Help needed in running wires from trunk to battery

[pavanbabut]

Hi David,

I have successfully ran the wires to battery and connected. but here is another problem... i am not getting any sound from speakers just some noise.

secondly, when i go on switching one by one like switching on the climate control and switching on the head lights, the noise is increasing in step by step, but i am not getting the actual audio. I have checked all the wires for power and there is power running to amplifier and equaliser too.

Any idea why i am not getting audio other than that noise from speakers.

Thanks,
Pavan.

[Earthworm]

Try hooking up a portable CD player to your amp to test speaker connectivity.

[pavanbabut]

Hi David,

Thanks for ur prompt reply, Now i am getting sound, but little bit noise is there. and when i start the engine it is giving me some whistling sound and as i press the accelerator, tht sound is increasing, this is the same case when i switch on the lights too and climate control tooo......

one more thing how can i know whether my amplifier is working or not....

Thanks,
Pavan.

[lee]

if you are getting sound thru the amplifier it is likely working - I can't imagine any way sound would come out and the amplifier not be working.

As to the noise, the first thing to check is the ground. Where do you have the ground placed, and is it the same size wire as the power lead.

next noise source is the audio cables themselves. Although a bit rarer, running the signal wires (wires going from head unit to amplifier) near power wires or other car electronic wires can induce noise in the signal.

[pavanbabut]

Originally posted by lee
if you are getting sound thru the amplifier it is likely working - I can't imagine any way sound would come out and the amplifier not be working.

As to the noise, the first thing to check is the ground. Where do you have the ground placed, and is it the same size wire as the power lead.

next noise source is the audio cables themselves. Although a bit rarer, running the signal wires (wires going from head unit to amplifier) near power wires or other car electronic wires can induce noise in the signal.

hi lee, yeah my ground wire is of same size as of my power wire. I have connected my ground wire to a bolt tht is used for fitting the rear signal lights frame. I think tht is not a good source of ground. Can u tell me where i can connect my ground wire in the trunk as a good ground source?

Coming to cables i have ran the power cables and speaker cables seperately, mean all the power cables on one side of center console and all the speaker cableson the other side.

But i didn't understand abt the wiered behaviour of noise as the told earlier, is it something related to ground connection itself?

Thanks,
Pavan.

[SubaSteevo]

Originally posted by pavanbabut


hi lee, yeah my ground wire is of same size as of my power wire. I have connected my ground wire to a bolt tht is used for fitting the rear signal lights frame. I think tht is not a good source of ground. Can u tell me where i can connect my ground wire in the trunk as a good ground source?

Coming to cables i have ran the power cables and speaker cables seperately, mean all the power cables on one side of center console and all the speaker cableson the other side.

But i didn't understand abt the wiered behaviour of noise as the told earlier, is it something related to ground connection itself?

Thanks,
Pavan.

It's called alternator whine, as the alternator spins faster the noise gets louder. The ground needs to be to a part of the chassis that is bare metal. I drilled a hole and sanded the paint off around it.

[pavanbabut]

Originally posted by BurgundyBeast


It's called alternator whine, as the alternator spins faster the noise gets louder. The ground needs to be to a part of the chassis that is bare metal. I drilled a hole and sanded the paint off around it.

Hi Steve,

So i have to drill a hole in my trunk... hmm i feel sad of drilling a hole to my beloved car .

Ok if i drill a hole and make a very good ground contact, will this whine sound dissappear or will it be there?

And also did u make contact to the chasis or tot he body frame in the trunk. Can u tell me exactly how u make the contact please...?

Thanks,
Pavan.

[SubaSteevo]

If you lift up the trunk carpeting near where the rear seat meets the trunk, you will see a gap on either side. I drilled my hole through the piece of metal that is above the gap. It's not directly connected to the frame, but I have had no grounding issues and the carpeting covers it. I had the ground going to a bolt that I thought was grounded too, but my amp wouldn't even turn on so that's why it's gorunded where it is now. I can't guarentee this will make your whine go away, but it may help. You also want to probably check into getting a ground loop isolator, check out this site for a lot more information then you probably need.

[lee]

There are other ground points that would probably work. pull off the side panel in the trunk...there are a couple of bolted on wires there that might give enough body contact. I used on on the passenger side after cleaning off the area around the hole then using a new bolt.

The whine comes about from something called a ground loop. Ground loops are not well understood, but conventional wisdom says ground loops occur because of electrical potential differences between ground points of the various components in a system. this variation in current across grounds gets induced in the signal. The usual solution is to ground all the components to one place, i.e., run the stereo, amplifier, equalizer, etc grounds all to one place.

[pavanbabut]

Originally posted by lee
There are other ground points that would probably work. pull off the side panel in the trunk...there are a couple of bolted on wires there that might give enough body contact. I used on on the passenger side after cleaning off the area around the hole then using a new bolt.

The whine comes about from something called a ground loop. Ground loops are not well understood, but conventional wisdom says ground loops occur because of electrical potential differences between ground points of the various components in a system. this variation in current across grounds gets induced in the signal. The usual solution is to ground all the components to one place, i.e., run the stereo, amplifier, equalizer, etc grounds all to one place.

Hi Lee,

here are my connections of ground terminals...

I have connected my equalizer and line to RCA converter's ground terminals to the stereo ground wire and the amplifier ground wire to the body. those are the only ground terminals I am having. Ok let me check whether I can eliminate the whining sound by having good body contact as Steve Suggested and let u know abt it.

Thanks,
Pavan.

[pavanbabut]

Hi all,

here is a new problem tht i have noticed. It is related to illumination of head unit. All the controls on my cd unit are illuminating but my stereo head unit are not working well only the main display on the stereo unit is illuminating when it is switched on, but other controls are not illuminating. the part tht i highlighted below are not illuminating.

-----



-----

wht might be the problem.... ?

Thanks,
Pavan.

[SubaSteevo]

Try pushing on it near where you insert the cassette (no joke)

If that doesn't work, the bulb burnt out or you did something wrong with your install.

[pavanbabut]

Originally posted by BurgundyBeast
Try pushing on it near where you insert the cassette (no joke)

If that doesn't work, the bulb burnt out or you did something wrong with your install.

one more thing is the cassette is also not coming out freely, i have to push it or pull it this way or tht way to take it out, wait i will try pushing near the cassette entrance and let u know....

thanks,
Pavan.

[pavanbabut]

Hi Steve,

Yeah it worked fine i pressed it at tht place and the lights lit up. One more thing i want to clarify is whts the full length of our antenna (approx.)....

thanks,
Pavan.

[Earthworm]

There's 6 full sections IIRC. Mine is a half section longer for some reason.