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*!@#%^ Alt. whine.....

BAT

BAT

Full Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
4,567
Location
Leicester, MA
Ugh!!!!

Let me bring you up to speed....

About two years ago I replaced the front door speakers with Alpine Type R's... great!
About a year ago I added a JL 4 banger and two amps (one to power the 4 banger and one to power the doors speakers).... great BUT.....

once the amps where hooked up I noticed one of the Alpine speakers was blown. Only at higher volumes would it crackle. As time went on, I developed an Alt whine. It would be on and off.... if I hit a large enough bump it would go away for a while but eventually return.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.... I had a buddy take it in and replace the Alpine's with a set of Kenwood's and search for the grounding (Alt whine) issue. Speakers are great and compliment the 4 banger well, however, I still have the alt whine. Now it's all the time, no matter the size of a bump.  :mad:

They installed an in-line filter but the whine is still there. I have since checked and re-grounded the amps and it's still there (per his suggestion).  :mad:

The next chance I have to tie the truck up for an entire day I'll be yanking out the interior and finding this PIA!!!  :E: :E:

Oh, I have the Kenwood KVT911 head unit with the '02 factory amp by-pass.

I needed to vent.  :needhug:

Wish me luck...
 
Fix ground wires to amps and other devices...
 
I take it you are running all this off the Stock Battery.
I have the Kenwood Kvt915 on stock side
all my amps (4) are on a isolated 2nd battery.

My $0.02
 
SRFNSNO said:
I take it you are running all this off the Stock Battery.
I have the Kenwood Kvt915 on stock side
all my amps (4) are on a isolated 2nd battery.

My $0.02
Click to expand...

Yes, sort of. It's all on one battery but not the stocker as that bit the dust last summer.
After I rip her apart and if I can't find the problem... maybe it'll be a dual battery set up. Thanks for the possible fix.
 
ygmn said:
Fix ground wires to amps and other devices...
Click to expand...

I agree.. this is a ground loop.  One thing I have found is that a common grounding point for the system is key if a whine pops up.  You may need to run a ground wire from your Kenwood head back to the ground point of your amp.
 
replace your RCA cables with a high quality set, the one with the extra ground wire to connect from the deck to the amp is best. Good luck.
 
if you're still running stock battery and alt cables, it might help to upgrade them to a a larger size.
 
Oh man..... thanks guys. I'll start with some of the basic items mentioned and work up from there until it's fixed.
I hope it's fixed with just the additional ground loop from the H/U...
 
I hate to tell you this Bat but I had the same problem ... I messed with everything under the sun until I replaced the amp ... and the whine is now gone ....

and the Alpine speakers you replaced .. .was that the front or rear? ... I have crackle in my left rear and need to replace it ... it only happens at high volume ...
 
Intimidatoruag said:
I hate to tell you this Bat but I had the same problem ... I messed with everything under the sun until I replaced the amp ... and the whine is now gone ....

and the Alpine speakers you replaced .. .was that the front or rear? ... I have crackle in my left rear and need to replace it ... it only happens at high volume ...
Click to expand...

I replaced the front's. My buddy mentioned changing the amp ( I seem to have an older one). I'll try a new amp (just wire it up) and if it's gone I'll buy it. Thanks.

I assume you have Alpine's in the rear? If so, you are the third I've heard of with the same problem. I don't think the componants would work in the rear... if so, I have the one good speaker if you're interested.
 
damn ... good luck with the amp ... I had a kicker ... but I upgraded to a Kenwood 4 channel and I really like it ...

I'm with you .. I don't think the component will work in the rear ... thanks for the offer ....
 
Definitely try the common ground thing...I've had an alternator whine in my 07 since I tried to install an amp in it. Funny thing is, even after removing the amp altogether, the alt whine is still there. I recently (today as a matter of fact) was under the impression that it was the crummy RCA's I was using. Well today I yanked out the HU and replaced those with some Stinger Bullett series RCAs and still have whine. Im not sure what it is that caused the HU to start whining all of the sudden (could it have been a conflict between the Amplifier ground and the HU ground?) but tomorrow I plan on installing the Amp again and doing the common ground fix hoping and praying that it fixes it. Hope you find yours as well.
 
I had the same problem when I put in my aftermarket HU...

Slight whine that was REALLY noticeable at low volumes. Put in some PAC noise reduction thingy which did nothing.

The installer said he had this problem before with GM trucks and could never find the figure it out... Re-grounded everything, noise reducers, rewired speakers.... no good.

We found the problem on my truck though... Onstar.? After ripping all that garbage out I have no whine!

And now that my HU got ripped off I really have no whine... D'oh!
 
vertabatt said:
And now that my HU got ripped off I really have no whine... D'oh!
Click to expand...

Nah, it's a different whine instead :)

"My HU got ripped off"

Hope things are progressing to get that mess all taken care of!
 
vertabatt said:
I had the same problem when I put in my aftermarket HU...

Slight whine that was REALLY noticeable at low volumes. Put in some PAC noise reduction thingy which did nothing.

The installer said he had this problem before with GM trucks and could never find the figure it out... Re-grounded everything, noise reducers, rewired speakers.... no good.

We found the problem on my truck though... Onstar.? After ripping all that garbage out I have no whine!

And now that my HU got ripped off I really have no whine... D'oh!
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, good to know. I can try that too.
I have yet had any time to dig into this so I still have the whine. I should have some time after the next two weeks or so to look into it.
 
Well, I fixed the alt whine..... I took the dash apart and removed the H/U... removed the kick plates and also exposed the amps..... after following various ground wires I couldn't find the problem.... as I stood and looked at the amp, I noticed the rear speaker connections had a seperate ground wire looped to the actual ground for the amp..... there wasn't one for the front speakers. I removed the loop connection for the rear and attached it to the connection for the front speakers (where the alt whine was heard)...... POOF!!!! No more alt whine!  (y)
 
BAT said:
Well, I fixed the alt whine..... I took the dash apart and removed the H/U... removed the kick plates and also exposed the amps..... after following various ground wires I couldn't find the problem.... as I stood and looked at the amp, I noticed the rear speaker connections had a seperate ground wire looped to the actual ground for the amp..... there wasn't one for the front speakers. I removed the loop connection for the rear and attached it to the connection for the front speakers (where the alt whine was heard)...... POOF!!!! No more alt whine!? ?(y)
Click to expand...
(y) glad you found it!!
 
now don't you just feel stupid tearing everything apart :laugh:


:kidding: glad you found it..  :laugh:
 
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