[4x4high]

I removed the deck and redid the wiring with a new harness and also added a ground wire from the de I chassis to the car chassis and also tied that ground into the ground wire of the harness and I STILL get a whine.

A local stereo shop suggested soldering a ground wire to each of the RCA cables and making a connection to a chassis ground saying that sometimes the connection itself isnt good enough. I cant really see how I could accomplish that very easily though.

 

[juniorwatson]

I removed the deck and redid the wiring with a new harness and also added a ground wire from the de I chassis to the car chassis and also tied that ground into the ground wire of the harness and I STILL get a whine.

A local stereo shop suggested soldering a ground wire to each of the RCA cables and making a connection to a chassis ground saying that sometimes the connection itself isnt good enough. I cant really see how I could accomplish that very easily though.

What's the condition of the RCA Cables? I recently re-did my system, and replaced the RCA cables and any noise I had disappeared.

 

[96 Black]

Thanks, that's a big help in diagnosing this thing. This morning I removed the ground wire at the frame and cleaned very good down to bare metal and reattached the ground wire with no change in the whine. I also read that the ground for the amp should be separate from the ground for the capacitor but my ground wire leaves the frame then goes to a junction block and continues over to the capacitor so I'm about to separate those grounds to eliminate that as being an issue as well.

I've been interested in your build (well also sorry on the SO front). From what I used to do with this stuff 40 years back I especially noted discussion above surrounding ground loop. Beware my intel on this is mostly sourced outta my ass, but I had a big prob with whine that turned out to be components grounded separately - PLUS the blessing of an added periodic anoying 'pop' I answered the ground loop whine issue by joining all the grounds - so the part I highlighted jumped out at me.



For reference, the pop was from huge impedance mismatch between components purchased together from a supposed 'expert' stereo seller. Took 3 months tracking that down, and dealer tried 200 ways to get out of correcting his FU by providing me compatible replacements. And he lost. hahaha I learned something here that I'll remember when I go after putting in a Nexus 7 = avoid RCA wherever possible - thanks.

 

[4x4high]

ALL components are NEW and quality stuff (Rockford Fosgate).

 

[Frasierraheen]

Is it still whining

 

[4x4high]

Is it still whining

Yes it is.

 

[Frasierraheen]

I'm sorry to hear you still have that whining. I'm at a lost now, this is where advice no longer works and I have to see it in person to figure out what's going on.

 

[Frasierraheen]

Let's try this again, I have only seen a problem like this once or twice.

1. You isolated the amp and subs no whining

2. Check the rcas from behind the deck using the female connectors and 3.5 mm rca does it whines?(no= pointing to the deck as the source of the whining, Yes= you need to reroute your RCAs or buy a premium set of RCAs)

3. You Re wired the headunit with supplied harness and you still have whining?

4. Let's try this, do you still have the old alpine headunit? If so swap them out since they use the same harness and see if the whining comes back. No= bad headunit, Yes= harness is located near a large power source .

5. As far as grounding your rcas I've only seen that when someone mistakenly touched the power to the rca and blew the ground tracing located on the headunit motherboard. But other than that without personally being able to touch it , I'm lost

Sorry Sir

 

[4x4high]

Let's try this again, I have only seen a problem like this once or twice.

1. You isolated the amp and subs no whining
YES

2. Check the rcas from behind the deck using the female connectors and 3.5 mm rca does it whines?(no= pointing to the deck as the source of the whining, Yes= you need to reroute your RCAs or buy a premium set of RCAs)
YES and NO whine

3. You Re wired the headunit with supplied harness and you still have whining?
YES

4. Let's try this, do you still have the old alpine headunit? If so swap them out since they use the same harness and see if the whining comes back. No= bad headunit, Yes= harness is located near a large power source .
Good idea, I'll give it a shot this week sometime.

5. As far as grounding your rcas I've only seen that when someone mistakenly touched the power to the rca and blew the ground tracing located on the headunit motherboard. But other than that without personally being able to touch it , I'm lost

Sorry Sir

Answers below each numbered question.

 

[4x4high]

I may have found the source of my stereo whine. I checked resistance from negative battery cable (at the battery) to the amp ground at my passenger side frame rail and only have .3 ohms resistance. I then checked the resistance from the negative battery cable (at the battery) to the alternator case and I have 3.3 ohms resistance. Tomorrow I'm going to build a quality 4ga cable to bolt from the back of alternator directly to the negative battery post and see if the cures the issue. I further need to double check resistance from my negative battery cable to the engine and to the chassis and fender and if any connections show anything more than .5 ohms I'll address that as well.

 

[gbhs72]

You may consider this. I, for some reason thought you had done this already.
[ame]https://youtu.be/gnmXKjm3tZE?t=12[/ame] I've also seen suggested doing what you're planning only using single or double O wire.

Mark: Snowman-33

 

[4x4high]

Yes I already have the "big 3" from Gary at Innovative Wiring. There's really no reason to go any larger on the ground wire to the alternator case than the power supply wire to the amp.

 

[4x4high]

Well, I've decided to switch decks and now getting ready to install an Alpine ILX W650 double din deck. Bought the Etchus kit and I have everything else so hopefully Sunday I will start the project. Maybe my stereo whine will go away too.

 

[Z09B4U]

Have you tried unpluging the regulator power to the alternator and then running the engine without the alternator? If the wine stops it might be the alternator not the stereo system.

 

[4x4high]

I have not, BUT I've also installed a 200amp Powermaster alternator and it still whines and I also ran a 4ga ground wire direct from the battery to the rear of the alternator and still no change.

 

[Z09B4U]

When cars were simple and trunk amplifiers were new things were easier. If the whine mirrored motor speed it was the alternator or spark plug system. If it was constant it was the fuel pump, and the heater fan would be checked by changing it's speed. The newer the car the more sub systems that could cause problems. and the harder it is to solve.

Good audio equipment works with most bad installations. You seem to have done everything correctly. I hope the new head unit works out.

 

[4x4high]

Here it is, new Alpine ILX W650 deck installed using the Etchus kit.

 

[4x4high]

I was talking with a buddy who did stereo installs professionally for 13 years and was telling him about my stereo whine and the fact that if I turn the volume up loud enough eventually the whole system would shut off, deck and all. I had previously mentioned this to him but he says he misunderstood me and now knowing that even the deck turned off he believes I have a bad ground and possibly even a bad power supply to the stereo from the factory harness. Hopefully this weekend I'm going to run a new dedicated power and ground directly from the battery to the deck and eliminate the factory harness ground and power wiring. He suggested that I twist the wiring together to help create an RFI choke as well.