I have had to drill my eyelets as well (the terminal ring, O looking thing at the end of a power or ground wire) There are a couple of things to think about. First, always use a vice grip, if you don't know what it is then google it! Pliers are a bad idea as you more than likely can not put enough pressure on them. Second, not just any drill bit lying around will work! I have learned from experience and destroyed many terminals.... use one that the case says is for metal! It's better to use a smaller bit than a larger bit IMO; simply move it around inside until the hole is large enough. (Holy **** the boss just walked in unannounced, screw him, back to my post) Becareful about keeping the bit on the terminal for too long because they get hot and they will break in two pieces. Kind of like when you take a metal tab and yank it back and forth; the metal gets hot and snaps. Now, lets say you're cheap, don't have the time or just don't f@ckn care....and you find that your terminal ring will be too small no matter what.....cuz let's face it we all are and those flipping seatbelt bolts are thick as all hell.... well... you can always snip the end of the terminal ring to make it into a fork and slide it around the bolt. I've done it before and I'd do it again. Only catch is that you have to ensure the bolt is tight and that the wire WILL NOT COME LOOSE. You could cause arcing if it does and start a fire. Always the potential. This wraps up this short story which was brought to you by Dos Equis, stay thirsty my friends.

 

Ok, the power looks fine. I think we've ruled out the ground wire. I would try two things now. First, mount your amp with rubber spacers as I have already provided two good reasons for doing so. Next, follow this mini tutorial I pulled from crutchfield which helps you determine if its your RCAs. I'm starting to think it might be. The only other thing I can think of at the moment is your radio ground wire. If you have an aftermarket headunit installed it could be that your ground point isn't working out so well. I grounded mine to the metal bar beneath where the radio sits inside the dash. Anyways, here's the tutorial.

Noise in the patch cables
Noise can be picked up by the RCA patch cables connecting your components. To test this, detach the cables from your amp. (Note: A small number of amplifiers mute themselves when patch cables are removed. To defeat the automatic mute, insert one side (left or right) of a spare patch cable into the amp's left and right input jacks.) Turn on your system and engine. If the noise is gone, reconnect the cables to the amp, and disconnect them from your receiver. If you hear the noise, your patch cables are definitely picking it up. Try re-routing them, taking care to separate them from your power cable by at least 18 inches. Also, newer cars may have a cable that provides power to computers and lights in the rear of the vehicle — make sure that your patch cables aren't too close to this cable.

^Wrathernaut, if it is the RCAs I'm taking 100 points from your reputation for being right, deal with it.

 

Ok now for the interesting bits.

So I did as much testing as I could last night before it got pitch black and I had to call my gf to come out and use her camera phone l.e.d. as a flashlight to put the car back together.


Test that I did with results.


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-TESTING-


1. Insulate the AMP from the car body by using a plastic floor mat (stolen out of GF's Nissan Rouge) | FAIL (Noise still present)

2. Move Ground from original point to lip behind rear seat + Insulate AMP from floor using plastic Floor Mat | FAIL (Noise still present)

3. Disconnect RCA Cables at the AMP Input Side | PASS (Noise Went Away)

4. Disconnect RCA Cables from AMP Input Side & then plug in spare RCA Cable from AMP to AMP (In order to defeat amp auto mute if this feature is present when no input is sensed) | PASS (Noise went away but no audio obviously)

5. Pull out RCA Cables from AMP input partial way so signal still present | PASS (Noise went away) <- This is the most intriguing result. explained below.

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I made a video the show what happens when I pull out the RCA's partway from the AMP.

Just enough to transfer signal but not touch the amp body.

I thought it was an AMP Grounding issue with the body but in further testing I found out that assumption was wrong.

In the video linked below I was going off that assumption so just ignore any part about grounding to the body.

Though not in the video I did unmounted the amp from the metal bose bracket and it still had feedback through the RCA's.

So at this point it looks like I will need to Test RCA's at RADIO Side.

Any Comments are defiantly welcome in helping me troubleshoot this issue.

Thanks.

 

[QUOTE=DBayPlaya2k3;6755442]Ok now for the interesting bits.

