an extremely annoying buzzing sound through my car audio!

[roon_VR]

hey people,

I've had this problem for quite some time now but I never really bothered with it because I'm just to lazy. However, it's been getting on my nerves recently and i seriously want it disappeared. Whenever i have my system playing, I hear constant buzzing noise. As i accelerate, the buzzing goes along with the throttle, kind of like a supercharger whine when you full throttle the car (lol). It's been getting really annoying and i can't quite find the problem. however, when i remove the RCA's from my two amplifiers, the buzzing disappears but if I re-insert the RCA's, the buzzing comes back lively as ever!

I was thinking that it could be my power cable being close to my RCA leads because my power cable and RCA's come in close contact with each other, coming from the cabin into the boot. But i don't quite know.

Have any of you guys had a similar problem? If so, how did you rectify the problem?

Thanks,

[nicko]

Hey, my cousin had this problem in him XR ute. It turned out to be poor grounding.

[azkwazere]

called alternator wine, the nosie is interferance from your elctical system.

Ensure all all power cables are not near signal wires anywhere. Do not let them cross.

You can also install a power filter into your system.

the noise your hearing increases with throttle due to its corralation to the alternator, rev harder, alternator spins faster, generates more current, more noise!

easy fix

aZk.

[roon_VR]

So which wires are referred to as the signal wires? RCA's? amp-on lead?

[StoneX]

Pioneer head units have a common problem of their RCA ground being quite weak. If people plug their RCAs in with the stereo on or even sometimes without, it blows a small protection fuse inside the head unit that needs to be replaced or shorted. That is most likely your problem since you have a Pioneer head unit.

[roon_VR]

oh, well luckily i have a replacement head unit for the mean time and see if it makes the buzzing sound with that.

[davey g-force]

Yeah, it's called alternator whine and it's quite common.

Below is a great thread on troubleshooting this problem:

The Kings guide to elimanating stereo noise.

[roon_VR]

Yeah, it's called alternator whine and it's quite common.

Below is a great thread on troubleshooting this problem:

The Kings guide to elimanating stereo noise.

Thanks for the reference!

[roon_VR]

ok, i changed head-units and the buzzing has disappeared. Good that the buzzing is gone, but the bad how my pioneer unit is bent.

[StoneX]

What state are you in? Pioneer will usually fix the RCA fuse for free the first time... So just take it or send it to them.

[roon_VR]

What state are you in? Pioneer will usually fix the RCA fuse for free the first time... So just take it or send it to them.

I'm in Victoria.

[StoneX]

Pioneer have their own service department in Mulgrave (S.E Melb)... You can take it there or post it.

[padrickz88]

ive noticed mine done the same thing..... i have rca's down 1 side of the car... power down the other, a pretty good ground....
but i have a pioneer and i heard its a typical problem so im not going to try and get rid of the noise, getting rid of the headunit and replacing it with a new alpine

[StoneX]

That's pretty stupid when they'll probably fix it for free. It's not a Pioneer problem either, it's a fuse that whoever installed the system caused to blow.

[roon_VR]

ive noticed mine done the same thing..... i have rca's down 1 side of the car... power down the other, a pretty good ground....
but i have a pioneer and i heard its a typical problem so im not going to try and get rid of the noise, getting rid of the headunit and replacing it with a new alpine

....lol, I wouldn't straight away assume that it's the head deck. try and find an old head unit and wire that up and see if there is still noise.

[padrickz88]

its a old headunit anyway and ive been planning on getting rid of it for ages(only has 1 rca output )....
all wires are good and my old headunit with the same rca's and stuff worked fine when i used to run just my 6x9's....
this one was fine at the beginning and over time started buzzing louder and louder, so im pretty sure its the headunit

[StoneX]

Nah, the buzzing caused by the blown RCA ground fuse wouldn't change... Once it's blown, you have the noise. It might be something else causing the noise if it's changed over time.

If you really want to check if it's the RCA ground gone you can do the following (this is for anyone, not just you, padrickz):
- Slide your head unit out of the dash
- Find where the RCA's are plugged in (leave them plugged in)
- Grab a bit of wire (strip both ends)
- Touch one end of the wire you the head unit's metal shell (as that is always ground unless a whole bunch of earth tracks in the head unit have fried)
- Touch the other end of the wire to the visble metal on the RCA connection (the outside ring that you can still see when the RCA's are plugged in is the ground, the sound travels via the centre pin)
- Start your car and play some music

If the whining/buzzing sound is gone, it means the RCA ground fuse is blown. If the whining/buzzing sound is still there, the problem is elsewhere.

[roon_VR]

Nah, the buzzing caused by the blown RCA ground fuse wouldn't change... Once it's blown, you have the noise. It might be something else causing the noise if it's changed over time.

If you really want to check if it's the RCA ground gone you can do the following (this is for anyone, not just you, padrickz):
- Slide your head unit out of the dash
- Find where the RCA's are plugged in (leave them plugged in)
- Grab a bit of wire (strip both ends)
- Touch one end of the wire you the head unit's metal shell (as that is always ground unless a whole bunch of earth tracks in the head unit have fried)
- Touch the other end of the wire to the visble metal on the RCA connection (the outside ring that you can still see when the RCA's are plugged in is the ground, the sound travels via the centre pin)
- Start your car and play some music

If the whining/buzzing sound is gone, it means the RCA ground fuse is blown. If the whining/buzzing sound is still there, the problem is elsewhere.

I just tried this. I wired up my pioneer head-unit, and plugged in the RCA's. The buzzing was there but i stripped some wire and touched it on the RCA metal connection and the buzzing disappeared. So it's almost certain that the RCA ground fuse is gone.

[StoneX]

Either post it or drop it off at the Pioneer Service Department at 2211 Princes Hwy, Mulgrave VIC 3170 and they'll fix it up then.

[roon_VR]

cheers for the help!

[Phreddy]

StoneX comes good again

Great advice mate, well done.

I have to wonder why Pioneer do that fuse on the RCA grounds though - can anyone enlighten me as to what real purpose that serves? (unless it IS to stop the internal ground tracks from frying in the case of a serious amp fault, or a seriously bodgey installer - ie, that +12V somehow becomes connected to the signal grounds....) If that is the case, why couldn't the fuse be a little more robust? Say 1 or 2 amp?? It would take a lot more current than that to cook the ground tracks, but one would never encounter that whilst plugging the RCA cables when powered up - which is mostly what seems to cause this fuse to pop. Would seem to me that this fuse is only rated somewhere in the milliamps range...

[StoneX]

Previously on Pioneer head units the ground tracks were burning, so they put a fuse in the circuit to prevent burning of the tracks. The fuse is 1A already, so I don't understand how it blows so easily.

[roon_VR]

I just wanted to know, would it be alright if I sticked some speaker wire inside each RCA input, run the wires to the ground wire of the head-unit and solder it onto the ground?

[StoneX]

All the RCA grounds are common so you'd only need to do it to one of the RCA's and it would ground all of them. IF you're good with soldering you could solder to the outside of the RCA socket but be careful not to melt the plastic.

[kopper69]

You could also replace the fuse if you have a soldering iron - would be a surface mount though and a replacement fuse would cost a couple of $