I've been having some background noise with my X710BT and I'm wondering if it has to do with how I grounded wires. There are ground cables on each harness, i.e. the harness that integrates into the car and the harness that plugs into the Avic. I grounded these cables to the steel chasis of the car. Should I have grounded them onto each other, like literally tie them together and wrap in electrical tape?

 

most like likely its a ground issue or if its near a shielded wire that has been isolated then it can cause a high pitch nise that most pronounce when you accelerate in engine speed

 

Yeah, everyone I ask seems to think it's a grounding issue, but from what I can tell it doesn't get louder with acceleration. There's tons of wires back there too, I did the best I could to seperate them. So you think I should go ahead and wire them together rather than use that bolt I fabricate onto the cars chasis?

 

Clarify - are you running amps? Have you isolated it from them by unplugging the RCA's that feed them? Where is the noise coming from? You said it doesn't vary with the acceleration, which likely means it's not a grounding problem but doesn't completely rule it out.

Also, I'm confused by how you're describing the harness. The harness that integrates into the car and harness that goes into the back of the unit should be tied together. They are not separate harnesses. The unit that goes into the car is an adapter harness and should be used as such. The pin that the ground terminates to should be the pin that the unit is grounded to, which then completes the circuit in the car.

Big Mack

 

if you are running an amp are the rcas seperate and not crossing the power wire anywhere

 

Thank you both for the replies. Let me try and clarify. The two harnesses do indeed plug into each other, I was describing them seperately to aid in understanding the issue. I am still running the stock amp, I did not bypass it and power the speakers through the head unit. The noise is coming from all speakers, but it is slightly different for the rear speakers than the front (more of a popping than a hiss). I tried my best to separate the power cables from anything else and I tied those off as well.

 

Glad to help out, mang.

I would ensure they are tied together properly and start there.

He was referring to power cables and RCA's that would be run to an aftermarket amp. If you are running the stock amp, you will not be using either of those. How are you getting the signal into the amp? Since it comes from all speakers, it means the signal is being affected prior to entering and is being sent to all channels. It could very well be a power wire in the dash affecting a LOC after it does the step down from the deck.

We really need more information on how you are getting the signal, what equipment you have beside the deck, and what you have tried.

Big Mack

 

Let me start over and explain what I did. The car's audio was 100% stock, all I did was add a new headunit, a Pioneer Avic X710BT. To connect the Avic with the car's wiring I used a Metra harness. That's all I did. I did not rewire any speakers, sub or amp. Everything is stock other than the headunit.

It was a tight fit behind the headunit so all the wires are in pretty close quarters. Being that there was very little exposed car chasis to ground to, I improvised and stuck a bolt and nut through a hole and wrapped the wires around that. Not the best job I know, but I wasn't left with too many options.

Everything works fine - Nav, bluetooth, video and the audio is great too other than that background noise. It's just now I realized that perhaps I should have tied the ground wires on each harness together. I figure that the ground wire coming out of the harness that integrates into the car is meant to connect to the ground wire on the Avics harness.

Again thanks for the help, not too many people I'd think know enough to assist in narrowing down a problem like this.

 

From my experience, using cheapy RCA will cause noise. Or running the RCA wires near the power wire will Also cause noise interference. If your ground is bad, when you rev up your engine you can hear the alternator whining/howling.

 

So you used a 70-8113, correct? That should be the harness. The problem may very well be the RCA signal going into the amp is not strong enough due to the ground. Since it's not a ground loop, it shouldn't exhibit whine, but it will have noise if it's not secured. I would upgrade the ground, and move the RCA's in the harness around to see if the noise improves. Keep in mind that there is a blower motor in there, so the controls may be emitting noise that the RCA's are picking up. Even with them being super short, if enough noise is present they'll pick it up.

Let us know what you find out.

Big Mack

 

Yep thats the harness. I should have linked this earlier i apologize, but here is a thread I made about the install,

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...-dash-nav.html

Funny you mention it, the numerous times I've tried to fix the background noise I've had the unit half sticking out while I move the wires around back there. All types of different pulses and sounds will emit from the speakers depending on different positions of the wires. It's almost like a second type of background noise that plays when the wires are two close together. The second type of noise isn't currently there though as I believe I have the wires positioned just right.

So when you say pupgrade the ground, do you mean wire each harnesses grounds together, or something else altogether?

BTW, I have two ground loop isolators installed (front and rear). Without them the background noise is much louder, perhaps even a third seperate background noise that is more of a whine than a crackle.

 

It's troubleshooting, mang, and I've fixed a few problems along the way.

You may need to upgrade it directly to the chassis of the car if the area allocated by the factory cannot handle it. You keep asking about putting the harnesses together, which is a bit of a concern. The harness mates the wires together. Your deck's harness ground should be connected to the ground wire in the other harness, which is then plugged into the car.

If you are relying on the factory ground under the hood, I would upgrade that, too. Never hurts to add a piece of 4 ga to the small ground the factory uses.

Hmmm...always disconcerting to see multiple ground loop isolators. If you have access to a meter, I'd start probing for a better ground for the deck and narrow the problem so you can enjoy the system as intended.

Big Mack

 

1 - They are together, everythings wired up fine (power, acc, amp power etc.). Sometimes It's difficult to convey what one is talking about on forums, I really should have gotten a picture. The only wires on each harness that aren't connected to each other are the ground wires.

2. I read of many other folks using ground loop isolators, particularly on these ES's. I kinda figured it was just a fact of having an aftermarket headunit like an Avic.

This weekend I will wire those grounds together and report back. Thanks again, I'll snap a picture or two of the wiring back there, perhaps you'll see something that stands out that I've been missing.

 

I swapped around the grounds and there's still background noise...and the pulsating-like sound is back which I haven't been able to get rid of. Also the bolts I made mounted to make the previous grounds feel down into the abyss underneath the radio. Not good progress