I just finished installing my amp and components, but Im getting a clicking/humming sound from the speakers when I turn the radio on.

I have a 4 gauge power wire going to the amp on the passenger side. The ground is connected to a bolt in the rear (3 foot wire). I removed all the paint around the bolt.

My RCA cables are running on the drivers side, along with the speaker wire.

I even tried using a different grounding point for the headunit.

I'm not sure what else to do. Any suggestions for eliminating the noise?

Thanks guys....

 

I just tried moving the ground to the same ground point as the headunit -- still no luck. Would it be worth trying to connect a power noise filter? Thanks!

 

Sounds like u have a bad ground wire or your amp power source is not hooked up right

 

Could try doing the opposite and running RCA's down the passenger side. And have Power and Relay on Drivers side. Possible the RCA's are picking up noise from something else.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried running the RCA's down the middle of the car -- still no luck.

 

still say u have a ground or power source problem...

 

It's certainly possible. I'm going to try a few different ground connections. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

oh yeah by the way... Are u using the stock head unit or a different head unit.... That could be a problem also???

 

I'm using an aftermarket headunit. One thing I tried is to ground the headunit at a different connection point, even with the same connection point as the amp, but it continued to create the noise.

 

check the rca connections if they are loose or touching each other..that will cause a noise...espically at the head unit since they get all pushed back in to the dash behind the head unit..what i normally due it wrap electrical tape around the rca connection at the head unit to keep them from touch each other and any metal behind the head unit and dash..try that also..

 

Does your clicking and humming seem to coincide in pitch with the revs of the engine? If so, then it sounds like you have a ground loop.
Where exactly is your amplifier grounded? More than likely, the source of your noise is not the RCAs or even the radio ground, but the difference in potential between your amplifier's ground and the actual grounds of the vehicle's electrical systems.
A frame ground is an ideal connection. The problem with these vehicles is that they do not have frame rails in the same sense as most older vehicles, which makes minimizing differences in potential quite difficult to accomplish.
You can get a good ground loop isolator for around $20-$30 that may eliminate quite a bit of the noise, but it most likely will not eliminate all of it. you may have to try moving the amplifier ground around a few different places and find the best spot, or the spot where the noise is at its minimum. That, paired with a ground loop isolator, should eliminate the majority of your noise.
I hope this helps! I know chasing ground loops can be a PITA!

 

exactally...i have my amps grounds going to a distribution block and then back to the battery ground.....but alos like i said previous..double check your connections...

 

hey slim, you were exactly right about the rca connections in the back. I was moving them around while connected and the noise went away -- thanks so much!!!

 

No problem... Hope your system is bumping now...LOL!!!

 

First of all I'd like to comment on a few things

running RCA's Opposite of the power wire is a myth and one of the most funniest things i've heard these days...

It is perfectly fine to run the power cable with the Rca's.... Only people who have no understanding of DC vs AC current believe this myth...

In order for induction to occur, the power source would have to be AC, not DC.

DC cannot pass to another inductive medium. This is why we use AC for house current instead of DC. AC is easily passed through another wire thats's close to it (a transformer), DC can't.

Further more, ask yourself If power goes to ground, and ground is the whole frame of the car, wouldn't you get noise if the rcas are next to the frame as well? Also, would a sub amp pick up that high a frequency?

There are numerous electrical components grounded to the chassis and when the vehicle is started you have current flowing all over the place through the chassis. Loop noise generally occurs when the ground differentials cause the current to seek out a lower resistance path (which is often the RCA cables). Since RCA shields can pick up radiated EMI from the chassis it is best to use unshielded (UTP) cables that employ twisted technology to cancel out the inductive current along the signal path. That being said, loops are incidious.

This myth was started in home audio and made it's way over to Car audio due to a lack of knowledge in electronics...

Home audio is AC
car audio is DC

I have been doing car audio since 1994 (14 years)... I have ran power with ground and HAVE NOT ONCE had this be the cause of engine noise in a car audio system...
I am MECP certified, also have 2 years electrical engineering college....