Anyone have an alternator whine only when using the tuner? Anyone know what this is caused by? How it can be fixed?

Yes. I had a tuner-only ground loop once.

I noticed the ground loop would go away when I unplugged the antenna wire. Just another possible point for the ground to be better than the rest of the player, hence the loop.

I did a major re-check of all the wiring and found a loose connection. At the same time, I also altered the order that the amps were connected in (two of the variations pictured here). After that, the ground loop went away.

Of course, getting to that point took a long time. I assumed for many weeks that it was the tuner module's fault and went back and forth with the empeg guys trying to see if it was a fault in the module.

Thank you, Mr. Fabris...That was really my main concern, that it was the module's fault. Well, I have a major rewiring project coming up soon, hopefully I will be able to find the culprit.

On your amp wiring diagrams, the little things that represent the RCA jacks on the amp look just like the eyelets on a pair of Chuck Taylors...

What, doesn't everyone use bits from tennis shoes on their amplifiers?

Another question on the subject of tuners - is it normal to get a really jarring momentary burst of noise when switching over to the tuner from playing an mp3? Is there any way to reduce this noise?

If it is normal, it seems rather unpleasant...Perhaps they might implement volume ramp-up or a second of mute for when you switch over to the tuner in a future software build?

I do not get a burst of noise when I switch to my tuner. What version of the software are you running?

hmm, funny you should mention this. i was just noticing this morning that i have a very faint alternator whine when using the tuner. it took me four months to notice it, so it obviously isn't very bad (then again, i don't drive that much, and i use the tuner only occasionally for NPR).

in my case (a 2000 isuzu trooper), the antenna is amplified, with the power supplied by the factory head unit. frankly, i'm surprised i don't have a ton of ground loop noise, but the mp3 playback is as noiseless as can be.

--dan.

2.00 beta 11

It kinda sounds like when you give the tuner dial on an old radio a spin. Semi-random static. It lasts about half a second and then evens out, kinda as if the dial spin described above landed right on a station. It wouldn't be as annoying if it wasn't for the fact that it really gives a pump through the subs.

I definitely get the burst.

Do you use the power antenna wire on the extension cable?

Maybe the burst is the antenna amplifier not being charged up yet?

No. My old car didn't use the extension at all. My new car uses the extension, but doesn't use the 12V line for anything.

I have only had my new car for a couple days and didn't really notice if it had this issue. My old car definitely did. It's not bothersome to me.

In reply to:

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Do you use the power antenna wire on the extension cable?

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Nope.

Okay, I entered the noise-burst as an official bug on the internal bug list. I could have sworn it was already in there, but I didn't see it when I did a search.