C3 ignition/alternator whine
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 852
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From: Katy TX
C3 ignition/alternator whine
Before:
Alpine head unit wired with stock speaker wires to 4x6 dash and 6x9 in back. Had whine and lived with it.
Now:
2 amps in back with 2 10" subs and the old 6x9s. HU to amp is Alpine cabling. The whine is still there. I can hook up a portable cd player with RCA cable directly to the amps and get no whine so I have a problem with the HU.
What I tried:
I regrounded the HU directly to the same ground as the amps and ran new power directly from the battery. Power and ground came from factory harness before. There is still whine. The RCA from the HU to the amps goes nowhere near power wires. My feeling is that the HU is not more than 2 feet from the HEI and location is the issue. Anyone been down this road before? Suggestions?
Alpine head unit wired with stock speaker wires to 4x6 dash and 6x9 in back. Had whine and lived with it.
Now:
2 amps in back with 2 10" subs and the old 6x9s. HU to amp is Alpine cabling. The whine is still there. I can hook up a portable cd player with RCA cable directly to the amps and get no whine so I have a problem with the HU.
What I tried:
I regrounded the HU directly to the same ground as the amps and ran new power directly from the battery. Power and ground came from factory harness before. There is still whine. The RCA from the HU to the amps goes nowhere near power wires. My feeling is that the HU is not more than 2 feet from the HEI and location is the issue. Anyone been down this road before? Suggestions?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 852
Likes: 0
From: Katy TX
Re: C3 ignition/alternator whine (PatG)
Ok folks. I know someone has solved this problem before. What kind of components do you use to get rid of the noise in the C3 HEI system. Remote coils? Plug wires?
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,537
Likes: 84
From: St. Joseph MO
Cruise-In III Veteran
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Re: C3 ignition/alternator whine (PatG)
How old is the Alpine? Does it have a factory noise supressor in line with the power and ground cables? Last question does the whine get louder as the motor revs higher?
Pro
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 644
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From: Oklahoma City OK
Re: C3 ignition/alternator whine (PatG)
I have the same problem also and was extreamly careful in using the highest quality din cables and with the routing of the wires. I used to do this for a living as well have built many custom competition systems. From what you have described it validates a theory I had with my own system. I believe your head unit may be grounding on the consol frame in the dash, creating a grounding loop. If you can pull the unit out of the dash where the chasy does not touch metal it will help determine. The metal framing in the dash can be isolated with electical tape if this is the problem. Another possability is that the head unit is picking up the noise from in dash electronics in which case you would have to shield it better. If this is the case your local stereo shop could povide you some solutions.
Let me know how it works out. I havn't had time to mess with mine yet. :(
Let me know how it works out. I havn't had time to mess with mine yet. :(
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 852
Likes: 0
From: Katy TX
Re: C3 ignition/alternator whine (GraveDigger)
The alpine unit it pretty old, 10 years or so. I reinstalled everything with careful attention to the wire routing. I explained in other posts that the alpine unit was worse that a Kenwood unit of the same vintage. I found that if I wired everything in the back of the car I had no noise. As soon as the head unit gets near the dash it would start picking up noise. Perhaps it is the guages up front. I would really like to hear ideas on how to shield the head unit from the other electrical components. If feel that this is caused by induced currents in the head unit components but I am not an electrical engineer so I cannot say for sure. I did get a filter for the RCA to the amp and it has cout about 1/2 of the noise from the signal.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,537
Likes: 84
From: St. Joseph MO
Cruise-In III Veteran
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Re: C3 ignition/alternator whine (PatG)
When will you be installing the new deck? If in a short time I would just wait. In "my" opinion your alpine may need a trip to the local service tech. Possibly a good cleaning? Noise pickup is always a pain in the butt to isloate and repair. The electrical tape on the rear support/console brace sounds like a good idea as well, if not how about duct tape over the bracket to prevent chassis grounding and to somewhat isloate the unit from the dash gauges ground path.
