ebauer Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 Good deal, I am going to shorten those grounds right now and ground away from the battery and see what happens. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks Again! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ebauer Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Ok don't laugh - the ground cable I was using was about 4 feet long. I shortened it to about 15" and grounded at a seat belt bolt. I sanded the area good before I made the connection. Unfortunately, the whine has not changed at all. I wish I could say it is a little better but no. By the way, I didn't even have my sub amp hooked up when I just tested it. Well, now what? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobmun Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 I would shorten that ground wire some more. Tillithz said 6 to 12 at max! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ebauer Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Well, I really don't think the amp is where I am getting the problem from now. I just plugged my Ipod into the amp (totally bypassing the HU) and I could not get any whine at all unless I had the gain set almost all the way up on the amp. The SQ wasn't as good as the HU but at least I didn't have any loud whine. Hell, I should just return the D3 and just plug the Ipod into the amp. I am going to be relying heavily on these ground loop isolators when they arrive. Anybody have any good experience with isolators? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tillithz Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 well, a big reason for no whine with your ipod is your ipod isnt being powered by the dc from the vehicle. for you, you need no more then 6 inches from the amp for a ground. make a new hole, use a self tapping screw, but 15 inches is way to long still. you see you have a few problems, not just one thing, start with the ground and we can go from there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ebauer Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Alright I have been working on this damn thing on and off all day. I made a new ground with a self tapping screw and the ground is now only 3 inches long. Still, the whine has not changed at all not even a little bit better. Man, this is frustrating. Ok, did we narrow it down to the D3 yet? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tillithz Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 i wouldnt say its the d3. Judging by what you have said so far, its likely more of the wiring is to blame then the actual equipment itself. 4 foot grounds is extremely poor, leads me to wounder what else you have done with the installation. why not take some pics of the wiring behind the head unit, the area where the rca's are run, and the amps/mounting. Im also wanting to know how you hooked up the amp speaker wires, did you run new wires all the way to each speaker (into the doors?) or just grab them in the kick? what did you do with the old wiring? connected as well? bypass the original factory amp? how? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zride Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 The static in the background when you press a button is normal. For some reason the audio file they chose has static in the background. Is there anywayt to replace that audio file with the beep/static. I have the same issue as well as probably everyone else. I used to refer to it as "white noise" but it makes sense that they used a screwed up sound file! We gotta find a way to hack into the D3 and replace that audio file. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aja656 Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 ive got the same problem with my d3 looks like i am number 5+ with this god forsaken issue, ive been doing a lot of reading on the issue and the other day i spent about a day trying to eliminate the whine and buzz...i have had it hooked to two amps with the same problem, tried removing the rca cable from along the kick panel and ran it straight back to the amp still no change, rca cable is brand new. regrounded my amps ground on a sanded down clean surface, battery ground has been increased.....the only thing i found to stop the issue for me was to ground the rca shields, when i grounded them to the frame of the car i got no change at all, however when i grounded the rcas to the bolt where the D3 ground is located the noise went away almost completely. the whine is 95% gone and barely noticeable....the only problem i am faced with now is that when ever i shut the car off the D3 makes a 2 second high frequency tone does anyone know what this is and if im screwing up my headunit by doing it. tomorrow i am going to take the ground off and see if it stops the beeping, none the less tell me what you guys think it is.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tillithz Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 well, theres some posts on how to eliminate the noise.. grounds, rca length and where they are ran, and a few other suggestions, start with reading back and work with that. In the end if that doesnt work, you may want to seek someone in person.. a pro, that could help diagnose it for you. Most of the noise i see is because of faulty installation, or poor equipment. so start there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aja656 Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 is it a danger to ground the rca shields to the the headunit ground? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tillithz Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 dont do that, that is not how they were designed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ebauer Posted April 27, 2007 Report Share Posted April 27, 2007 The only speakers I have plugged in are the two rear speakers. I am not concerned about the front speakers at this time. I ran brand new 12 ga wire directly from the amp to the rear speakers. I am not using any factory speaker wires. Yes, I agree the 4 foot gorund was exteme but the only reason I chose to do that is to ground the amps where the battery grounds in the trunk. I talked to my buddy about this issue to and he thinks that since the battery is in the trunk I might be getting noise where the RCAs connect into the amp. By no means is he a certified installer but I may try mounting the amp under one of the seats just to see what happens. Do you think I could be getting noise simply because the battery is in the trunk and the cable that runs from the alternator to the battery obviously runs back there as well? I am almost positive the factory wire is 4 ga from the alternator to the battery. It is not an issue with how behind the dash is wired because I have pulled the HU out of the dash and ran RCA wires directly to the trunk and still have the whine. The ground for the D3 is short and properly grounded to a bolt behind the dash. The grounds have been moved multiple times on both the HU and the amps. I just received some ground loop isolators in the mail today from PAC. I'll give those a try tomorrow and let you know what happens. If that doesn't work I am going to try just setting the amp on the floor in the front of the car to see if the battery is causing the noise. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ebauer Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 OMG I did it. The noise is completely gone! All it took were those ground loop isolators from PAC. I spent $35 total on the 2 and I have no noise or loss in sound quality whatsoever. To be honest with you I didn't have faith in them since I used some cheap ass ones before and they did nothing. At first I just hooked the RCAs up and did not use the 2 ground wires on there (the instructions said don't connect the grounds unless you do not get sound out of the speakers.) The highs hit fine but the lows sounded like hell. I connected the ground wires and it sounds perfect. If anyone else is having the whine problem I'd advise you to spend a few bucks on these as they do an amazing job. I grounded the isolators to the screw on the back of the D3 FYI. I can't tell you how relieved I am and how many man hours were wasted in the process of trying to get rid of the whine. Wow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aja656 Posted May 4, 2007 Report Share Posted May 4, 2007 OMG I did it. The noise is completely gone! All it took were those ground loop isolators from PAC. I spent $35 total on the 2 and I have no noise or loss in sound quality whatsoever. To be honest with you I didn't have faith in them since I used some cheap ass ones before and they did nothing. At first I just hooked the RCAs up and did not use the 2 ground wires on there (the instructions said don't connect the grounds unless you do not get sound out of the speakers.) The highs hit fine but the lows sounded like hell. I connected the ground wires and it sounds perfect. If anyone else is having the whine problem I'd advise you to spend a few bucks on these as they do an amazing job. I grounded the isolators to the screw on the back of the D3 FYI. I can't tell you how relieved I am and how many man hours were wasted in the process of trying to get rid of the whine. Wow. does your D3 make a high pitch squeal for 2-3 seconds after you turn it off? anyone know what this could be? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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