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alternator whine through amp..

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Old Aug 16, 2022 | 08:29 PM
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Default alternator whine through amp..

I'm running a few amps in my car, after market DD head unit. I'm getting a whine through the speakers (I believe it's only one of the amps)
I ran a ground wire directly from the negative to a junction box, and the amps are all grounded to that --- in other words, they're all directly grounded to the battery.
What else can I trouble shoot? Where is the ground point in the engine bay... maybe I'll check that and make sure the battery is securly grounded to that ?
(I don't want to run filters)
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Old Aug 16, 2022 | 08:43 PM
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Give the amps individual grounds.
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Old Aug 16, 2022 | 08:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Stingroo
Give the amps individual grounds.
They all do have individual ground points. They're run to a junction box, which is run to the negative on the battery.

you mean run them to all different ground points, or are you suggesting running seperate lines from each amp to the battery?
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Old Aug 16, 2022 | 09:45 PM
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My amp is grounded to one of my seat mount bolts and no issues.
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Old Aug 17, 2022 | 08:36 AM
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Originally Posted by lewislgZ06
My amp is grounded to one of my seat mount bolts and no issues.
Is it better to run all the amps directly to the neg on the battery, or to run to the closest ground point?
Right now I have a 0 gauge wire from the neg to a junction box behind the seat -- and then from the junction box to the head unit/each amps.

Would it be better to ground the head unit to the chassis in the center console and the amps to the nearest ground point?
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Old Aug 17, 2022 | 08:38 AM
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It may not be a ground issue. If your RCA cables are cheap that could be the issue. If your speaker wires are too small that could be the issue. If you have your power or ground wires run next to or near your speaker and RCA cables that will also pick up noise.
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Old Aug 17, 2022 | 08:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Commanderr1
It may not be a ground issue. If your RCA cables are cheap that could be the issue. If your speaker wires are too small that could be the issue. If you have your power or ground wires run next to or near your speaker and RCA cables that will also pick up noise.
monster cables, larger gauge speaker wires (I forget the gauge, but they're not tiny 14 gauge, I ran the wire myself) and ground/speaker/rca run on one side of the car, power on the other.
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Old Aug 17, 2022 | 08:50 AM
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Originally Posted by JMG2
monster cables, larger gauge speaker wires (I forget the gauge, but they're not tiny 14 gauge, I ran the wire myself) and ground/speaker/rca run on one side of the car, power on the other.
That all should be good and the way you have the grounds wired to the battery is the best way as well. If you think it just 1 amp creating the noise maybe there is an issue with the amp internally. With the grounds all wired to a dist block and directly to the battery all the amps would likely be making some noise if there were a ground loop issue. If you still think it is a ground loop issue try a ground loop isolator.
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Old Aug 17, 2022 | 09:19 AM
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Originally Posted by lewislgZ06
My amp is grounded to one of my seat mount bolts and no issues.


Mine are too; no whine or other issues
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Old Sep 25, 2022 | 03:51 PM
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closing the loop on this... in case anyone picks this thread up in the future. I tried moving the ground to the seats, no luck.
Turns out that when they did my super charger, for some reason (I guess they must have cut the wire?) had to re-run the ground, and once the ground and power wires were behind the head unit, they were run practically side by side. I re-ran them with some space in between them, and that completely solved the issue.
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Old Sep 27, 2022 | 08:34 AM
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Moved to C5 Tech.
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