Thread: Engine Noise due to ground loop or amp?

I have to say, after blowing one car battery and going through about $250 dollars worth of cables of all sizes, nuts, crimp terminals, etc. and then finally hooking up everything with a friend last night, I can say that it feels damn good when the thing finally DOES work and you did it yourself. I still don't know how I'm going to power my incoming system (1500rms + 150w carputer) but hey, nothing like figuring out how to do it right, ya know? As for cheap amps, I've been there, and I have to say that with car stereo stuff, you might as well do it right the first time because, in the end, replacing all the crappy stuff with cost more than trying to save money in the first place.

wow, i really didn't look at the date at all. go me

Originally Posted by Toastyfishands

wow, i really didn't look at the date at all. go me

I'm still reading it another year and a half later. I mean a half a year later.

Originally Posted by dcsmith

I'm still reading it another year and a half later. I mean a half a year later.

And I'm still subscribed to this thread after all this time.

It's funny going through this thread and looking back at my situation.

Originally Posted by matt11601

Like many of you, I need to install an amplifier before I can install my carPC. I had Circuit City install a cheap amp I got off eBay today and the guy told me that there's a lot of engine noise and he told me that the amp sucks.

First off, I know the amp sucks but it's a means to an end. But he was right about the engine noise, there's a lot of it. When I am not revving the engine, there's a very loud hum. When I rev the engine, the engine noise gets louder and is on top of the hum that's already there. Needless to say, I can drown out the engine noise by turning up the volume when listening to music.

When he told me that there's a lot of engine noise, he blamed it on the fact that the amp sucks. I always thought engine noise had to do with poor grounding of the amplifier. He also suggested I buy a better amplifier (from Circuit City of course) so that these problems won't happen.

So now I come to you guys for help. Is he right? Is it because the amp sucks? I don't think this is the problem because members here have bought cheap Pyramid amps for $20 off eBay.

Here's what I think. I think he did not ground properly and so I'm getting very loud engine noise. But he is blaming the engine noise on the amplifier.

What do you guys think? If the amp is to blame, then I'll just have to dip into my carPC money and buy a quality amp. But if the problem is due to his poor installion then I want to fix it myself.

Thanks.

-Matt

matt,ill tell u how to get rid of the noise.take the rca plugs out of the back of your radio.take a knife and cut off the first layer of plastic of the wire to exspose the shield of the rca,s.take a piece of wire 8 gauge or 10 doesnt matter and cut about 1inch or so of cover to exspose naked wire.wrap the wire around both left and right channel rca grounds that u have exsposed on the rca,s and then wrap electrical tape around them.take the other end of the wire that u havent used yet and cut a half of an inch of the skin off the end and put a donut spade on the end and take a screw out of the radio cover and put screw through the end of wire and put back in radio.now its grounded and the noise should be gone now.i did it to mine and it was gone.all amp components are made in china,so if one is junk then they all are.see ya

what headunit, are the pwer and signal wires ran on opposite sides, where is the gain set, is it maxed out. Also is the amplifier screwed down to a piece of wood or did you screw it through the floor into the metal?