Amplifier Wiring/Stereo Questions

[Thomas Sayle]

Okay members, need some help!

Got my amps wired and installed under helm. I have the Kicker upgrades with LED lighting in them with a Kicker head unit.

Power wires running directly to amps from battery. Everything is proper size, maybe oversized.

Problem I have:
Sitting still without motor running stereo sounds amazing.

Crank motor, speakers whine. As throttle increases, so does whine.

Sitting still without motor running and turn on LED lights, whining in speakers.

So, I think I have a ground loop problem. I've taken the head unit ground off of the main wiring harness and grounded to the distribution block that supplies ground to amps from battery. Same problem.

Anything else to try before I just abandon and go back to factory?

 

[steven harp]

I had the same problem. It was a bad ground to the head unit. Drove me crazy till I had a professional out to diagnose it.

 

[H2GO]

If the noise is from the engine running AND the LED lighting, it sounds like poor grounding at the head unit or amp. If you unplug the RCA cables feeding the amp does the noise go away? If so it sounds like a poor ground at the head unit. The LED lighting uses a PWM signal to vary the brightness so it could sound similar to the alternator whine. As said above check to ensure you have good dedicated ground and power wiring to the head unit. Since you ran those nice wires from the battery for the amp you can share the ground to see if it goes away. I agree with the above that you have a dirty ground. If none of that works make sure the RCA cables are not bundled up with power wiring in the helm.

 

[Dunn]

What about running RCA's and Power wires side by side at length causing issues? I recall back in the day when I had upgraded stereos in my cars if you ran power wires along RCA it could cause interference.