Rca Cables

The Environment. Sometimes the environment can play a role in the noise your system is making. Around hospitals, high voltage power lines, and radio stations (not the public listening type either), you pick up a lot

of interference. Also, extremely HIGH humidity can cause problems. A cold start on foggy morning can lead to some alternator whine thanks to moisture. For the same reason, corrosion builds up on your electrical connections, causing increased resistance. And the most obvious, you are at a show and keeping your battery topped off with a charger! AC power lines are very dirty, and you should disconnect all sources of external power during judging anyhow.

A poor battery. Check the voltage on your battery with the engine off. IME a good battery will be somewhere around 12.7 volts, plus or minus 0.2 volts. If you're right at 12, or even under, then try charging your battery. Constant low voltage is a sure indication you need a new battery, OR have a charging system problem. Check this link if you suspect your charging system. If you have a dual battery setup, then it is likely you have more complicated problems. Differing voltage in a system can be cause for minute annoying little buzzes. Proper power systems should keep a constant voltage (although this is next to impossible, it's what you want to work towards. If you have one battery that's keeping a different voltage, the unbalance between equipment using that voltage can cause interface problems with equipment not using that source.

Bad grounds. A bad ground is probably the most common cause of noise. If one of your audio component

s is poorly grounded, it's not getting as much voltage as other component

s are. For more on proper grounding, check the appropriate tech paper.

Isolator whine. Before proceeding to the next culprit, it is VITAL that you bypass your isolator and make sure it is not the problem. This is simple to do, and is just as mandatory as checking a fuse when nothing works at all. To bypass the isolator, unhook all of the wires from it, there should be four wires. hook the 3 wires from the alternator, battery 1 and battery 2 together (easiest way to do this is with a bolt and nut) BE SURE and tape the assembly off so that an accidental grounding does not occur. You could also test the system