I have a 2002 Acura RSX. I listen to podcasts on my mp3 player. Since the car doesn’t have a cassette deck, I have to use an FM transmitter. Since the transmitter is relatively low powered, I have to turn up the radio.
When I do that, I can hear the whine of the engine in the radio, obviously, the higher the RPMs the higher the pitch and the louder the sound through the speakers. Is there some kind of filter I can install on the stereo to get rid of the noise?
Better yet, is there a way to wire an auxiliary headphone jack into the stereo?
Thanks,
--vr
Is it a crackle (ignition) or whine (alternator)? A crackle will coming though the antenna and a whine will generally come through the power wire to the radio.
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If there is a ground wire from the body to the hood, make sure it is secure and clean.
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For a whine, you can find radio noise suppression filters for the power wire to your radio at any car stereo store or website.
You can add a headphone jack. I got an earphone plug at Radio Shack that cut out the speakers when I plugged in my headphone. However, that stereo did not have a front/rear fade on it. Four channels of sound will make that a little trickier. By the way, using two headphones while driving a car is illegal in every state that I know of.
I think that the OP is trying to say that they would like to add an axillary audio input to the radio, not headphones.
It’s probably possible to add a headphone jack, but that would be a lot of work and would probably require some knowledge of electronics in order to find a place where an audio signal can be injected.
Car radios are usually very sensitive and should not normally have trouble picking up one of those FM transmitters. Mine (unfortunately) picks up signals from transmitters in other people’s cars entirely too well. I’d suggest testing the transmitter with a couple of other people’s radios. If it works OK, perhaps you have a problem with the antenna in your car rather than with your FM transmitter. Many car radios will work after a fashion even with the antenna unplugged – which yours might be.
Actually, a little of both. I hear the whine of the engine as the RPMs climb, and when I open the sunroof or anything else electrical, I hear a crackle.
As for the two headphones, I have two handsfree kits that have two earpieces. A Motorola H9 bluetooth and the wired headset that came with the blackberry.
I know my antenna isn’t unplugged, because I can get a myriad of stations, and they are strong. It’s just that my player is weaker than the surrounding stations. In my previous car, I used the cassette deck, and the volume was on par with the radio. When the cassette deck broke, I got one, then another FM transmitter, and saw the same low-volume problem that I am seeing in this car.
I think the main trouble you are having is due to the transmitter you are using. It sounds like the transmitter modulation level is a little low. This will cause the sound level to be low when it is played through your sound system. The RF signal from the transmitter isn’t a real concern for audio volume problems. Hopefully you are able to turn up the volume on your MP3 player to increase the modulation level of the transmitter which will then give you a better signal to noise ratio and you can then turn the radio volume down to a normal level. If the volume of your radio doesn’t change when you turn up the MP3 volume you might try getting another FM transmitter as the easiest fix for this.
I have wrestled with this myself. Unfortunately, some amount of volume is lost inherently with the FM transmitters. If you would like to fix it there are a couple options:
Best Option:
Get a new stereo with AUX input. You can choose how much to spend on a stereo.
Second Option: Get the highest powered transmitter you can buy. There are $12 transmitters and $120 transmitters.
Note: Always use the lowest frequency on the FM scale that you can. For example, if you have a choice between open frequencies 103.4 and 88.9, use 88.9. I have to change mine depending on what part of the city I am in, so I have 4 stations programmed on the transmitter and radio.
“Get the highest powered transmitter you can buy.”
Just a note about this statement. While the RF output of the transmitter helps get you a good clean signal into the radio and good reception it does not help with the volume of the audio sound level. It is the modulation level of the transmitter that makes the audio volume higher or lower.
Have your alternator checked for a bad/weak diode…
So I noticed this on my car all of a sudden today … Well I wired in a charging dual USB port… Hardwired so straight to battery with fuse relay in-line because the wire was done for some old fog lights I finally replaced with factory headlamp and fogs… So
IT ONLY WHINED LIKE A TWIN SCROLL SUPERCHARGER WHEN MY PHONES PLUGGED TO POWER.
Try it with your phone un-plugged to power:ok_hand:
🤷
Good luck my friend much love from the PNW
-RYLEY aka___ Mo___ (Vaughn Timmons)
-RYLEY aka___ Mo___ (Vaughn Timmons)
You’re 10 years to late to help VulcanRidr.
What’s the sense of putting it in, if you can’t use it for what you wanted.
The wires are probably acting as an antenna. Did you use shielded wire? If not, try wrapping the wires with aluminum tape or aluminum foil, then tape the foil in place. There can’t be any gaps in the shield or it will absorb electromagnetic interference created under the hood. You could also run a new line with twisted, shielded wires.