O.K. This is what I am up against. I have a new Pioneer DEH-2900MP attached to a Pioneer D 1000w Amp w/ 2-MA Audio QS100 10" Sub Woofers. Interior Speakers are 3 way 6x9 Pioneers with an Extreme 1200w Amp. I also have a distribution block for the Positive as well as the negitive leads. 1.0GA Postivive cable with a 200A breaker running to the back of the van to the block. 1.0GA Neg. grounded to the body and 4 GA for all the connection to and from the amps. I have a 6 Farad Capacitor which also is brand new. Lets get to the problem. I blew a fuse when the power wire from the Extreme came loose and I attached the wire back on and grounded out the amp.. No problem. Got a 125A waffer fuse to replace the 60A Fuse I blew. After replaceing the fuse and starting the car I got a big whinning noise coming from the 3 ways and the power I had was diminished considerable. To make this story shorter I just get the the part I have done to get rid of the noise. I rewired the whole audio system and added a isolater to supress the noise. The noise was not there before the fuse blew. I read a lot of ariticles about Ground loop and have checked all posible causes known to me. Any help or suggestions would be very welcomed.
bluecat1
1993 Mercury Villager 3.0
Replies (12)
cplkittle on 03/18/2008 15:18:23
Pioneer radios are known to have bad RCA grounds. Sometimes they are bad out of the box, sometimes a surge brings it about.
Take a piece of 18 or 16 ga wire about 24" long and strip off 6" of the insulation. Now wrap the bare copper wire around the RCA cables where they plug into the radio. Ground the other end of the wire to the car. The outside prongs on the RCA cable are ground in this case, and by strengthening the ground, you may be able to get rid of the noise. Believe it or not, this actually works.
bluecat1 on 03/18/2008 16:19:37
So what you are telling me is that the head unit could be the problem? I will definitly try your suggestion.
cplkittle on 03/18/2008 18:51:04
That is a good place to start. Ideally you would start with trying to isolate the whine to a single component (radio, eq, amps, crossovers). Once you found the faulty component, you try to figure out the whys.
This is a quick and easy test that has a 50/50 chance of working knowing that pioneer has had issues like this, it is a good start.
bluecat1 on 03/18/2008 19:49:51
O.K. I tried the grounding method you suggested. No Change. I noticed that I only get the whining when one of either amp is attached to the head unit. I'm pretty much convinced that it is coming from the Extreme amp as the was the cause of the inital problem. The only thing is that the output of the amp is excellent which has me confused.
cplkittle on 03/18/2008 20:19:33
Are all the amps grounded to the same place?
newB on 03/18/2008 20:35:04
sounds like an RCA problem to me ;-)
try this-
get a hold of a wire with a headphone connection to stereo RCA connection and go from your Ipod/mp3 to the RCA input on the amp, if the amp is putting out solid clean power from the mobile source you know its your head unit/rca if it is still making the noise then you have an amp problem
-Drew
bluecat1 on 03/18/2008 21:28:29
Yes. The amps are feed to a block which is grounded to the body.
Drew,
So you say that I sould get the Male head phone jack and plug it into the aux input in the front of the head unit and connect a RCA male to the amp. If I hear a clear sound through my speakers, then it is the HU. If Not then it is the amp. Correct?
newB on 03/18/2008 23:41:48
NO
we're completely bypassing the head unit all together, so we can isolate if it is the amp or not.
you would need a mp3 player or ipod along with the cable you described (male headphone jack one end, rcas on the other)
you end up using the mp3 just like the head unit, running signal to the amp.
if you play music on the mp3/ipod and the amp plays it loud and clear through the speakers without the noise then you know its your HU or RCAs. if you plug it up and start it and the amp is still making the noise you know its not the HU/RCAs but a problem with the amp.
COFFEE questions?
i can always get PAINT crazy and show you with a cheesy diagram
-Drew
bluecat1 on 03/19/2008 00:06:38
I got it! I have a old walkman that will do the trick. I'll try it tomorrow and let you know how it works out. Thanks for the direction and explanation.
bluecat1 on 03/19/2008 12:26:50
O.K. Guys! I have to thank you first for the great advice and knowledge you gave me. I went the extra step and on a chance had a old Sony HU in the closet. You know the one with the cassette that no ever uses anymore. lol I changed the HU and WAL LA! No more whining! Being that the pioneer is only 4 months old, I should be able to exchange it or repair it with no cost to me. If I didn't invest so much money in a CD Changer for the unit, I would go with something else. This was surely a new learning experience. I never would have thought it would be the HU. Once again, Thank you all!
