Ground

[derekbannatyne]

I realize this isn't a car audio forum, but I guess a bad ground can happen in the home too. I recently installed a new head unit that seems to have a bad ground when using the internal amplifiers. To remedy this, I purchased a 4 channel amp, with 4 gauge wire for the battery and ground (it's grounded to the sheet metal in the trunk). When the car is off, I can hear a slight buzzing, the kind that someone probably wouldn't notice, but would drive you crazy just because you know it's there. My question is, if there's a bad ground, is it an all or nothing (meaning either the amp will or won't turn on) reaction, or can a bad ground cause a little buzzing?

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Moving this to the General Forum...

I guess you’d followed all the usual remedies, i.e., grounding all components at the same location? Even if you do that, sometimes the antenna connection can cause a ground loop. Try unplugging it. There are also ground loop isolators you can plug in-line with the RCA connections.

Regards,
Wayne

[tonyvdb]

This buzzing you hear is caused by a bad alternator in the cars charging circuit. There are noise filters that you hook up the the Negative of the Head unit or amp that should get rid of it.

[Sonnie]

You say when the car is off you hear a slight buzzing? Generally noise would be when the car is running. If this is correct, it seems you are still getting power to the amps in some way or another... a short most likely. You will need to re-check your wiring. If it is when the car is on... make sure everything is grounded in the same location and make sure all the paint it scraped away and you are getting a good connection. Do the same thing for the ground wire from the battery to the car chassis... scrape the paint and try replacing it with a heavier gauge wire... minimum 4ga.

[Rodny Alvarez]

What you hearing is system noise, you probably have the gains on the amp to high, turn the gains down and see if the noise still there
What brand radio do you have??