35oZephyR

iTrader: (4)

I have done some research on various car audio forums but I end up digging up hundreds of variables not specific to our Z. I was hoping some of you guys would have a more related solution.

Problem:
The car sounds crystal clear in the daytime, no alternator whine no interference nothing...,but when the HID headlights come on at night, I get a really faint buzz sound like the headlights are charging.

Things I've done:
Grounded HU Pioneer F90Bt to the chassis.
Battery with upgraded 4 gauge ground.
Running a very mild 300 watt amp to components and one sub.
Power wires/ RCA's/ speaker wires are all separated along different sides of the car.

Possible problem:
I think the culprit may be the fact that the amp is grounded on the top tabs inside the driver's side cubby hole, as oppose to the actual chassis. I'm going to change this up this weekend.

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

adamtaylorpcb

iTrader: (7)

sounds like a ground loop to me.... try the chassis ground


im actually having the same problem with my f90bt but its constant

i have mine grounded to the chassis and it still happens.... im getting a little pissed at this unit

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

Is the buzzing on the radio, CD, or both?

If only on the radio you're getting the HID noise via RFI (radio frequency interference) so you might not be able to prevent that. An easy test would be to turn your HIDs on and see if you hear the noise on a hand held radio. The HID could be broadcasting out splatter which is affecting the RF spectrum.

If it's on both then it's likely something in your pre-amp/amplifier system as RF can't make it into a CD but can hit the pre-amp to amplifier connections.

35oZephyR

iTrader: (4)

The humming sound occurs during radio and ipod play. I turn my headlights on before the Pioneer loads up (f90BT's take about 15-20 seconds to load) and I get the hum.

So to conclude, it has to be the preamp/amp connections.
Some guys are suggesting grounding the RCA's but that seems like a lot of work right now. I'm just going to re-ground my amp and go on from there.

NttnbutaZthang

iTrader: (2)

i would have to agree with the other guys...ground your rca shielding...pioneer head units anywhere from your basic cd players to higher end avic units have been notorious for accepting interference through the rca's...

35oZephyR

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, I hear the same thing about Pioneer h/u's being sensitive with their RCA outs.

When you say "ground rca shielding" do you mean take the RCA cable and wrap it like the blurry pic below?

(Taken from SethPhillips off of caraudio.com)

ninor

iTrader: (5)

This is what they mean when they say ground the RCAs





I actually have to do the same thing. I have the classic alternator whine and I will start from making sure that my amp is grounded good (I didn't sand the chasis, but I will do that this weekend). Also, I have longer RCA cables and longer power wire so they are all laying around together under the amp rack in the stock bose sub location behind the driver's seat and I am thinking that's causing the problem... so I will pull out as much power wire as possible to the passenger side cubby and I will also get wire loom to put over the power wire and see if that solves the problem... if not... I will ground the RCAs like in pics above.. more info about those pics is in:

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198477

35oZephyR

iTrader: (4)

^^^ Hmmm interesting. Let us know how that goes, as far as eliminating the alternator whine.

I might have to take it a different route with the F-series head-units since the RCA's come off the case like so...



http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showth...ght=RCA+ground

ninor

iTrader: (5)

Oh.. well there are pictures in that thread how to ground that type of RCAs too

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

35oZephyR

iTrader: (4)

Update: Grounded the RCA's like the above pic but on the Pioneer F90BT

Just wrapped ground wire around the shielding of RCA for : Front output and Sub output.

Twisted it all together and grounded it to the head-unit. The extra supplied screws and drilled hole behind the F-90BT worked like a charm...

Problem solved. No more faint buzzing. Thanks for everyone's help, and if anyone else needs any input, let me know.

StillAlive2029

iTrader: (1)

Trying this tomorrow!

duro78

iTrader: (6)

Grounding your rca's will fix the problem sometimes the onboard fuse in pioneer HU's blow and you will end up chasing a problem but thats the reason for the unwanted noise

35oZephyR

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the bump, I totally forgot about this thread.

UPDATE- I literally left my system alone since I last posted in here. It's been over a year and flawless. No issues whatsoever.

Paul, Adam, Zthang, ninor, duro...
Thanks again for all who contributed here.