Noise with 4 channel amp.

**WhiteGT** · 05-03-2009

Hi everyone.

When my car is running I get an interference through my speakers. It does not increase with the revolutions it just stays a solid tone.
I have read the links in the search function and tried things listed there with no change. I bought a new amp thinking that was the issue because the one I was using had been repaired before so I was not sure about it. I have moved and shortened my ground to the amp, changed my rca's, added an extra ground off the deck. Power wires are on opposite sides from rca's and speaker wires. I have an upgraded power wire from the alt to the + post at the fuse box and an extra ground from the strut tower to the alt bracket. The deck is an Alpine cda-9886 and the amp is a Clarion apx-4360. Any info or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks
Josh

**dstout** · 05-04-2009

Is the ground to bare metal or just a screw thru the sheet metal?
If it's just a screw try scraping the paint so it's a good ground. You might be grounded to bare meteal but some people only drive a screw thru the shhet metal and then they have grounding probs.

**WhiteGT** · 05-05-2009

I have the ground attached to the strut tower bolt on the driverside. I did sand the paint off around it but I will try re-grounding it again somewhere else and see if it makes any difference. The noise drives me crazy!

**dstout** · 05-05-2009

Are you using a grounding block or lug of some kind or just grounding the wire?
If you are just grounding the wire get a small ground lug, you can get them at Home Depot or any electrical supply house either copper or alluminum and try that, a bad ground can cause all kinds of problems and aggravations.

**WhiteGT** · 05-05-2009

Right now I have about a foot and a half of wire from the amp to a ring terminal on one of the strut tower bolts. I did sand the paint off around the stud but Iwill try moving it to a better place. How would I attach this ground lug you speak of? I am not sure what it would look like.
Thanks.

**dstout** · 05-05-2009

Something similar to this, it can be screwed to the sheet metal just get clean metal where you decide to mount it. By that I mean you want metal that is free from paint or rust under the ground lug.

**WhiteGT** · 05-05-2009

Cool thanks, I have those at work. They are used on hot tub pumps that I service. Not sure if I have one that will fit the bigger gauge wire so I may have to check some supply stores.

**dstout** · 05-05-2009

they are not as big as they appear in the pic, there are different styles but you got the idea. If the ones you have are not big enough you can drill them out some to accommodate the wire you are using or find a larger one.

**WhiteGT** · 05-05-2009

Haha yeah I realize the pic is not actual size. I will have to look through my parts and see what I can come up with. I will do this tomorrow after work and post up the results. Thanks again!

**WhiteGT** · 05-07-2009

Well, I got a new piece of ground wire, crimped and soldered the ring terminal,(didn't get a ground lug yet) moved my ground point, cleaned the spot with a drill and sanding pad to get all paint off and it makes no difference with the noise. I turned the gains down a bit to eliminate some of it but it is definitlly still there. I am wondering if regrounding the deck completely with a new wire will make any difference? Could the factory ground in the harness be bad or causing the interference?

**dstout** · 05-07-2009

Is it a brand new HU or is it still under warranty. It could also be a small short from exposed copper somewhere, electrical is such a pain in the ass to figure out sometimes.

**WhiteGT** · 05-07-2009

It is fairly new but I don't think it has any warranty on it anymore. I will have to stop into the shop I got it from and have them check it out. They are pretty helpfull there so maybe they can solve it. They do sell noise filters but putting them on is not really a good solution in my opinion.
Thanks for all your help!

**WhiteGT** · 05-07-2009

Any reccomended spots in the trunk to put the ground wire for the best connection?

**dstout** · 05-07-2009

Well maybe they will have some ideas on what the noise is and have a solution for you.....I'm not sure where my amps are grounded at, I will have to look be I think the ground runs to the front of the car and grounded with the rest of the system but I'm not positive. I will look tomorrow.

**WhiteGT** · 05-08-2009

Talked to the shop tonight. They are going to look at it next week but don't seem to have alot of ideas that I have not tried yet. A friend of mine has the same deck so I think I will try plugging his in and seeing if it makes the noise so I can either rule that out or know if that's the problem or not.

**dstout** · 05-08-2009

That would be a good idea since he has the same HU as you do, if he has no noise then maybe yours needs to go into the shop for repair.

**GeddyLee** · 05-11-2009

If you are still getting that noise out of HU, more than likely the piezo* fuse inside the HU blew. I am misspelling the name of the fuse, but it is something that can be only replaced by a professional or sent back to company to be repaired.

I have a Pioneer 6000 HU and it had some serious ground noise issue and I fixed it by doing this........

I believe you mentioned that you tried this, but with no success? I am not sure if you set yours up like mine, but if you didnt? You might want to try and do it like I did to mine. It worked WONDERS!

If that doesn't solve it, I would say take it back or get another HU unfortuately

**jacobmh27** · 05-12-2009

I have a Pioneer HU too and I can not get that damn noise to go away I will try this To fix it. I have tried grounding just about everything and no luck but I did not try this I will try and get back to everyone.

You can pulg your RCAs in with the wire there on top of the wire or do you do this on the outside of the RCA Plugs

Mine is A P5000

**GeddyLee** · 05-12-2009

The RCA plugins will simply push the wiring against the backplate and keep it secure. You can probably wrap it around the RCAs once they are connected, but I forsee it that being a PITA to accomplish cause you wont have the wiggle room properly wrap the wiring around the RCA input jacks.

This trick works great on Pioneer HUs and I am sure it will work just as well on other units with grounding issues.

**jacobmh27** · 05-12-2009

I just called Crutchfield and they said they had no idea but I could send it back and they would look at it I think I will try this first and them if it does work I will send it to them when I leave the country again. See if they can fix correctly but for now I will try this.