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Proper grounding for ground loop isolator?

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Old 09-28-2012, 08:26 PM
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Default Proper grounding for ground loop isolator?

I have an Audiopipe NR-16 ground loop isolator. This may be a dumb question, but how am I supposed to ground this thing? What confuses me is that there are TWO ground wires. Why is that? Do I need to ground both of them? Do I ground each to a different place? Maybe one to the amp and one to another area on the car?

Old 09-29-2012, 11:14 AM
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You need to ground it to any major grounding point, I.E. any solid metal structure, the frame being the best option. Yes, you will need to ground both lines, as this particular model has two channels, one ground for each. You can simply drill a screw into the body/frame under the inner panels, then place these wires and screw them down to ground them.
Old 09-29-2012, 11:29 AM
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curious as to why you're running this?

chassis hum / 60 cycle hum through the speakers at idle & frequency change with acceleration?
Old 09-29-2012, 11:27 PM
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I'm getting occasional hum from my sub when my engine is running. I got the ground loop isolator as a quick fix until I rewire.

Can I ground the isolator to the same spot I grounded my amp?
Old 09-30-2012, 11:11 AM
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^I dont see why not

I used on of these loop isolators before because I had the same issue on a different car. It was my fault for running a 2 gauge power wire with patch cables that were not shielded / were not of great quality... Problem was that once I hooked up the isolator the volume of the sub was literally cut in half..So I re-wired and never looked back. (still not sure why this happened / dont know the science electrically behind these)


anyway if your gain on the amp is up very high or close to maxed out you're prone to get some sort of hot hum
Old 10-01-2012, 02:10 AM
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I just ordered a much better wiring kit from Kee Audio.

The hum coming from my sub doesn't seem to be affected by engine RPM. There is no whine at all. It starts kind of quiet, and gets louder gradually. Sometimes it goes away gradually. If it doesn't, I can restart the car and the hum goes away. Or, I can unplug and plug the RCA on the amp.

I connected the ground loop isolator and grounded both wires to the same place I grounded the amp. Either it's not properly grounded or it's getting rid of the entire signal because I'm getting nothing from the sub.



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