I went to Jaycar yesterday trying to find some solutions to kill the alternator whine in my car thats been getting worse, the guy gave me a supressor that goes between the alternator positive and the battery. I'm curious to know if anyone has used these before?

I had a closer look and there is already a supressor on the alternator that I believe is for that very reason. I'm trying to replace it but my alternator is just not co-operating!

What amperage is the suppressor you have just bought? Because you want something that will exceed the factory rating that the alt is capable of.

Secondly, I have never used one, why do you want one? Are you getting the alternator whine through the speakers which increases with the revs?

If you can describe the type of install you have we can guide you to actually isolating the issue, I have had about 3 different style full installs in my TE and am constantly adding, and with external processing I have tangled with engine noise quite a bit and each time I have successfully removed it.

Ok I'll run down the install.

4g with fuse at battery running to middle of centre console between seats, separated into 2 amps under each seat both 400w, one kicker 400w monoblock, 1 jaycar response 4x100w RMS block. Headunit is ground directly to chassis (not via the cable in the back of the unit) with a very short thick cable.

Fronts - Alpine type s 6" splits
Rears - JL Audio 250W peak 6x9s
2x 12" Kicker subs
Kenwood 25th anniversary HU
Jaycar Response 4 ch 4x100w RMS amp
Kicker 400w monoblock amp

Speaker cables run 90° across power for all 4
RCAs run directly to amps in shortest possible distance (no crossing of power)
HU is powered by the 4g main power cable.

I don't know what amp rating the supressor is but I'm certainly not going to run it in between the positive and the battery - I doubt it will stand up to the task.

Ok I'll run down the install.
HU is powered by the 4g main power cable.


What is this? I hope you are really not using a 4 gauge power wire to power the headunit, 16 gauge should be max and the ground should match it, there should also be a fuse between the battery and the headunit, generally most headunits will be fused with a 10/15amp fuse.

If the power cable is running down the center console where are the RCA's running?

Just so you know, I didn't do this wiring, it was done when I bought the car 6 years ago by their audio "expert"...

Ok I've just pulled the whole damn car apart because this is annoying me. The main 4g power cable comes down the passenger side and then across to the main console, into a distribution block into two 4g cables, one going back across to the passenger side 400w monoblock, the other across to the drivers side. From there, a single 16g cable runs back to the HU for power (why I don't know...). The RCA's run diagonally across to the monoblock sub and straight in - no problems or noise in the sub so that's ok. The other 2 RCA's run across to the 400w 4ch amp diagonally across the footwell and then down the right side to the amp, about 1 foot. I noticed this is where the main loom is so it's a possibility this could be interfering but I have to isolate this to test it first.

Further more, when I pulled the HU out of the dash, the ground cable has previously been ripped out of the socket. The ground was a cable screwed into the back of the unit and grounded somewhere onto the chassis.

I've drawn a diagram, hope this makes sense

Brown - Ground
Red - Positive
Orange - RCA's
Green - Speaker wire


http://imageshack.us/a/img705/1231/awfuldiagram.jpg

Ok well firstly I would be replacing that power run to the headunit, run a wire straight from the battery with an inline 10/15 amp fuse, you can get Maxi Fuse Holders with a wire on either side, and then just add some extra length of wire being sure to solder and heat-shrink the joins.

Secondly unfortunately with engine noise its not just a case of moving something then pronto, its a real trial and error type of thing, so where I would begin with your install is the amps. If they are bolted straight into or a touching and of the chassis metal I would be putting a stop to that right away. Velcro or better yet make a bracket to hold a piece of MDF in place on the floor and then screw your amp into that, having amps touch the chassis of the car can induce whine.

With the passenger run of RCA's tape them to the trans tunnel so if you are running them along the floor well then they are always going to be as far as possible from the power wire run in the scuffs.

Check your voltage aswell, most cars will induce noise when the car alternator is trying to charge the battery, if this is the case and upgrade of grounds from the battery can and most probably will help.

