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feintfury

Member - Posts: 2

Joined: July 15, 2006

Posted: July 15, 2006 at 10:43 AM / IP Logged

Hello, I'm new to installing radios & I'm poor so I can't have someone install it for me.

Truck - '92 Ford F-150 premium sound system

Head unit - JVC Km-SX770 45wtx4

I have a couple questions to ask you.

See, I'm installing a JVC head unit into my truck & I was reading the JVC manual & saw it only works with a -12v ignition & battery hookup, & the manual said I needed to get a voltage inverter because my truck has a +12v battery. Now I heard that I need a 10 watt voltage inverter & I just hook it up to the battery, is this correct? If so, where can I find one & how do I hook it up? I heard if hook up the wrong grounds you could burn your truck up.

I also have the premium sound system, so should I buy the harness for the premium, because my head unit has plenty of watts & channels for me. I also want to hookup an amp & sub in the future.

I know all the wire hookups & the like, I just need to fix the problem with my battery & harness basically.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanx

forbidden

Platinum - Posts: 5,352

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Joined: November 01, 2003

Location: Alberta, Canada

Posted: July 15, 2006 at 12:17 PM / IP Logged

Your manual more than likely has a misprint on it. All radios made in the last 20 years and probably more are a - ground and + power / ignition. You will not need a power invertor to hook this up. This should be a new cd player, correct? If so that is one whopper of a typo in the user manual.

Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

kungwaz

Member - Posts: 16

Joined: July 17, 2006

Location: Sweden

Posted: July 17, 2006 at 4:05 AM / IP Logged

Hi!

I'm kinda new to this, and I wounder how do I ground the HU ? Do I have to find a special spot on the HU, or just anywhere on the chassi of the HU ?

I have a JVC KD-G611.

At the moment I get this noise in my rear speakers wich are connected to an Amp. But the front system does not make this noise, and that's hooked directly to the HU. My power to the Amp goes on the right side of the car and the signal cable goes on the left side. And when I connect my Mp3 directly to the Amp the noise disapears. Am I right when I believe that it's the HU thats not properly grounded?

// KungWaz

supersix4

Copper - Posts: 71

Joined: July 11, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: August 01, 2006 at 2:40 PM / IP Logged

kungwaz - You didn't mention anything about the vehicle, but here are some things to check ... Your radio's wiring harness has a ground wire (probably a Black wire). Many installers use the vehicles' factory radio ground when installing the new radio. USUALLY this is fine ... sometimes it isn't. Just check to see where the JVC radio's ground wire is connected. If it is connected to the factory ground wire in the factory radio harness, disconnect it. Move it to a steel, grounded part of the dash structure. Running a ground wire to the rear of the car (or to wherever the amp(s) are grounded) is a waste of time. If grounding the radio to the vehicle chassis does not solve the problem, try playing with the RCA's next. Strip the insulation off the end near the radio. Get a length of wire and try grounding the RCA's Shield to Chassis Ground. If this does not work, it's time to inspect the amplifier connections. The ground is most important. It should be as short a cable as possible. It should be connected solidly to clean, grounded steel. Then move on to the power connections. This should also be a solid connection. Cable gauge is also important. Are you using appropriate cabling? Next check all connections at the battery. Is the Battery itself in good condition? Are the clamps clean & tight? Are ALL the connections clean & tight? Is the Battery grounded to the Chassis correctly? Is the engine grounded to the Battery & Chassis correctly? Any frayed cables? You may want to consider upgrading the "Charge" cable. This is the cable that comes off the Alternator and goes to the Battery Positive Post. Many cars have a small Charge Wire.

Good Luck!!

supersix4

Copper - Posts: 71

Joined: July 11, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: August 01, 2006 at 2:57 PM / IP Logged

Feintfury - your Ford's electrical system is 12v, Neg ground. The JVC radio operates on a Neg Ground system as well. You do not need an inverter ... WOW! As mentioned, what a colossal misprint!

If the Ford Factory Radio Harness in still intact (uncut?), just go get a wiring harness adaptor. The wiring will be very simple that way - in fact, it ought to go color-to-color ... i.e. red-to-red, black-to-black, Green-to-Green, etc.

I've been doing this work for over 20 years & I don't recall ever working on a F-150 that had a factory amp, however, I see something new every week!! LOL!! My suggestion - if it's working correctly now, leave the Ford amp alone - the truck will sound better with it.

johnpmcc33

Member - Posts: 2

Joined: August 11, 2006

Location: Ireland

Posted: August 11, 2006 at 8:12 AM / IP Logged

Hi,

I recently replaced the stock system in a Honda HRV with a new HU, amp, and speakers. I have a noise problem. The characteristics are as follows :

1. A high pitched whine that does not vary with Amp volume, it does however become momentarily more high pitched when the lights, fans or electric windows are engaged. A quick search around online seems to point to the fact that I am dealing with the dreaded "alternator whine".

