Alt whine of a different type?

**Philly#1 Lex** · 10-25-2006, 12:33 PM

I know, check the ground and I have went over numerous threads to try to find a similar problem but I cant. When I first start my car I get an annoying loud alt whine but it soon calms down and most of the time it goes away after the car warms up or about a minute or two? right now I have a ipod/mp3 player going into the line driver which then goes to the 4 channel and 2 channel sub amp. which both get power from the 1 farad CAP which go into a big 80-100 amp fuse which is also connected to a distribution block and then one single power power cable goes to the optima to power it all. The battery is mounted in the trunk with 2 gauge running from the front to the back. every precaution has been made to make RCA's avoid power wire. Any ideas on why I get this random alt whine?

**Dragonknell911** · 10-25-2006, 12:46 PM

Well if you are experiencing this noise when you start your car in the cold, the idle is usally quite a bit higher, and then lowers back to normal rpms after a few minutes. So this might not be alternator noise, it could be some other engine noise.

Also are you saying you have two batteries, or that your main battery is mounted in your trunk ?

If so, how is it / where is it grounded?

If its a tank battery how are they connected?

**Philly#1 Lex** · 10-25-2006, 01:16 PM

I only have 1 battery. Its mounted in the trunk. Main battery cable from the front of the car is connected through a double female "type of connector and then wired to the back by 2 gauge wiring all the way to the battery. I have tried two seperate grounding points. The second being the better of the two. scraped and sanded down to bare metal and ground the battery to the frame with 2 gauge wire.

As far as engine noise it might be, because if I push the gas the sound increase when I am warming up or when I first put it into drive. It makes some wierd sounds alsoo sometimes. Then I can be completely silent after warm up or very,very low. barely noticeable. And usually it then "pops" when I connect an ipod/mp3 player?

**BobthePhotoGuy** · 10-25-2006, 01:20 PM

My first thought is that when you first start the car, the alternator is basically loaded down to recharge the battery. If the grounds are just a little bit weak, this can cause noise immediately after start up.

First thing I would do is to add a ground strap or two between the engine and the frame (this has also been known to increase mpg and power on some vehicles).

When you disconnect the RCA's from the amp, do you still hear the noise? If so, it is being generated at the amp, if not then start at the HU/line converter.

If you don't hear the noise with the RCA's disconnected. Check you line converter. Does it have it's own ground? Make sure that ground is attached to a hard ground (not a piece that is screwed or bolted to the frame).

Next question is what are your grounds attached to? Make sure the ground is not attached to a secondary piece. In other words, make sure the metal it is attached to is either a part of the frame or is welded directly (not bolted or screwed) to the frame.

If all else fails, try running a heavy gauge wire from your amp ground point to the engine (you can do this as a test by running it outside the car to see if it helps).

If you are very sure of your grounds, try this last step first.

**Dragonknell911** · 10-25-2006, 01:43 PM

My first thought is that when you first start the car, the alternator is basically loaded down to recharge the battery. If the grounds are just a little bit weak, this can cause noise immediately after start up.

Next question is what are your grounds attached to? Make sure the ground is not attached to a secondary piece. In other words, make sure the metal it is attached to is either a part of the frame or is welded directly (not bolted or screwed) to the frame.