c4w18

Well I had my system installed 2 years ago and I know a little bit more now than I did back then. My question concerns where the power is coming from for my amps. When the guys at the audio place installed the wiring kit for my amps, they ran them through the firewall of the vehicle to that positive pole under the hood. Now my issue with this is a ground loop problem I've been having. Yes, I know there are ways of getting around this and I've done everything in my power to remedy it...grounding the RCAs, multiple/better ground for the HU, running RCAs away from power cables, etc. but I'm pretty darn sure its the HU itself with a poor internal ground and is insistent on grounding itself through one of the peripherals. I've installed two GLIs as a last resort and still some noise is coming through. I'm wondering if I could run both power cables from the amps to the battery directly to avoid some engine noise/EMI and if there are any cons to that taking into consideration that the battery is so far from the alternator, etc. This is not a stock battery mind you, I discarded the stock POS for a optima yellowtop so I'm thinking it would be able to handle it better. Well thats my question, hope some of you guys have insight, thanks!

06'L61'Balt

where is it grounded did you make sure all paint is scraped away from the ground spot.

purplehaze03

x2 its your ground for your amp make sure its tight, and no paint where its grounded

c4w18

like i said, already went through all the no brainer fixes....sanded down the ground spot good.....does anyone have their amps directly hooked up to the battery in the rear or is that a nono? <---thats my main question.

purplehaze03

yea i have 4 gauge wiring directly to the battery and grounded to the chassis, your problem can be a number of things....the tips of the wires being tarnished (prolly not), bad grounding- to avoid i would ground each amp individually, could be the head unit. could be rcas touching behind the headunit..... all kinds of ****.....i put tape on everything.... hahah,

an amp for speakers are very picky and can be a pain in the ass.

rickdarris2004

What kind of HU are you running? I have had problems with pioneers in the past with this very problem. I had no problems with anything else, switched out the HU and it worked fine. So you are completely right, it could very well be an internal issue. I would suggest going with an Alpine or JVC, I have had good luck with both of those in the past. My main thing I look for in a HU is the pre out voltage. The pre outs on a lot of the lower end pioneers are only like 2.5 volts, while the pre outs on the alpines and JVC are between 4 and 6 volts. But that's my experience.

purplehaze03

thats kinda bias, i have only ever had pioneer headunits never had a problem, but yes your are right you definitely want higher powered preouts but the noise issue if either from a ground issue or a rca wire next to a power wire (highly unlikely)

c4w18

yea, its the flagship of the jensens the vm9022hdn...killer deal on it only 535....but yea i guess this is the draw back...I'd really like to know if i can pull out the power cables from near the engine and put them directly onto the battery though, I'm guessing that would make quite a bit of difference...

purplehaze03

yes deffinetly, you want to run them to the battery not the power under the hood......you can run your power and ground back there.

c4w18

so that won't drain my battery faster or anything? j/w

eutechnyx

iTrader: (2)

If its a pioneer the sound you are having is the pico fuse failure.You can get your power directly from the rear battery and that is exactly what i would do because you want your amplifiers power and ground wires to be as short as possible for the least resistance.Ground should be good if you already scraped the paint and are using a nice snug bolt.How much power are we talking here? I always run 0 gauge wiring if I'm running anything at or around 1000 watts because I like things to be excessive.Also higher preamp outputs can be made possible without swapping the radio,get an epicenter 160 or any rca preamp voltage adjuster.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

lol you have power wire ran to the engine? thats sorta counter productive

c4w18

I was hoping you'd respond cause you look like you know a shitload about audio, but yea, like i said, i didn't know much about this 2 years ago and I paid for an install and the clowns at the audio place wired it under the carpet, through the firewall to the positive pole. Now that I know a little bit more that does seem really counter productive and either they were stupid and didn't know the battery was in the back (The cobalt was only 2 years old back then, a relatively new vehicle that they CLAIMED to have worked on before) or they were just boning me for some more money as per wire length....but yea I just I'm going to reconfig it today, I'll let you guys know how it goes, thanks for the advice/help...Hopefully it'll work and I can remove the GLIs and return them for money back

purplehaze03

god damn my credibility gets blown out the window? hahahah

eutechnyx

iTrader: (2)

Yeah +1 on that man lol.

purplehaze03

hahahah its all ggood i mean were all here to help, well most of us

c4w18

lol i don't mean it like that man i was just hoping emperor would respond he's got some great posts behind him but i really appreciate your help too sorry i made it seem like i didn't

SS SCHGD

Seems like the shop that did the install got you for excesive wire run....As for running the Amp off the battery directly, thats what most do. I have my grounds directly to the battery terminal too. No more issues with humming/buzzing after getting rid of the stock headunit and adding a extra ground to the new one.

I think the only reason to run new power wire to the engine bay is if you were to up the Alternator, and then you'd run it from the alternator to the battery.

Good luck.

c4w18

thanks, best response i've gotten so far, ill let you know how it goes