2. It is not present all the time. (Although it is most of the time!). When I start to hear it I tip the drivers side electric window ie. moving it down or up by a mm or two. The whine dissapears, although only temporarily. The drivers side electric window is the only electrical component that has this affect. No other windows, lights, etc. have this temporary disabling affect. Over time on any given journey the effectiveness of this workaround tends to diminish.

3. Initial PD has revealed the fact that when the HU is removed from its metal in-dash housing the whine dissapears. As soon as any part of the HU shell touches the in-dash metal housing the whine is back. I get the same effect if I run a ground wire from the metal in-dash housing to the ground circuit of the HU (which incidentally is grounded to the same spot on the car's chassis as the amp).

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks,

John

johnpmcc33

Member - Posts: 2

Joined: August 11, 2006

Location: Ireland

Posted: August 11, 2006 at 4:04 PM / IP Logged

OK, some more PD -

(My reasoning here is based on logic rather than any knowledge of the electronics so my conclusions could be ass ways but here goes)

HU - on my lap - no ground connected at all - I get a low frequency buzz and a whine. I take a ground wire that is connected to the car chassis and touch it off the HU shell - both the buzz and the whine completely dissapear. I take the same ground and connect it into the HU via it's wiring loom - same effect both the buzz and whine completely dissapear. So the ground appears to work well. Let's call this the good ground.

Ok so now I disconnect the good ground. LF buzz and whine back. When I touch the HU off the in-dash metal housing the LF buzz dissapears. The whine however does not. So the unit must be getting grounded somehow (even without it's own ground connected)..but badly. And here is the rub - touching the good ground off the HU shell while it is in contact with the in-dash metal housing now has no effect at all - it is as if once the HU is in contact with the metal housing it takes the bad ground ahead of the good ground.

Does this make any sense? And more importantly any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks,

John

jkaulback

Member - Posts: 1

Joined: August 23, 2006

Location: Canada

Posted: August 23, 2006 at 6:45 PM / IP Logged

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping you can help me. I just purchased a 2006 Saturn Ion and have installed my previous speakers, amps, and subs but kept the factory HU. The speakers are using the existing factory speaker wire, and the amps have tapped into this using speaker level inputs instead of RCAs (no RCAs on factory deck, no wiring harness exists for this model yet). I'm getting engine noise through my speakers. I've tried using line input converters at the back where my amps are, but I'm still getting the noise. How can I fix this without buying a new deck?

Thanks,

Jason

mmii

Member - Posts: 5

Joined: September 26, 2006

Location: Canada

Posted: September 27, 2006 at 12:24 AM / IP Logged

Okay Rob, hopefully you can help me with the alternator whine issue. Though after reading several of your posts with regard to Pioneer's bad internal grounds I wonder if that's the problem right there.

With that said here is the equipment:

- Pioneer DEH-P8600MP

- Alpine MRV-F340 Amp (for front components)

- Infinity 7251a Amp (for sub - bridged)

- JL Audio VR650csi component speakers

- Kicker TC10 Sub

- Car: 92 Maxima SE

How I performed install:

- grounded deck to body, not the harness ground

- rca's running down the centre of car

- 4ga power wire (driver side) routed to unfused dist block in trunk.

- power split via 6ga to 2 amps (one for speakers - one for sub)

- 6ga grounds from amps routed to unfused block

- final 6ga ground crimped with ring and bolted to sanded part of chasis (have tried various alternate locations with no change in whine).

The system sounds great with the engine off - no whine. With the engine running however, I have to blast the volume to wash out the whine.

The only thing I suspect (other than the questionable bad Pioneer internal ground) is trying other RCA's. The ones I used are no-name, but they are new, twisted, and sheilded. Not sure what other options I may have if this doesn't work.

Thanks in advance for your help!

supersix4

Copper - Posts: 71

Joined: July 11, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: September 27, 2006 at 12:43 AM / IP Logged

mmii, have you performed "The Big Three"? If not, do it. If you are certain that everything is installed correctly, and that the car's battery & charging system are in top condition, try a different source unit ... like your shops' test bench radio. Or, if you don't have a shop radio, use a home audio receiver. Just get some longer RCA's to run into the car. Attach the new inputs to the existing RCA's behind the radio with barrel connectors. That should either confirm or eliminate the head unit as the source of the noise.

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