I have alternator whine that seems pretty complicated. The whine is intermittent. I had no problems for about 3 years after installation. It seems to always occur when I'm leaving work in the afternoon, but only happened once in the morning. The whine will start or go off when I go over a bump, or I can make it go on or off by doing a "Fonzie" punch into the head unit (Pioneer DEH-1100) or by removing the head unit from the dash (while still wired in) and tilting it.
Despite the fact that it seems to be generated at the head unit, even if I disconnect the RCA cables at the amp the same thing happens.
I assumed that "alternator whine" was a general term for a whine that changes pitch with the speed of the motor (which it does and I should have mentioned). That was the only reason I called it alernator whine.
I'm very familiar with that whine. This is most likely a ground problem. Your head unit may be have a bad ground or grounded too close to the engine. Also, check your amp ground.
Would it have to be an internal problem with the head unit since it seems to come and go depending on the position of the head unit? As I said, if I have the unit out of the dash, but still wired in, I can get the whine to come and go by tilting or slapping the head unit, even if the RCA cables are out of the amp. This is why I didn't suspect a simple ground problem.
Yes, it may be defective. First, do check the grounds - don't want to discount that possibility. To my recollection, my head unit that had this problem was defective. How new is the Pioneer though?
Pioneer HUs are known for burning out the RCA ground inside the HU. Take a piece of wire and hook one end to the outer ring part of the RCA connector, the other end to the metal case of the HU. Do that for both RCA connectors, and see if the noise goes away.
I knew it was a ground problem, but I would've never known the RCA ground could've burned! Nice work! Jesse, wouldn't you be happier if the HU just needed to be replaced?? You would get a new, cooler toy!!
