Engine noise thru my changer?
 

I'm trying to figure out why I'm getting engine noise only when my changer is playing. Is it possible it's because I'm using a metal bracket to mount it to the chassis? Thanks

baaaaad ground... how new is this changer you speak of?

It's a 4 year old Kenwood changer (KDC-CMP59FM). I have an even older changer which I just hooked up and the noise was gone. Plugged my current one back in, noise was back.

Is it possible the galvanized bracket I'm using to mount to the car's chassis is acting as a ground that is causing the interference?

EDIT: YES! It's because of the metal bracket. Has to be, since I just unbolted from the chassis, the the noise was gone.

in a perfect world, any type of stereo equipment shoudl be isolated from the chassis, ie attached to wood then the wood attached to the car. especially with amps. they should not be screwed directly to the metal body.

copper or gold would be an excellent insulator for this purpose... but like paul said, ghetto rig some sort of attachment that the changer doesnt touch the chassis and see if that helps at all

aren't copper and gold excellent conductors not insulators??

i was going to use the periodic table symbols but then i realized that was really :geek:ish
damn medical school

i think how it works is that the copper or gold dont actually touch the changer and "absorb," if you will, the noises transferred through the chassis. i always wonder that too but its what i read on the old car audio forum i used to be on and my old radio had the same copper chassis so i just agreed :shrug:

Congratulations. You just discoverd the fun that is a ground loop. You had two ground paths - the ground wire & the mount. SmokingSS was on target.

so making the chassis of the changer not touch the car metal-metal would fix that?

In this case, yes.

i used ground loop isolators with my old radio and that didnt work... i wish i knew it was that easy or i wouldnt have been so quick to ditch that radio :(

Used the stock bracket, noise is gone. Even though my fronts are powered by an external amp, I now have zero engine noise. The metal bracket was temporary till I got a new bracket from Kenwood (the other one broke from me screwing it in too tight).

u might need a new coil

I guess it would've helped if I said this issue is resolved. :lol:

haha. yeh prolly would have helped...what was wrong with it?

Actually, I DID say it was resolved in reply 12! Ever since reinstalling the new plastic bracket, the noise is gone and never came back. Although now that I installed my Sirius Stiletto I might never touch a CD again (at least not as often as I used to).

haha. thats good. my brothers truck had a problem with engine noise and he gotta new coil and it was prefect afterwards