altenator noise in speakers

[tac0meat]

ever since i put in my stereo i would always get altenator noise come through the speakers at low volumes(probably at high volumes too but i cant here it) it wasnt too bad so it didnt bother me much. a couple of weeks ago i upgraded to a 200 amp altenator and still no change(wasnt expecting any). then just yesterday i left my fog lights on while i was at work and 15 hours later my battery was totally gone.(its an optima, so a jump start and a night on the charger and i was as good as new) but, now the altenator noise is horribly loud, louder than it ever has been before! whats the deal? this is realy getting on my nerves, i think my amp is half the problem(cheasy american pro) but why the increased noise? whats a qiuck, cheap, easy fix for it? just enough to hold me over until i get my new amp and high dollar rca cables. please help this is really bugging me, or just an explanation of why it got worse when my battery died.

 

[JTang]

The increased noise is most likely due to the alternator, which is under a heavier load in order to fully recharge the battery. I had this problem with just a regular battery when I worked on my car all day a few weeks ago, leaving the lights on all day and testing my stereo, never turning the engine on. I'd say let the stereo rest for a few days to let the alternator fully charge the battery up, then check it a week later. I'm not really familiar with the Optimas, so I'm not sure if the full night of charging is really enough for it, though it might work still. I believe that the Optimas have the nice feature of being able to quick charge, but that doesn't mean that the charger is really able to work that fast, since it's usually assuming a normal car battery.

Original noise would be from grounds though. Perhaps try and find better grounding points, make sure you scraped off the paint of your amp ground, and a good idea would be to upgrade the guage of wiring from the negative battery terminal that's connected to the inside of the engine compartment as well.

No need to get super high dollar RCAs. Most of that is snake oil, when the problem is usually fixed with better grounding. If you do get better RCAs, just get good ones. I've read that high cost shielded RCAs can sometimes cause more problems then cheap ones that aren't shielded. If they are shielded, the best ones are now the new styles with the grounding wire on them. This is what I've read in a car audio newsgroup, though I haven't used any of these yet.

Jon

[Edited by JTang on 11-26-2000 at 12:36 AM]

 

[Exploder99]

try connecting the ground from your head unit to the ground on the amp, this is called the "inter-connect" ground and it usually does a good job at eliminating engine noise. if that doesnt work, you can get noise filters that just plug into your RCA's. they are aprox $10 a piece and you would need 2 (front and rear- sub is not needed) i used theses when after i installed a MSD ignition. did you change any ignition components? that usually makes alot of noise too.

 

[tac0meat]

i guess ill go ahead and try linking my head unit's ground to my amp's ground and clean up my ground wire connection. if that doesnt help, ill just get the filters from work(radioshack) tommorrow.exploder99-no i didnt replace any ignition stuff unless you consider the altenator, but still, ive put about 100 miles on since the dead battery deal and my voltage gauge is showing normal(it was way down right after i got a jump start). i hope your right JTang in that it will improve as my batery charges up. thanks for the help guys