I have a 4 channel amp running my speakers and I am getting alternator noise produced by the speakers when the car is on (louder as the car revs). I was told this may be because the alternator doesn't have a condenser on it to filter the DC current. Does anyone know if FB's have the condensers stock and what they look like?

any other comment or suggestion would be helpful. thanx alot

 

What HT leads are you running ? some aftermarket ones have poor radio frequency supression
or maybee the stock ones you have are knackered

 

Theres a condenser on the block behind the rats nest closer to the firewall...Or at least I think thats what it is. Its kinda by the flywheel inspecion plate. Also, make sure you havent run your power and signal wires together. I hear from some people this doesnt matter anymore, but with cheap RCA wires, Ive found that it still does matter.

~T.J.

 

I have gone out of my way to run my 3 sets of RCA's by themselves without chance of distortion, i know it's not the RCA's because i put a noise filter inline with the RCA's and that created other problems which means it's not the RCA's (plus the RCA's are nice dual shielded)

What are HT leads?

I just took some pics of the alternator thinking that might help

 

what amp are you running? what kind of power wire are you using? Also, check how good your ground is...

Dan

 

HT Leads = High Tension Leads... British for Spark Plug wires...

 

When I had that problem it turned out my ground was shitty. I don't think there's any inherent problem with the FB.

 

well today I sanded all the paint in the surrounding area of my ground connection and still no better, the ground location is a screw hole in the base of the rear strut towers.

I am running a Massive Audio PA 25.4 for the Boston Acoustic mids, and a Massive Audio PA 50 running the Massive CW 12" sub rear facing in the hatch. 4 Gauge runs from the battery through the stock grommet in the firewall along the drivers side of the car into the rear deck area where the 4 gauge splits into 8 gauge for each amplifer.

What is the best ground location in the rear area of the inside of the FB?

I'll take some pics of my audio setup tomorrow.

 

On my 84 I'm running a 600 watt 2 channel to my two 10's, and a four channel 100 watt to my front and rear spkrs. I hooked up my main hot wire for the amps (4 Ga) directly to my alt., and powered and grounded my stereo using the stock stereo +/- wires. The amps are both grouned in the nearest possible locations. I have no alt. noise at all, and I'm not using any filter or extra shielding. I ran my wires to the rear of the car under the carpet and the center console.
It seems like I always get alt. noise when
I run it down the side of a car, but I don't
know why. Just thought I'd tell you what worked for
me.

 

people all way neglect the ground! this has to to be the best connection of em all, if u limit the power getting out ur only gona build up static..
some people even sugest double grounding, so one ground to the metal on ur car and run another line back to the -ve terminal on the battery

are you getting altinator noise with both CD and radio??


yep make sure u do this! run the power and remot wire down one side of the car and the rca's thru the other. i ran my rca's down the center of the car under the carpet cus the car is so short inside...

 

I'm grounded at one of my seat rail bolts... no noise here...

Dan

 

Dont you have problems with the car not running with that vacuum line disconnected?

~T.J.

 

I have my power running down the side of the car and the RCA's and the remote runnning together down the middle of the car under the console.

I drive this car as a pizza delivery car and I don't really have any problems with the car because of that vacuum line discononnected, it has always been like that since the owner before me got the car

I am going to try to ground to the seat rails. I hope this will fix the problem if not maybe i'll run the remote wire with the power instead of with the RCA's (but this shouldn't be the problem because some RCA's come with a remote wire between the right and left channels in the wire)

Here are some pics of the setup and my ground location

 

I just grounded to the left rear drivers seat rail bolt after sanding down the paint from both sides of the surface and I also tried the seat belt lower attach point and sanded all that down too, and the noise seems to be getting louder as I get a better ground!

 

That ground wire looks a bit small. Upsize it to the same size as your power wire for a start.

 

the groud looks like 8 gage which is alright... if it isnt a poor ground then u must have very noise power getting in.

try looking for a noise supresion unit. put one in the power line to ur cd player and one on the power to ur amp. it will filter the power geting in and give u nice clean 12v dc

click here to see one

 

I thought the rule of thumb with ground wires was to make it just as big if not bigger than the power wires? If hes only running an 8 gauge power wire, hes fine. If not, Id upgrade it. Not that it will solve the problem, but it will help the components.

~T.J.

 

All the power you get to your amp comes through the ground wire, so the smaller it is, the less power available. The rule of thumb is to have them the same size, or like you said, a larger ground, although the important thing is making sure both are adequate.

 

That is a 4 gauge ground wire!

My power and ground wires are both 4 gauge all the way to the back where they both split into 8 gauge for each amp

I got a ground loop isoloator already and it took out the noise but it also took out alot of frequencies on the music too. so I took it back and then they said that it wasn't an RCA noise problem.

I'm gonna check to make sure the deck and EQ both have good grounds

 

WHAT BRAND AMP IS IT?

 

Massive Audio

PA-25.4 for the mids
PA-50 for the sub

I know it's not the amp cos I have another one in my GSL-SE and it doesn't have the noise

 

try swapping it out with the one in your GSL-SE and see if it makes noise in there.... Also, how old are your plug wires?

Dan

 

Well that would be a really last resort to swap the amps, cos i'm almost 100% that it isn't the amp

I have never changed the wires in the year that I have owned the car, and neither did the previous owner who had the car for a year also

I'm gonna go get another set of wires and see if it will fix the problem

 

Attually this is different from what I tried, I got a ground loop isolator which connects to the RCA's, maybe this would work, but I would need something way bigger then 40 amp, or 1 for each amp... and I hope it doesn't put out 12v dc... DC=speaker death hehe

 

Man i answered this really really good, and the forum woudlnt take it... 12 years car stereo professional experience

Ok here we go again,

The noise you are describing is it a whining type of noise? Do the subs have a low pitch rumble also (volume turned all the way down)

If thats a Clarion EQ in that dash thats probally the source of the noise...

Anyways, pull the RCA's off the amp driving the highs, is the noise gone? If so then its preamp, go get a low level in line noise decoulper, if the noise isnt gone then its post amp. Let me know at this point?