Alright, alright.. I know it's been done to death, and yes I've used the search feature and haven't found what I'm looking for ;)

I have the dreaded alternator whine :doubt:

It comes from all four speakers, and all four speakers are amped by a 4 channed response amp.

If the RCA's are pulled out, the whining stops (from the respective speakers).

I bought a noise filter today, and I'm not sure where to put it though. Would it be in line with the power going to the amp, or the power going to the HU?

I'm thinking, if the whine is induced in the wire to the amp, then it's gotta go there, obviously. However, if it is induced in the RCA's, then where the **** would it go? :confused:

I have tried moving RCA's around, but I can't even change the whine at all.

The bit that's got me beat is that it used to be perfect, no whine at all... Then when I tried to put some CCFL's in the boot, i placed the power invertors next to the speakers, and this started the whine off. I have since removed the invertors, hoping that it would remove the whine... But it didn't :(

Got me beat... :roll:

i got teh same problem :rant:

What RCAs have you got..? Are they shielded..?

Also.. I'm pretty sure you gotta put it on the power line of the HU.. if its coming outta the speakers being powered by the HU only.. if its just the speakers being powered by the amp.. then the amp power line! But don't quote me.. Get s_tim_ulate to confirm this!

SuFz :rant:

how is the earth on the CCFL??

Earth loop probably. Try isolating transformers, check the earth on the amp, check the earth on the deck.

Cheers
Heath Young

What RCAs have you got..? Are they shielded..?

Also.. I'm pretty sure you gotta put it on the power line of the HU.. if its coming outta the speakers being powered by the HU only.. if its just the speakers being powered by the amp.. then the amp power line!

The speakers are all powered by an amp. I dunno what RCA's they are, but they're expensive blue ones with gold terminals (say ooohhh...) from Jaycar. I believe they are shielded...


how is the earth on the CCFL??

Gone! lol

When I wired them up, I used the power and ground wiring that goes to the stock light in the boot, so I thought that would be reasonable. But yeah, I cracked the ****s with the lights when it started and ripped them out :redface:



Earth loop probably. Try isolating transformers, check the earth on the amp, check the earth on the deck.

Isolating transformers???

The earth on the amp is good, <0.2 Ohm's, and the deck is ,0.1 Ohm's.

What is an earth loop?? :S

could be all of the above. What you've done is just rule out the amp doesn't cause the whine. The noise could be coming from your headunit, esp dry joints on the RCA tracks. If not, could be induced through all the messy electronics behind your headunit.

Try plug an iPod in through your RCA's where your headunit is to see if it whines, or re-route your RCAs over your seats, and see if there is still a whine.

Its a dreaded noise...and magnas seem to have a bad problem with it.

Oh, if you have left over power cable offcuts and stuff, you could add a few extra ground points in the engine bay or whatever:)

The HU is only about 9 months old... :confused:
Surely the RCA tracks aren't dry yet.... I hope...

I don't have an iPod to test it with.. or anything similar :(

I have just been out playing with it...

I removed the HU and unplugged the RCA's. with the HU in the middle of the car, I ran more RCA's straight from the HU to the amp, ensuring that they were right away from the power wires. And the whine is still there :(

Any ideas?

So this has eliminated the RCA's, and the amp...

I'm confused though.. How can alternator whine be induced by the HU. :confused: I understand how it can be by RCA's running next to power wires, and the magnetic field from power wires inducing a DC current in the RCA's, and hence the noise... But how can a HU do this???