So I did as much testing as I could last night before it got pitch black and I had to call my gf to come out and use her camera phone l.e.d. as a flashlight to put the car back together.


Test that I did with results.


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Not sure if you read my post yet but it seems like we have arrived at the same conclusion

Pickup a pair of twisted RCAs off Amazon!

Is that a power inverter on your passenger floor board? Cuz I'm looking to get one as well. Right now I'm running my Wii off my cigarette lighter but I'd like to hide it more. I'd also like to install my modded Xbox as well or instead It's not overkill!!!

 

[quote=SergeantRed;6755451]I have about 3 inverters all borrowed from friends at work lol.

I needed something to supply power to the dremal tool (also borrowed) that I was using to grind down the paint to shiny surface for my grounding point.

1 is 400 Watts but only 200RMS it worked well enough for what I needed but its defiantly no name brand cheap foreign brand.

Lol an no its only overkill once you add the big flat screen tv to show off the xbox.

 

Hey guys sorry for the delay in response I had a dept meeting this morning then I have a vendor meeting later this afternoon (sucks cutting into my G35 Forum surfing time lol)

Anyway Wrathernaut and SGTRed

I'm not sure if you were able to watch the video (Sgtred I assume u did since u talked about Inverter lol)

but once you do youll see how awesome this noise problem can be.
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Questions

1. Does anyone have an idea why pulling out the RCA's partway seems to stop the electrical feedback? Im not sure if the RCA input Board Area is metal or plastic (hard to tap small area with fingers)

2. Though not scientific seems that the disadvantage of my band aid method of pulling away the RCA's is the sigal is not as strong so my system isnt as loud as it normally is. Does that make sense?

3. I'm all for buying diffrent RCA's . I am not trying to be cheap or anything but I do want to make sure I get a quality set for this issue.

Which RCA's Cables do you guys recommend (id like to know both of your recommendations)?

4. SGT Red you said you grounded radio to metal bar underneath it. I doubt you have pictures but did you use a self tap for this or was there an existing bolt already there?

5. Is there better shelded RCA's than others casue I see braided shielding listed in the description

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I would like to take my center console apart today (such a pain to put together lol) but it will depend on what time I get out of work.

If i do I'll try to make another video so that you may observe my testing methods.

Lol at this point im not sure which Id rather have it be

A. Ground to the Radio being crappy

or

B. RCA's that pick up feedback

or

C. Defective AMP (I kind of highly doubt this but I guess also possible)

Hopefully I am not missing something else troubleshooting wise. Its funny SGTRed send me that crutch-field troubleshooting tip and that's what I found yesterday before I started troubleshooting (lol and why i did some of the tests I did).

 

<------ creepy, anyways, those are the ones I have. Work great! I used a screw that was already on the metal bar to pinch the ground between a piece of plastic and the metal. It's my car so I shortcut **** that I wouldn't normally do in other people's cars.... I just know it works and therefore I don't care.

First and foremost replace the RCAs don't tear your dash apart if you don't have to, but then again wtf am I saying.... you'd have to anyways to hook up the new RCAs

You are probably right in the assumption that because the RCAs aren't making full contact that the output power is slightly diminished. Kind of like when you pull your ear phone jack out of a music player slowly. The music isn't as loud as when the jack was all the way in <------ that's what she said, right? Anyone? No, ok, I'm out!

 

The Tsunami double-shielded ones I use haven't given me any problems.

The whine may just be below the noise floor if the entire audio output is lower with the RCAs not fully inserted.

 

Have you guys seen this video before.

I was trying to understand a little bit more about RCA cables and I came across this in a car audio forum.

Its pretty informative and not long either.


http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/boa...-twisted-pair/

 

Without having watched it I was skeptical because the guy looks like a pedo and he's pointing at, ya well you get the picture....

 

Lol yeah true i see what you mean.

 

Yeah, even with the video it can be confusing. If he had drawn it out a bit clearer it would help.

 

id suggest try a different for sure working amp jus to rule out its not an issue with ur amp

 

Alpine PDX??? Very very unlikely

 

they cant all be perfect