fairly rare. Most common issue is a grounding issue. Make sure that the ground is a clean (free of rust, paint primer, gremlins, etc) and is secured to a substantial bit of metal that is directly connected to the frame. I personally like the seat belt bolts, but some swear by other areas. I try to make it as close as possible to the amps and the wire should be at least the size of the main power wire.

 

you dont want ground loop isolators those are just band aids to the real problem.

most of the time its a ground . But if you have checked all your wires, moved them, changed them and still NOISE i would try swapping the HU or your amp with an extra or a friends. ( i used my dads thats how i found out.)

like i said i have ran into these problems and you think its something small like a ground , but as you dig deeper, it could be hardware.

 

this man speaks the truth.

 

thanks buddys,

now i gotta get my hands on a 4ch amp and/or HU

 

I had a 98 Lincoln Mark VIII that had a huge problem w/ interference. After every solution under the sun including re-wiring the stereo running new grounds and changing to new RCA's. I found the twisted pair StreetWires. They are pricey but worth every nickle. The perm. fixed that annoying whine almost like getting a divorce.

 

I'm having this issue with my pioneer avic-920xbt. I have RCA's running from the HU to the amp for the front channel's and the sub. When I have only one plugged in (doesn't matter which), there's no noise. But when both are plugged in, there's noise. Originally I had both sets of RCA's running together in the door channel, but I re-routed the sub RCA's just to see if that made a difference. I also tried grounding the RCA's to the HU chassis. Any advice would be helpful! I'm afraid I may have blown the Pico fuse, because I did unplug and replug the RCA's while the HU was powered. I didn't know that was a problem