Ok Doug, Peter, let's talk about RCA's. After FURTHER testing, I found a TON of noise in my darn RCA's. With everything unhooked except my front speakers, crossovers, and my mid/high amp, NO RCA's attached, there is absolutely NO NOISE. So I am guessing I was picking something up with my Stinger RAC's.
Ok Doug, Peter, let's talk about RCA's. After FURTHER testing, I found a TON of noise in my darn RCA's. With everything unhooked except my front speakers, crossovers, and my mid/high amp, NO RCA's attached, there is absolutely NO NOISE. So I am guessing I was picking something up with my Stinger RAC's.
What brand do you use? I need 3ft RCA's......
That's called Ground Loop Interference, or in laymans terms, alternator whine.
Personally, I use KnuKonceptz products exclusively. Best bang for the buck in my opinion. BUT, I doubt that is your issue. More likely than not you still have a ground issue.
Here is what is happening (typically) - without seeing your setup I obviously can't be certain: 2 of your components are at different potential relative to ground. When these 2 components are not connected by RCA's, there is no noise in the system - power enters from the battery and exits through the ground wire of each component just as it should. There obviously is also no music since nothing is connected.
When you connect the RCA's between the 2 components, you introduce a new route for the power to ground itself in one of the components. Power enters through component A, travels along the RCA, and grounds itself through component B. This, not surprisingly, is bad.
Get out your multimeter and check the resistance from the ground terminal of each component relative to the negative terminal of the battery. They ALL need to be 0. Find the one that isn't 0 and it will solve your issue.
You can also try a pair of grounded RCA's, although I doubt it will solve the issue. These are exactly what they sound like - tip, ring, and ground wires as opposed to just the usual tip and ring of a normal RCA.
Lastly, you can try ground loop isolation RCA's. These incorporate a small transformer to physically isolate the input from the output and prevent grounding through the RCA's...
That's called Ground Loop Interference, or in laymans terms, alternator whine.
Personally, I use KnuKonceptz products exclusively. Best bang for the buck in my opinion. BUT, I doubt that is your issue. More likely than not you still have a ground issue.
Here is what is happening (typically) - without seeing your setup I obviously can't be certain: 2 of your components are at different potential relative to ground. When these 2 components are not connected by RCA's, there is no noise in the system - power enters from the battery and exits through the ground wire of each component just as it should. There obviously is also no music since nothing is connected.
When you connect the RCA's between the 2 components, you introduce a new route for the power to ground itself in one of the components. Power enters through component A, travels along the RCA, and grounds itself through component B. This, not surprisingly, is bad.
Get out your multimeter and check the resistance from the ground terminal of each component relative to the negative terminal of the battery. They ALL need to be 0. Find the one that isn't 0 and it will solve your issue.
You can also try a pair of grounded RCA's, although I doubt it will solve the issue. These are exactly what they sound like - tip, ring, and ground wires as opposed to just the usual tip and ring of a normal RCA.
Lastly, you can try ground loop isolation RCA's. These incorporate a small transformer to physically isolate the input from the output and prevent grounding through the RCA's...
d-
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Last edited by Hdhntr23; 27th March 2010 at 03:01.
Ok, Tim, here are a couple more things to think about, and requests for info (sorry, I haven't followed your whole install)
General rule of thumb: High current and low current wires always cross at a 90 degree angle and never run parallel to each other unless they are more than 12-18" apart. The higher the current the greater the spacing needs to be. There is significant debate as to whether current induced noise is actually real, and frankly I don't think it is, but it isn't going to hurt to clean up the wiring a bit.
And if those are crimp connectors, which they certainly look like they might be, on your speaker and other wires, I'm going to come out there and kick your *ss myself.
Run me through those components - what is in the right rear of your trunk? It looks like a distribution block, but I also see a couple twisted pairs running back there... Above your subs I see crossovers on the left, but what else is hanging out there?
And finally, you went aftermarket head unit, right? Where is that grounded? If you tell me it is grounded somewhere other than with your amps, then just go right back to post #272
Lastly, you can try ground loop isolation RCA's. These incorporate a small transformer to physically isolate the input from the output and prevent grounding through the RCA's...
d-
Never heard of such a thing in an RCA cable! Got a link to an example?
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Ok, Tim, here are a couple more things to think about, and requests for info (sorry, I haven't followed your whole install)
General rule of thumb: High current and low current wires always cross at a 90 degree angle and never run parallel to each other unless they are more than 12-18" apart. The higher the current the greater the spacing needs to be. There is significant debate as to whether current induced noise is actually real, and frankly I don't think it is, but it isn't going to hurt to clean up the wiring a bit.
I know this, done....
And if those are crimp connectors, which they certainly look like they might be, on your speaker and other wires, I'm going to come out there and kick your *ss myself.
They are, but I soldered the ends.....I have always done this method, if there is another, I am all ears. The only way to connect wires to the crossovers is by a spade connector.
EDIT: You mean between the factory wires and my aftermarket wires.... Yes they are, but have since been replaced. I was impatiently waiting for my twisted speaker wire to arrive, so I threw those in with some home audio wire.
Run me through those components - what is in the right rear of your trunk? It looks like a distribution block, but I also see a couple twisted pairs running back there... Above your subs I see crossovers on the left, but what else is hanging out there?
There is nothing but power and ground on the right side of the trunk.....I twisted my power and ground with a drill for a cleaner install. Is that a no-no too? I learned it from Kirk Perry and Lynn Whittaker who scored the first every perfect 40 on the RTA in SQ in IASCA competition. I've been doing that for the past 15 years.....
And finally, you went aftermarket head unit, right? Where is that grounded? If you tell me it is grounded somewhere other than with your amps, then just go right back to post #272
I HAD the HU grounded with everything else in the trunk. I DID HAVE everything grounded at the same spot. But running a 18ft wire to the trunk to ground my HU cause noise. I re-grounded my HU and it's smaller parts (steering wheel control/video bypass module) to the frame tubing under the dash, which eliminated some of the whine.
d-
When I mentioned something about the RCA's, they were not hooked up to anything but my amp. I disconnected them from the other component. Once I unplugged them all together, I instantly had no noise.
The only thing beside the crossovers is my Alpine Imprint Processor, DQXS, and the HD Radio module.
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