Car audio question--- I think I have whats known as"alternator whine"(AMP to SUBWOOFER to BATTERY problem.help

i believe if the wires were touching they would trip and not work at all. you may have a wire crossed or hooked up in the wrong place...i would just double check all the connections and make sure they are all nice and tight. I used to have a car that the AM stations would go with my car (rev. up when i rev'd my engine up..etc...) i felt like i was in a race car lol....

check your ground make sure its sanded to bare metal no paint also your ground wire should always be the same gauge as your power wire

Try a noise filter. It's the cheapest starting point anyway. It's wired in series between your radio's power wires and battery. Radio Shaft used to carry them, but I don't think they do anymore, but you could try. Also try Circuit City or the like... You are right, the engine noise you hear is either the alternator or ignition system (spark plugs, rotar cap, etc.) if you can hear the pitch get higher if you accelarate.

As all have said if power cable and earth are touching it would short, blow a fuse etc etc. Here are some common factors which need to be considered. Are all speakers running off the amp? If not then the problem does not reside in the wiring for your amp, it most likely is "alternator noise" which does not always go away with a noise filter despite everyone telling you this. Your alternator could actually be faulty and adding to the cost of installing a good "noise suppressor" to find this out will really get your goat up. Any good auto electrician can tell you if this is the case in two secs. If your alternator is faulty, this noise is actually a charge noise from the alternator continually trying to charge the battery. If this is not the problem then your head unit regardless of whether it is a $2 job or $4999 one may have a fault in this which can cause this noise such as internal fault, if you have wired it to just any power wire that was "spare" under the dash these are not all on a "noise supressed circuit", you should have a separate power wire direct from the battery, or wire it to the existing car stereo harness. If your wires for your head unit are too close to the cars computer or other wires the "noise" can transfer between them. If you do not have our head unit grounded properly(you must always clean paint from the ground point, ensure that it is free of grease and contaminates, and that it is not to far from the device, eg anymore than 1mtr at the absolute most from hd unit, and no more than 30cm from your amp if you can help it) and the earth cable is to be exactly the same size as power cable. And it goes on!!!! Your amp may be faulty as well, I recently had installed an amp which was brand new, it tested well when the car wasn't going and sounded great, until I started the car. It was an expensive amp but all have their faults. If any of your speakers are earthing out on the body of the car it can contribute to this also. Another factor that needs to be considered is that your powercable and rcas for amp are to be run on separate sides of the car and the rcas need to be adequatley shielded or they can absorb this "noise" from other cables, so make sure you don't run them near any powercables, you may even need to run them through the centre of the car to avoid any interference. Make sure your powercable is away from large looms of wire especially near the computer or this can attribute to the noise as well. Lots to absorb sorry...... but I hope this helps, it is not always the obvious as most others have said

Sounds like you have a bad ground somewhere in the system....

try relocating your ground wire to a diffrent spot, also are your rcas and your power wire ran on the same side of the car this could be a factor, if those dont work check to make sure that the washers for your fuse are either both under or above the fuse(forget which one) this was what caused a whine for me If your power wire touched the ground there would be a VERY big spark and maybe a bon fire in your drive way or your battry could explode under the hood and mess a whole lot of stuff up

You will want to check your ground wire. It may be loose at the connection either at the amp or at the final ground location. Also, your wiring kit may be a cheap one and can allow car noise to bleed into signal.

if the ground and power are touchin, it wouldnt work. go to wal mart or something and buy a noise reducer they are real cheap. that is somehting you wire in and it takes the whine out. trust me it makes a world of differance