Ok First up I did what you said and replaced the power to the HU - it's now on factory harness again which means it's fused. I couldn't be bothered re-wiring it with a new fuse so I decided to do that.
Got a new harness for the kenwood and have hooked that up as the old one had the main positive pulled and the ground pulled out so thats helped a little.
I have run the ground from the harness straight to the chassis at a nice clean ground point.

Removed the amp from the chassis to run the isolation test - still noise
Removed all RCA's, and the antenna except for one set of RCAs (front) - still noise
Removed Speakers from amp - tested amp with standalone speaker from a normal system - Ticking noise gone while in ACC
Alternator whine still there
Slight high pitched whistle from it but yeah.
Got a few more things to do but theres a little update and a small success!

Factory Harness is fine, you obviously got what I meant anyway about the right way to do it, so that's excellent, good work. Like I said ive had many noise issues, with my previous installs I had RCA's running up the right hand side of the car, it was all fine until I turned the demister or air con on and I would get whine, this has just gone away by itself over time.

Then I had another issue once I added a processor where I had noise, replacing my Stinger ones with custom made ones with quality materials removed that noise.

With my current install, see pic below.
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/peaandham_bucket/62004_3754787877205_426079218_n.jpg

I have the power runs and RCA's runs under the floor, however one of my runs were picking up noise from the power cable (as to be expected in such close quarters) so I actually ran the one set that ran the closet to the power wires, out the back of the boot, behind the back seat, up into the parcel shelf and then to the processor that way. (as seen in pic below)

The blue wire is my cheap Aerpro RCA's
The yellow are my Stinger RCA's
and the Red are some of the power cables.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/peaandham_bucket/Untitled-2.jpg

Doing it this way removed my engine noise but it took a lot of time just fiddling around with bits here and there, but im right in saying if you put the time in you should be able to remove it.

Cheers mate, well I've done everything that I can think of in terms of wiring so I'm putting it down to the head unit (maybe both). I just replaced the noise suppressor on the alternator (see http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97682) with a new one from jaycar as recommended by Ol' Fart. The factory ground from the battery to the chassis seems to be fine so I wont replace that, I have replaced the engine ground from the air intake to the strut tower with 4awg wire, all that I have left to replace is the main power cable from the alternator to the battery so on the next dry day I'll do that one.

I disconnected the RCA's from the amp and the alternator whine was gone so amp and speaker wires are okay. I don't know what to do next though. The only thing I can say is that the alternator whine does not vary with volume.

Remove the amp from under the seat, put it on the seat, keep everything connected, but remove the RCA's from under the carpet and plug them into the amp so the power is still running under the scuffs until you get to the seat and the RCA's are above the carpet, then check for the whine. I still put it down to interference into the RCA's.

I'll run the new rca's instead over the carpet, i don't want to have to rip out the carpet again just yet lol.

In the mean time, I found this guide, thought it might be useful to others:
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/wiring-electrical-installation-help/548878-noise-troubleshooting-guide-eliminate-your-alternator-whine.html

The main idea is getting to RCA's as far from the power cables as possible. Upgrading the Battery Ground to the Alt, Chassis and Engine Block may help but generally noise is not something it will fix.

You can have a look at this one aswell, if you can source the cd's they are talking about its even better.
http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/forums/index.php/topic/545155-technical-system-noise/

I did as you said and ran the RCA's over the carpet even moved them into the air and no change. I did plug in my ipod directly to the amp and it sounded fantastic! not even a trace of noise! So it seems that the alternator whine is definately coming from the head unit. I don't believe it to be the ground although I will double check so it looks like I'm going to have to try another kenwood/JVC head unit (same wire harness - WIN!) and if there is still noise, I'll have to try a power line filter.

I don't think it will be the head unit causing the noise to be honest, however, I could be wrong, so yes perhaps even move the ground onto a different piece of chassis metal and ensure its sanding back through the paint prior to fastening it.

If you do have another headunit to try that will be the best way to try to eliminate it.

Have you tried a different set of RCAs..?


I had a set of cheap Crest hobbies that used to create this god awful hummm..

