alternator noise through high
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=6282
Printed Date: June 08, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Topic: alternator noise through high
Posted By: asdf1234
Subject: alternator noise through high
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 2:30 PM
ok I have a 200 pipneer amp running my highs. I have a ground loop insulator on my RCA and then I have filters on my ground and on my power wire but I still get the alternator noice thourgh it any idea JL rules
Replies:
Posted By: asdf1234
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 2:32 PM
sorry about my spellign I meant noise
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 5:11 PM
How did you run all of your wires? Are your RCA’s and speaker wires on the opposite side of the car from the power cable? Let me know so I can further assist you
Posted By: asdf1234
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 7:38 PM
well it came a from a upgrade from a care so it has a clip that you plug into the amp. The speaker wires and the rcas are not on the opposite sides of the power cable
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 7:44 PM
Alright so your power wire that runs from the battery to the amp and your RCA cable’s run parallel thru the car am I correct? and what do you mean it has a clip you plug into the amp?
Posted By: asdf1234
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 7:52 PM
yes my power and my rcas are run next to each other. but a clip iI mean a wireing harness.
Posted By: asdf1234
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 7:53 PM
lol I cant spell by clip I mean it has a wiring harness instead of tjust the termals you usely see on amps
Posted By: dmann216
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 8:48 PM
I think your power cable is giving your rca's and speaker wire power that it shoudl not be getting . i'm a beginer, but i was told this was bad when i was installing mine. run them on opposite sides if u can and try it then.
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 05, 2002 at 10:05 PM
dmann216 is correct. When you run power wires next to Rca and speaker cables they will pick up a high pitch frequency. Move your rca cables to the opposite side of the as well as your speaker wires and the noise will go away. If you do that you shouldn’t need all those line filters either.
Posted By: asdf1234
Date Posted: December 09, 2002 at 9:12 PM
I did that and the noice went away thanks
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 10:42 AM
Glad to hear you solved the problem
Posted By: F4Pilot
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 11:18 AM
"Alright so your power wire that runs from the battery to the amp and your RCA cable’s run parallel thru the car am I correct?" My power wires and RCA's run to the amp in the same general direction however they are in close proximity to each other. Due to the undercarpet heating ducts and other obstacles, they run as close as 18" apart for about two feet. Due to the same, the speaker wires and individual power wires run together to go back under the carpet. I have no problems with whine thankfully. How about other noise? I do hear some good static (pink noise??) when the volume is very low. Help please. Factory Honda head unit - Stinger SALOC output converter - Zapco EQ preamp balanced line 8volt output - Zapco Mono amp with pass through to Zapco stereo amp. Least amount of noise is achievable when: gains on the output converter are higher and preamp input/output boosts set to 0db, instead of the other way. ------------- 02 Odyssey / 99 F4
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 11:32 AM
Is it a hissing sound that you get?
Posted By: F4Pilot
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 2:11 PM
Yes, it is a hissing sound. I think it might have been there before, but just not as pronounced now that I have the EQ installed, just put it in Sunday. Im just trying to make sure I didnt do anything incorrectly wiring wise. ------------- 02 Odyssey / 99 F4
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 2:46 PM
Sounds like you have the gains set wrong. If you set the level to low your going to have noise problems like you have now. If you set them too high you’ll have distortion problems. So what you need to do is find the level that maximizes the signal to noise ratio while avoiding distortion. Now to do that MB Quart has some good tech advice. https://www.mbquart.com/ma-techpapers.htm#blow go toward the bottom and they will tell you how to set the inputs. remember that you have to adjust the high to low converter as well as everything else
Posted By: F4Pilot
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 3:46 PM
Hey bberman. Thanks for the good link. This article relates to clipping and doesnt address the hissing Im experiencing however, it did give me some other ideas that I could try to minimize the noise. I dont compete, so I set up my systems so that there is no way to induce a huge amount of distortion by accident. I turn all the gains up, and down, so that the head unit's max volume level is just starting to distort. Though, I may have to do some fine tuning to get rid of that hissing til I get my new head unit. Thanks for your help. ------------- 02 Odyssey / 99 F4
Posted By: bberman1
Date Posted: December 10, 2002 at 4:09 PM
If you get a new head there is a possibility that the hissing might go away. If you unplug the hi to lo converter and turn everything on do you still get the hissing or does it go away.
Posted By: dcash18
Date Posted: December 11, 2002 at 8:21 AM
When you play a 0 bit track do you get the same hiss? If you dont then you have amp hiss. Use an oscilliscope to set up your sound and you can get rid of the noise
Posted By: F4Pilot
Date Posted: December 11, 2002 at 9:51 AM
Good suggestion bberman1 - I will try disconnecting the converter and see what comes out. Interesting... dcash18 - I hope this isnt elementary, but where do I get a CD with a 0 bit track? Can I burn an 'empty' track? How? Never thought about listening to " ".
Posted By: F4Pilot
Date Posted: December 11, 2002 at 7:21 PM
Alrighty then. I unplugged the converter and still a hiss. Deviated from my normal routine and tried re-adjusting all the gains, everywhere. Tried changing the selectable input voltage on the amps, played with the 0, 6, 12db input and output boosts on the EQ. I ended up right back where I started with the exception of the EQ volume and Amp volumes at 3/4 full vice all the way full. Hiss has almost gone! Gimme a break. I spent half an hour trying those different combinations. I was getting EQ hiss from full volume and Amp hiss from full volume. Just tweaking those two did the trick. Interesting note - while I was tuning, I noticed the hiss would go away between tracks.
Posted By: NyxBass
Date Posted: December 12, 2002 at 1:31 AM
Between tracks? But you still got it with the converters disconnected? Weird. One would say its an amp problem, but the silence between tracks would mean HU problem. Go figure. Probably a combination, like in my vehicle.
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/NyxBass
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