when i turn on my headlights, my speakers give out a low buzzing noise. if i turn the volume past 3 then i cant hear it anymore but its probably do to the loudness of the music. let me explain what i did. i just installed another amp for a sub in my car. i had an amp connected to my components so i just ran another power wired from the old amp to the new amp. is this bad?? i used a ground wire that was already hooked up to my car.
i had two amps in my car b4 without this noise. could this be because how i used the power off the other amp? the noise only comes on when i turn on my headlights. im thinking its because the amps are using to much power and the light are not getting enough. im not an expert in car audio so i wont know where to begin to solve this. PLEASE HELP

 

possibly grounded to where the headlights are getting their ground from?

 

no i dun think so i grounded in the trunk under the carpet. but thanks for the reply. im probably gonna go and sound down the two grounds and redo the power and that might help.

 

Okay, a little more information would be helpful.
Which amps?
What gauge wire?
What gauge ground?
When you say you just ran another wire to the second amp you mean: "I plugged the wire into amp A, and from that plug in just ran another wire to amp B?" or "I split the wire before amps A & B"
Which amp comes first?
RCA's or High Level inputs?

My first guess, without all the information is that you need a better grounding point. A larger gauge ground wouldn't hurt either. My second guess would be that you ran a signal wire (RCA) next to one of the headlight wires (though I wouldn't know how you possibly did this, it could happen I'm sure) Third guess is the power situation. If you're using the amp as a dist block, it's probably not a good idea. Especially if you've got your amp for the highs first. What would happen in that situation would be that the (probably) more powerful sub amp would be drawing power away from the amp for the highs, and when your headlights are on, you're just drawing too much.

I'd reccomend you redo the grounds, and get a dist block. (unless you really feel like answering my questions, in which case I'll try a little harder)

 

ok im using 4 guage wires. but i know the amps are meant to use 8 guage..they are weak. and yeah i used the amp as a distrubutori guess. i actually have two distributor blocks or whatever they are called that im gonna install right now to see if it helps. and thanks for the info.. its helpful since i really know nuttin about this..i just know the basics of a system. oh and for the questions...yeah i got my amps for the highs first. i dun think its the ground cuz i actually ran two amps b4 and nuttin was wrong. my friend hooked it up so ya know. ill get back to you guys later tonight

 

2 words: power distribution block.

ok that's 3.

you shouldn't daisy-chain amps. in fact, you pretty much should never daisy chain any electronic device (power lines, that is). always use a PDB to distribute the power correctly. otherwise you are opening yourself up to all sorts of trouble with power/grounding problems.

ground cable should be same gauge as power cable. so if you have a 4 gauge running to a PDB, split to 2 8gauge, then the ground wire from each amp should be 8 gauge, and run to the SAME point. running grounds to different points introduces an effect called a "ground loop", which is where interference can readily be accepted into the circuit. not having a proper ground (unclean contact, too small a gauge...) can also introduce interference.

sounds to me what is happening is as Hank describes. your system is drawing too much power, especially with the headlights on, and it is suceptable (sp?) to interference.

let us know how it works with the PDB, and if you're running lots of wattage you may want to think about getting a cap to clean up the power.

 

aight problem solved. i dun know what fixed it, but i think it was that i used the amp as a distrubitor..no more of that for me..all i know is that i used the 4 guage and split em into two 8 guauges for the power and the groound. after that problem solved. thanks for all your help ppl.