Now I understand your setup. The disconnecting of the amp was to verify that the whine you are hearing is indeed coming from the patch cables. I also have the two amp setup you are using. I used crutchfield for help also, but that was when I was using the factory HU with an in-line converter which turned out to be the culprit of my whine problem. You could connect a device directly to the amp in place of the patch cables. If you have an mp3 player or portable cd player you can use one of those 1/8" mic to rca cables and go directly to the amp. If the noise is no longer present then the issue is with the radio. If you don't have that equipment available, be sure and try that star washer first. As far as the HU install goes, I'm assuming you used a wire harness adapter? If not be sure you are using the correct remote turn-on lead. Did you isolate your speaker wires also?

 

I didn't answer your question about disconnecting the amps. You can't use this test scenario because you are using an amp to run your front speakers also. I do find it strange that you had the whine running of off the HU.

 

Now I understand... The disconnecting of the amp was to verify that the whine you are hearing is indeed coming from the patch cables. I will be disconnecting the patch cables soon to see. You could connect a device directly to the amp in place of the patch cables. If you have an mp3 player or portable cd player you can use one of those 1/8" mic to rca cables and go directly to the amp. If the noise is no longer present then the issue is with the radio.ill try that too If you don't have that equipment available, be sure and try that star washer first. i will anyway As far as the HU install goes, I'm assuming you used a wire harness adapter? yes If not be sure you are using the correct remote turn-on lead. Did you isolate your speaker wires also? they are away from the power line and have been moved around due to front speaker doors getting rewired, etc and the whine really did not change - and I thought that noise does not come through those as they have so much current running through them (I saw this on a thread recently)

eliminating working with two threads here Re: I didn't answer your question about disconnecting the amps.... I do find it strange that you had the whine running of off the HU. I don't understand this last sentence - had the whine - when as opposed to now - do you mean the inputs to the amps or hu to speakers when i did not have the amps? I never connected the speaker output to the amps and I never had the whine when I was not using the amps - it all started when I used RCAs to the amps (before and after the second speaker upgrade)

 

I was under the impression that whine has been present since the install of the aftermarket HU, apparently not. Your door speakers have never been running directly off of the new HU? always from the amp? I'm just trying to eliminate the HU as a source of the problem. From your last post it seems as if you've done everything correctly barring the star washer. The tech guy at crutchfield told me to keep my speaker wires at least 12" from RCA or power cables. He said that if they have to get close to each other, like near the amp, try to make sure the crossing is perpendicular. It sounds as if the problem comes when things are running parallel to one another.

 

I was under the impression that whine has been present since the install of the aftermarket HU, apparently not. No, just since I started using RCAs because I put in the amp(s) Your door speakers have never been running directly off of the new HU? YES, they ran from the HU before I installed the amps - but I understand many people do not get whine when they use the speaker output from the headunit to either the speakers or an amp because the speaker out from the amp is higher current..always from the amp? I'm just trying to eliminate the HU as a source of the problem. From your last post it seems as if you've done everything correctly barring the star washer. The tech guy at crutchfield told me to keep my speaker wires at least 12" from RCA or power cables. I am 12 inches away in all regards except at amp where I need to untangle and orgainize to get perpendicular after I resolve the sub not working properly - I may be eliminating one amp as I might not need the rear speakers (still deciding) after the newest front speaker upgrade He said that if they have to get close to each other, like near the amp, try to make sure the crossing is perpendicular. It sounds as if the problem comes when things are running parallel to one another. yes - thats my understanding

thanks for your patience - I appreciate it -

 

Good luck J Nick. It looks like you got a lot of help from converted. I agree with him - you should not need to install any capacitors/filters to take care of this problem. If everything is connected properly, you have a good ground connection, and there's nothing wrong with your components (esp. amps and headunit), there should be no alternator whine.

I'll be interested to hear what fixes the whine!

 

I will let you know

 

subscribing as i have the same whine - thanks for your hard work and posting J Nick

 

I'm running quality RCA's away from the power. A solid ground to the chassis for both the amps and the whine is quite bad. Puzzling.

A ground loop isolator took care of most of the whine. Not the best solution but better than tearing the car apart again.

 

Reading the previous messages of this thread you know what I have done so far. The whine did not go away much and as a matter of fact got worse when I was piddling with the amps changing some unrelated things - then I did this:

Now that the installation of the new speakers and sub replacement is complete - I took the time to better organize all the wires around the amp before I put it in the spare tire. I cut the ground's excess length away; I refined the routing of the power as it comes into the spare tire area by running it as far to the passenger side as I could while refined the RCAs and speaker wires as far to the driver side as possible; I cut excess power line length down and tried to make sure when the rcas/speakers wire start to get close to the amp I made sure the power line ran perpendicular to the other wires as they all are so close at this point. When I dropped the amp into the spare tire I said to myself - good the rubber in the tire separates the power/grounds from the rcas/speakers wires at they start to get closer but still running parallel.

The whine has gone away - maybe some hint - but this serves as proof that as the wires merge into the amp - pay attention to keeping them as separate as possible, run power line perpendicuar as possible, cut off excess length of ground - this makes a big difference.