Buzzing Speakers & Charging Problems

[mitsu4g63t]

Okay, I have this buzzing sound in my speakers when my car is running, and as usual when I rev the motor the buzzing gets louder and more of a steady tone. I thought I had a bad ground for my amp, or the power cable was too close to the speaker cables; BUT, it's not coming from my subs, it's from the door speakers and rear speakers. So I'm like, WTF?? Tonight I'm leaving my house for work and my car won't start, dead battery, which is odd because I have seen no signs of this until that one moment tonight. I used my coleman to jump it, and came to work (Radar Detector and Head Unit lost power for like 4 seconds coming down 60, then both came back on), stopped at a gas station, go to start car, DEAD BATTERY, WTF, I thought it would have charged a bit on the way to work, but no. Anyway, can these problems be related? I've never encountered this before!!:(

[TBSpyder]

Have you had your alternator tested?

[mitsu4g63t]

No, but I WAS hoping is could be something cheaper than that!

[TJElite]

An overworked alternator, either because it is dying, or because the system demand is too high, can cause noise.

It might not be the alternator, yet. Your battery could have an internal short or near short. It might show 12+volts sitting there, but try and start it, and it will go to less than 11. This would cause an alternator to suddenly become overworked. I say it isn't bad 'yet' because if you keep trying to charge this battery, it will be.

Jumpstarting a car should be avoided at all costs. When you do this, you then ask your alternator to charge a dead battery. That's not what its designed to do, and will shorten its life. This is a big problem with people who don't drive their cars. I usually hear 'how can the alternator be bad, the car only has 10k miles on it?'. Then you find out that everytime they go to drive the car, it is dead, and they jumpstart it. Give them a trickle charger, and the problem goes away.

I realize that sometimes you'll have no choice, but its not a good thing.

[TBSpyder]

No, but I WAS hoping is could be something cheaper than that!


Take it by Advanced Autoparts. They supposedly test this for free.

[Notladstyle]

if the car was running while you were driving and didnt stall out it could simply be the battery will no longer hold a charge.

[mitsu4g63t]

I bought a new battery, removed some shitty looking ground wires; now everything is back to normal. New battery seems to be holding what it's got but I'm still going to get a new alternator when I get paid, I don't know how old that thing is anyway.

[Notladstyle]

I bought a new battery, removed some shitty looking ground wires; now everything is back to normal. New battery seems to be holding what it's got but I'm still going to get a new alternator when I get paid, I don't know how old that thing is anyway.

if you dissasemble the alternator, clean the bearing and tighten the coil loads you can basicly use the same alternator forever. Thats what the auto parts stores do when you give them your core anyways.

might be good to save the $ and research rebuilding your esisting alternator. it isnt difficult.

[mitsu4g63t]

if you dissasemble the alternator, clean the bearing and tighten the coil loads you can basicly use the same alternator forever. Thats what the auto parts stores do when you give them your core anyways.

might be good to save the $ and research rebuilding your esisting alternator. it isnt difficult.

Hey, thanks for the info. Rep for ya!!

[custom240sx]

Yea that sound usually comes from a bad ground but also the battery and or alternator can do it too as you have found out. If I were you I would have invested in a dry cell battery. Those things a great! Seriously though, have your alternator tested at Autozone and I'll bet more than anything that its still perfectly fine. Waste that money on a 1 farad cap or something like that depending on what type of power your system is pulling.

[mitsu4g63t]

Yeah, I wanna get an optima red top but this is not a good time to spend that much on a battery. As soon as I get the money I'm going to though.

[TJElite]

if you dissasemble the alternator, clean the bearing and tighten the coil loads you can basicly use the same alternator forever. Thats what the auto parts stores do when you give them your core anyways.

might be good to save the $ and research rebuilding your esisting alternator. it isnt difficult.

Some of the bigger auto parts stores used to sell rebuild kits. You also get a new rectifier and new brushes (sometimes a voltage regulator, as well). These were like $20, and well worth it. They sometimes come with bearings, but unless you have a press, cleaning the originals will work just fine.

Sometimes just opening it up will let you see the problem. One common failure mode is the armature wires breaking from the centrifugal force of spinning. Especially if it was on a high revving motor. Solder or crimp them back on, and put some epoxy on the strain relief posts (you'll see them...the armature wires sort of wrap around them before the terminals). I've also seen brushes worn down strangely...usually from an improperly rebuilt piece, but also from bad factory assembly.

NotLadstyle makes a good point...if you can, rebuild your own, vs. buying a rebuilt. Many of the less expensive rebuilders only change the parts needed to make it work again. If you do buy one, look for a good warranty. Some of the chains offer lifetime, but look for 1 year minimum.

[TJElite]

Yeah, I wanna get an optima red top but this is not a good time to spend that much on a battery. As soon as I get the money I'm going to though.

If you've got a decent sized stereo load, go with a yellow top, not a red top. Especially if you like to play it without the engine running. The red top is a pure starting battery, and won't do as well under sustained loads, particularly if it gets discharged repeatedly. The yellow top is sort of a hybrid deep cycle / starting battery, and will stand lower voltages, and sustained loads much better. They do cost more, though.

An even better choice would be one of the Stinger batteries, or a Kinetik battery. I'm going to start using the Kinetiks, as they are seriously robust, and have a 'standing' voltage of around 13.1 volts. More is better. They also have some unique packages, including some tiny batteries which would work well with front mounts or in other areas where weight / space is at a premium.

http://www.kinetikaudio.com/

Toby

[Notladstyle]

forget that, get a optima blue top! they are like 150% of the price but you can leave your stereo on all night and it will still be running in the morning =)

[TJElite]

forget that, get a optima blue top! they are like 150% of the price but you can leave your stereo on all night and it will still be running in the morning =)

Blue top is the ultimate for deep cycle, for sure. Not the best for cranking, but here in Florida, especially small motors, shouldn't be a problem.

I'm going to be getting some of the Kinetik batteries, so we'll see how they compare. The guy who owns the company, also owns the current legal DB record...180 someting DB. Claims to have picked up like 2db just from changing to the Kinetiks...bought the company soon after that. They have a 2400 amp battery that supposedly will replace three red tops. Should be fun finding out...for the sake of science, of course.

[Frankie]

With the sound as you described, I'm willing to bet the main cause of your problems was a bad ground. Ground faults cause car audio systems to make all kinds of noises and they'll also waste your battery fast.

[Notladstyle]

Blue top is the ultimate for deep cycle, for sure. Not the best for cranking, but here in Florida, especially small motors, shouldn't be a problem.

I'm going to be getting some of the Kinetik batteries, so we'll see how they compare. The guy who owns the company, also owns the current legal DB record...180 someting DB. Claims to have picked up like 2db just from changing to the Kinetiks...bought the company soon after that. They have a 2400 amp battery that supposedly will replace three red tops. Should be fun finding out...for the sake of science, of course.

Post your findings because I'm all about efficiency and if they really do pack that much power I'm interested.

[mitsu4g63t]

I just wanna say thanks. I have never got such a helpful response from any other forum ever. Thanks alot for the help and input.