Capacitors and alternator whining

[Nizzan]

Anyone know whether a cap will stop aleternator whining?? {in speakers}

[SmootH]

not too sure if i know what you mean, but if you are talking about a whining noise soming through your speakers it might be your head unit, come standard with all jvc head units i heard, i have the same problem, and also doesnt the capasitor connect before your amp, if so, i dont believe it will make any difference, please correct me if im wrong

[SmootH]

not too sure if i know what you mean, but if you are talking about a whining noise soming through your speakers it might be your head unit, come standard with all jvc head units i heard, i have the same problem, and also doesnt the capasitor connect before your amp, if so, i dont believe it will make any difference, please correct me if im wrong

[Nizzan]

Nah dont think its because of the headunit? I had a JVC before, now i have a VDO. And yeah i get the alternator whining. Seen it on several other systems too.

Speakers wired to the headunit are fine, its thru an amp i get the hum.
I just tried not to long ago moving the power wire away from the RCAs and the noise is nearly all gone, but can still hear it a bit. Not good enough!!  

Been considering getting a cap for a while now, but i just thought bcoz a cap changes the power waves it might filter out the alternator noise ??

Sorry if ive confused u!

[noss]

isnt a noise filter just a type of capacitor? which would mean a capacitor would probably do the job yeah?

some people also suggest that, rather than putting a noise filter on the power cable to your amp, put it on the output of the alternator.

i'm sure you've looked on the net for help on supressing noise in your system, but if not, this is a fairly good page to help you out..

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/sub_care_sat/2002/11/curing_radio_noise/print.phtml

[aussie-gli]

If you're getting a hiss or whine thru your speakers, it's probably because the RCAs are picking up noise...I first ran my RCAs down the driver side of my car and found that if my tail lights were on (brake lights/blinkers etc) I'd get a whine. (worked out that was becasue it was running alongside the loom running to the boot)... I relocated them to the centre of the car and has been sweet since.  A hum is usually a grounding issue.  Make sure there's a good clean ground to your head unit... It might be worth checkin out ur car's ground strap too. Mate had some isses because of that.  

Those little filters u get are indeed caps, they basically act as a low pass filter smoothing your power line  getting rid of a lot of noise.

[noss]

yeah, just install the noise filter as close to the amp as possible, a lot of people install them a fair way away and the cables end up picking up noise after the filter  

[SSS]

And run your RCA leads AWAY from your power cable. That's where the alternator whine is coming from.

[Nizzan]

theyre on opposite sides, i made certain of that when i installed it  

its only thru the Audioline amp, all the others are fine.
Audioline may not have internal caps to filter the noise methinks??
oh well, i played around with the wires and there was a tiny cross in the boot of wires where the RCAs overlaped the hotline, so i put a piece of hardboard between them and it was all fine.    

[chucky]

i get some noise, im not sure if its the same thats being talked about in this thread, however it seems to have something to do with the accelerator pedal... when the noise is around (around every hour or so of listening) it gets louder as i push the pedal down... my RCA cables are run down the passenger side of my car whilst the power cable is down the drivers side of the car... i havent got a great spot for grounding... im using the jack located in the boot as im not sure where else to ground it? any suggestions? and is it true that it has to be ground to bare metal else it'll fuck up my car's electronics? *shrugs* someone plz help, the noise seems to be getting louder....

[Tim-E]

speaking of whining noises coming from cd players, i have a weird one!
if i put the radio on AM frequency, and set it to some weird station which isnt a station at all, its just static, and then drive, well its the funniest shit ever.

The whinning static noise increases in volume depending on the revs of my car. It sounds bloody hilarious. How the hell can this be happening?

[noss]

chuckky, yes ground to bare metal... check your rcas arent near the loom either, if you have a look at my car at the moment its a prime example of how not to wire up amps & the likes.. i did some really stupid shit & i dont know what in the end but i have power cables crossing rcas and rcas wrapped around the loom & the ground wire for some odd reason running around the amp to a grounding point when there was another grounding point closer.. i have no idea why i did things the way i did, but i can say i was in a hurry when i did it all.

[chucky]

ok 2 questions:

1. whats loom?

and 2. wheres a good grounding point where theres bare metal? do i have to sand it back or something *shrugs*

im kinda lost

[Nizzan]

wiring loom, and yeah good grounding point is anywhere on the chassis. Pick a good solid point, the chassis is connected to the -ve terminal on the battery. Sanding back the point helps, i used a wire brush bit on a power drill. bolt down the earth terminal securely on the chassis

[chucky]

ok but whats wiring loom mean?

[noss]

the loom is the massive collection of wires that runs thru the car to run its electrics..