I replaced them with basic Stinger RCAs and GONE!

So a cheaper alternative is to test with another set of SHIELDED RCAs..

SuFz

I'm using stinger RCA's 1m for fronts rear and sub so I'm pretty confident the RCA's are not the question. I am considering the possibility that the RCA's aren't grounded to the HU so I might have to try that as well but the RCA's a free hanging unlike other HU's so it will be a challenge to ground them. I might find a cheap set of RCA's at home, solder some wire to the ground and attach it to the unit and see if that works as it seems to be a common problem with pioneers but being a $1000 kenwood unit I would expect it to be of decent quality. Anyway got a few more things to try, might try grounding the head unit to the amp's grounding point and see how that goes.

From what I understand, RCA grounding is just as important as head unit grounding and amp grounding but first I have to work out how to do it ^_^

FOUND THE GREMLIN!

It turns out it was the RCA's on the head unit not being grounded to the head unit chassis correctly.

I'll upload a video in the next few hours of the problem and the solution to this case!

FOUND THE GREMLIN!

It turns out it was the RCA's on the head unit not being grounded to the head unit chassis correctly.

I'll upload a video in the next few hours of the problem and the solution to this case!

Good to hear, are you saying the factory RCA fly leads weren't grounded correctly?

Pics or anything like that would be excellent for some closure.

I'm not sure what you mean but I'll show you when I actually finish this job. Taking a lot longer than i expected. :\ damn weather has been putting me back and back

I'm not sure what you mean but I'll show you when I actually finish this job. Taking a lot longer than i expected. :\ damn weather has been putting me back and back


I know the feeling, luckily I have a carport to work under so that helps but when its cold its just annoying.

I have a car port, its just filled with seats, wiring, and a whole heap of misc! :P It's too small to work in comfortably anyway.

Heres a quick pick of my main rca - it was an el cheapo from supercheap as a temp solution but seems okay.
http://imageshack.us/a/img692/2993/img0138lpo.jpg
I'm editing the first part of the video to show you in detail - hopefully it will help others!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys-Mb-Un2uk&feature=channel&list=UL

Ok just finished setting it all up, I put the unit back in and the alternator whine returned.

This was a new ground issue caused by the clips that hold the dash in place, bit of electrical tape to make the dash piece "float" and problem solved!

Will post the full video tomorrow of the solution so hopefully this will help others!

Did have a few issues with the rear amp but the gains were maxed so I fixed that by turning them down and it seemed to clear up to a point where I can't hear it even the slightest!

I did an install for a mate this weekend just gone and we got engine noise. Installed a simple noise suppressor from Jaycar (the $9.95 one that's just a filter in between 2 rca's) and the noise disappeared straight away. Might be worth a try.

I did an install for a mate this weekend just gone and we got engine noise. Installed a simple noise suppressor from Jaycar (the $9.95 one that's just a filter in between 2 rca's) and the noise disappeared straight away. Might be worth a try.

Regarding noise suppressors on RCA's, they are a cheap fix and can interfere with quality of the audio. Audio enthusiasts will tell you to deal with the noise at it's source.

I've been running a Pioneer GM-6200f for my interior speakers with zero noise. I took home an Alpine V12 MRV-f405 from work and installed it in the same spot. I had so much engine noise you'd think I'd got Kmart to install my amp! Swapped it back to the pioneer and zero noise! Go figure! I'all keep my Pioneer thanks :-)

As I said in your other post, you will have a ground somewhere that isn't meant to be. My money would be on you grounding the amp somewhere (possibly screwing it into the chassis - my first mistake lol).

Some amps have rubber feet or isolated screw feet that you can use to prevent grounding of the amp. My solution for my amp was velcro! The amps are under the front seats, kicker has rubber feet so no grounding, screw straight into the sound proof material that lines the interior, no dramas. When grounding fails, electrical tape the crap out of things :P

Sounds like a complete re-wire, i would be taking it all out and starting again from scratch mate that way you know there is no nicks or cut in any of the wires and all connections are good.