# Alternator whine issue



## bodybagmotorsports (May 15, 2010)

What is the best type of filter/procedure to eliminate or suppress alternator whine thru a stero system?? Thanks Experts!!


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## bodybagmotorsports (May 15, 2010)

Anybody?? Hope I didn't stumble upon too tough of a question for the "electrical engineering gurus"


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## ajw2685 (Feb 14, 2010)

Check/change your ground locations. Simple things first.


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## bodybagmotorsports (May 15, 2010)

ajw2685 said:


> Check/change your ground locations. Simple things first.


Amps are grounded to battery terminal, is there a better ground than that??


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## maknwar (Sep 28, 2010)

bodybagmotorsports said:


> Amps are grounded to battery terminal, is there a better ground than that??


That sounds like your problem. You might want to try and ground it to the body of your vehicle.


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## gbryant (Jul 18, 2008)

List all of your components. 

Do you have a Pioneer headunit?


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## azimuth_coordinator (Nov 9, 2010)

gbryant said:


> List all of your components.
> 
> Do you have a Pioneer headunit?


Open ground fuses on the RCA shields?

A ohmmeter would check for this I assume?

Thanx


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## Acceleratorz (Aug 22, 2010)

ground amp to car with short cable, btw which amp do u use?


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## shibbydevil (Jul 2, 2010)

also, oddly enough, try a cheap ass RCA cable, my several hundred dollar Monster unit whined like a mofo, I layed a radioshack junker next to it and it went almost completely away. Apparently shielded RCA's have issues.... go figure.


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## Morganpartee (Jul 2, 2009)

Definitely check grounds, ground loops are a big problem.

Can also add one of those "Car audio" power filters before your amp, just a couple capacitors and inductors, but made a big difference on my ECU power, and eliminated a lot of sensor noise.


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## jrouter76 (Dec 21, 2005)

maknwar said:


> That sounds like your problem. You might want to try and ground it to the body of your vehicle.


WHAT! are you kidding? where do you think the ground of the frame return to? you got it... the neg term on the BATTERY


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## Morganpartee (Jul 2, 2009)

Seems more prone to ground loops.


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## jrouter76 (Dec 21, 2005)

Morganpartee said:


> Seems more prone to ground loops.


you mean something like this:Ground loop (electricity) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Morganpartee (Jul 2, 2009)

"In a floating ground system, that is, one not connected to earth, the voltages will probably be unstable, and if some of the conductors that constitute the return circuit to the source have a relatively high resistance, or have high currents through them that produce a significant voltage (I·R) drop, they can be hazardous."

I've had more luck grounding stuff to the body; or the motor, with a bigger ground strap. Grounding sensors/computers to the engine helps eliminate alternator/ignition noise.


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## Ludemandan (Jul 13, 2005)

shibbydevil said:


> also, oddly enough, try a cheap ass RCA cable, my several hundred dollar Monster unit whined like a mofo, I layed a radioshack junker next to it and it went almost completely away. Apparently shielded RCA's have issues.... go figure.


What's the explanation behind this? I hooked up a jumper from the RCA shields to ground on my bench system and it lowered the noise floor.


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## Zuben (Dec 28, 2009)

The shorter and wider your ground is, the less chance for Whine and groud loops. A long ground will actually act as an antenna. The best ground wire you can get is flat braided wire or solid flat copper strapping.


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## rezdawgaudio72 (Apr 9, 2010)

I had same problem for abit,thought was my Monster RCA's, tryed others didnt help,traced whine down to bad ground,so made a 14" 1/0 ground strape for engine to frame,plus 4 ga from alt to batt(-),&4ga from batt(-) to frame ground were engine is grounded,plus factory grounds,ground for amps is a well made 18" 1/0 copper tinned wire(same as engine ground)its drilled to cleaned bare metal,which is covered with a good layer of die elec. grease,other end has 1/0 dist block to 4ga to amps,so im well grounded now no wine,all connectors are soldered to wire not just crimped,did i mention to ground the system,lil gadgets are a quick easy fix,they dont completely rid your system of wine,proper grounding will,in alot of different manual's thy always state short ground wire or ground HU & amp at same place when possible,so you could say im well grounded,it takes along time to do this but pays of in the end,cheers


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## Ludemandan (Jul 13, 2005)

What?


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