bluecat1 on 03/19/2008 12:29:44
PS I took off the ground isolator as well.
newB on 03/19/2008 12:54:21
congrats man!!
before i learned a bit about the pioneer units i convinced a friend of mine his was bad, but couldn't tell him why it was bad. i could only tell him that it had to be the unit. if i could re-do that situation i would have grounded the rcas and looked for another solution before throwing it under warrenty
COFFEE
-Drew
bluecat1
1993 Mercury Villager 3.0
Replies (12)
cplkittle on 03/18/2008 15:18:23
Pioneer radios are known to have bad RCA grounds. Sometimes they are bad out of the box, sometimes a surge brings it about.
Take a piece of 18 or 16 ga wire about 24" long and strip off 6" of the insulation. Now wrap the bare copper wire around the RCA cables where they plug into the radio. Ground the other end of the wire to the car. The outside prongs on the RCA cable are ground in this case, and by strengthening the ground, you may be able to get rid of the noise. Believe it or not, this actually works.
bluecat1 on 03/18/2008 16:19:37
So what you are telling me is that the head unit could be the problem? I will definitly try your suggestion.
cplkittle on 03/18/2008 18:51:04
That is a good place to start. Ideally you would start with trying to isolate the whine to a single component (radio, eq, amps, crossovers). Once you found the faulty component, you try to figure out the whys.
This is a quick and easy test that has a 50/50 chance of working knowing that pioneer has had issues like this, it is a good start.
bluecat1 on 03/18/2008 19:49:51
O.K. I tried the grounding method you suggested. No Change. I noticed that I only get the whining when one of either amp is attached to the head unit. I'm pretty much convinced that it is coming from the Extreme amp as the was the cause of the inital problem. The only thing is that the output of the amp is excellent which has me confused.
cplkittle on 03/18/2008 20:19:33
Are all the amps grounded to the same place?
newB on 03/18/2008 20:35:04
sounds like an RCA problem to me ;-)
try this-
get a hold of a wire with a headphone connection to stereo RCA connection and go from your Ipod/mp3 to the RCA input on the amp, if the amp is putting out solid clean power from the mobile source you know its your head unit/rca if it is still making the noise then you have an amp problem
-Drew
bluecat1 on 03/18/2008 21:28:29
Yes. The amps are feed to a block which is grounded to the body.
Drew,
So you say that I sould get the Male head phone jack and plug it into the aux input in the front of the head unit and connect a RCA male to the amp. If I hear a clear sound through my speakers, then it is the HU. If Not then it is the amp. Correct?
newB on 03/18/2008 23:41:48
NO
we're completely bypassing the head unit all together, so we can isolate if it is the amp or not.
you would need a mp3 player or ipod along with the cable you described (male headphone jack one end, rcas on the other)
you end up using the mp3 just like the head unit, running signal to the amp.
if you play music on the mp3/ipod and the amp plays it loud and clear through the speakers without the noise then you know its your HU or RCAs. if you plug it up and start it and the amp is still making the noise you know its not the HU/RCAs but a problem with the amp.
COFFEE questions?
i can always get PAINT crazy and show you with a cheesy diagram
-Drew
bluecat1 on 03/19/2008 00:06:38
I got it! I have a old walkman that will do the trick. I'll try it tomorrow and let you know how it works out. Thanks for the direction and explanation.
bluecat1 on 03/19/2008 12:26:50
O.K. Guys! I have to thank you first for the great advice and knowledge you gave me. I went the extra step and on a chance had a old Sony HU in the closet. You know the one with the cassette that no ever uses anymore. lol I changed the HU and WAL LA! No more whining! Being that the pioneer is only 4 months old, I should be able to exchange it or repair it with no cost to me. If I didn't invest so much money in a CD Changer for the unit, I would go with something else. This was surely a new learning experience. I never would have thought it would be the HU. Once again, Thank you all!
bluecat1 on 03/19/2008 12:29:44
PS I took off the ground isolator as well.
newB on 03/19/2008 12:54:21
congrats man!!
before i learned a bit about the pioneer units i convinced a friend of mine his was bad, but couldn't tell him why it was bad. i could only tell him that it had to be the unit. if i could re-do that situation i would have grounded the rcas and looked for another solution before throwing it under warrenty
COFFEE
-Drew
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