Help alternator whine

[trx2stroke4life39]

I keep getting a alternator whine in my stereo. My power wire is at least a foot from my RCA cables now I have no idea. It is a super high pitched whine like the kind in the movies that makes brains explode. Could it be my amp going bad it is a cheap audiovox 500 watt amp I have had for years. Also I am getting this orange light out of the box for my componets sometimes they are mid grade kickers.

[George C]

what size are your grounds for truck and size for the amp? ive always routed the RCA and power on opposite sides of vehicle is possible or atleast run the RCA down the center of vehicle

[lo-lyf]

what size are your grounds for truck and size for the amp? ive always routed the RCA and power on opposite sides of vehicle is possible or atleast run the RCA down the center of vehicle

what he said. If the amp is for mid/highs then you want to rca's ran down the passenger side and the power down the driver side. I higher quality amp is always best on mids and highs anyway, but I have had some cheaper ones work well too. You also want to check your ground. For the best ground, you want to have bare metal (about a half dollar size place) where you will ground it. If you are using 4ga it is best to drill and use a bolt/washer/lock-washer/nut. I usually ground all of my stuff where the floor starts to curve up. I will post up a pic later of a good 4ga ground. On 8ga and smaller you can get buy with a 1/2" coarse thread screw but you still want to pre-drill. Also, make sure your screw just fits through the hole in the eyelet for your ground, if the screw is too small it can come loose easier.

[trx2stroke4life39]

I am using the center bolt for the rear seat as my ground post this that a bad spot for a ground and u am using a 8 ga wire for ground and power the ground is maybe 16 inched long.

[lo-lyf]

I am using the center bolt for the rear seat as my ground post this that a bad spot for a ground and u am using a 8 ga wire for ground and power the ground is maybe 16 inched long.

It isn't the best by any means, I would put money down for that being your main problem. Hopefully it hasn't caused any damage, I have seen some that have been grounded that way that burn up the RCA ground trace inside the radio due to bad ground. What happens when a ground isn't sufficient is the amp tries to ground through any means necessary, which is usually through the RCA's. I have also seen amps that whine forever afterward, no matter what you may try. The post may be alright as long as the eyelet is connected to bare metal.

Here is an example of a good ground:

[03_RST]

you can try a ground loop isolater. its supposed to stop engine noise and other whines that you're radio makes. it has helped me in the past. I think you can basically get them at any audio store. best buy/ local audio places. Just thought that would help ya a bit

[lo-lyf]

Ground loop isolators are okay for a last resort. If you don't have a proper ground then you are beating a dead horse.

[MKader17]

The whine is likely cause by a bad ground.

Chevys actually have a pretty wimpy ground for the head unit from factory. Its something that's easy to fix and even if it doesn't solve the problem it may help you later.

Best bet though is your amp ground. The best way to run it is a bolt through the floor (like pictured above), but on the other side you should add another wire that connects to the frame. Then, at the front of the truck run another wire from the frame to the negative battery terminal.

If all that's good, you alt may be going bad.

By the way. Running Power wire and RCA's near each other does nothing. My power wire and RCA's are directly next to each other with zero problems.

[567234ta]

yeah its doubtful the cables are picking up the whine. the shorter the ground wire is the better also.

[lo-lyf]

The whine is likely cause by a bad ground.

Chevys actually have a pretty wimpy ground for the head unit from factory. Its something that's easy to fix and even if it doesn't solve the problem it may help you later.

Best bet though is your amp ground. The best way to run it is a bolt through the floor (like pictured above), but on the other side you should add another wire that connects to the frame. Then, at the front of the truck run another wire from the frame to the negative battery terminal.

If all that's good, you alt may be going bad.

By the way. Running Power wire and RCA's near each other does nothing. My power wire and RCA's are directly next to each other with zero problems.

Sounds a little overkill on all of the extra wire(but you can always use good ground). Running the rcas with power is acceptable for subs because they are usually tuned to <80hz. The whine from the alternator is higher than 80hz so a mid/high amp will pick it up. You can get lucky and not have interferrence with your mid/high signal wires next to your high current power I guess, but most of the mid/high amp noise problems I have ever seen have been due to rcas ran with power. The rest have been due to ground, usually bad ground that causes the amp to burn up the RCA ground traces inside the headunit.

+1 on the whimpy ground at the deck, it wasn't enough to let my "radio off while remote started" relay work. It's good now though.