Alternator blues

Posted by: dionysus

Alternator blues - 19/11/1999 22:00

OK guys, I've tried to follow every advise on here regarding alternator noise, but it's still really bad; and the more I play with it the worst it seems to get:( noise goes up and down w/ volume control, I might add, which leads me to believe it might be the + power wire... does anyone have any more suggestions on this? I might add that my old head unit had almost no alternator whine...
-mark

Posted by: Ser Olmy

Re: Alternator blues - 21/11/1999 01:42

What car? And what sort of noise? Is it a whining that goes up and down in frequency in relation to engine rpm?

Regards
Simon

Awaiting delivery... #5833
Posted by: dionysus

Re: Alternator blues - 21/11/1999 21:56

Hi,

This is in a '99 honda accord... The noise gets louder when the engine is going faster - also I've noticed that turning on the AC doubles the noise (...I guess because the alternator has to work harder?)

It's actually not too bad w/ the AC off, but it's almost unbearable with the ac running...
-mark

Posted by: dionysus

Re: Alternator blues (...and how it was fixed) - 25/11/1999 08:47

ok - here's what I ended up having to do in my car (...I can barely hear the alternator noise now w/ the player paused..)

seperate ground wire - ended up running another cable from the amp's ground, to the negative on the headunit.. also hooked up this same ground to the rca leads provided (only on the headunit..) - shielded this ground from reaching the amp using a groundlook isolator..
ALSO had to hook up this negative at the headunit to the CHASIS near the headunit.. (why??? this got rid of 90% of the noise, and the ground-loop isolator got rid of the other 10%)

I'm not even sure why it worked, but it's playing beautifully now w/o hardly any alternator whine

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units